be many things, but she's also punctual to the minute." He normally spoke in an odd way that Jonni called "chewing on the words." Agitation made it even worse, and brought out his too-perfect-to-be-true good-ol'boy southern accent.
And he had some reason to be agitated. Jonni, our resident college-student-ditsy-blonde, had never been this late. And Elroy, rightly or wrongly, thought that he was responsible for all of us.
"I've called her," I said. "But there was no answer."
Elroy frowned, threw back a white cowlick. "Mark supposed to come in?"
"At two," I said.
"Tell me when he gets in . . .maybe we can go out and see if there's anything wrong with Jonni." He disappeared into the back, so fast that he gave the impression of walking through the virulently colored batik curtain.
"Miss?" a young man's voice.
I turned away from the curtain that hung motionless, as though no one had gone near it, and looked at the young man who stood at the other end of the counter. "Yes?"
"I'm . . .I'm not sure how to put this," he said. He had wild green eyes and wilder hair and beard in a shade of red not normally seen outside Crayola boxes. His voice came out in odd fits and starts. "But . . .my spirit just took over this body. I'm an advanced soul from the Gorianth sphere and I'm here to lead humanity, but I'm not sure"
Ah, a walk-in. Our daily bread. I took a final bite of my rice-cream. "You want walk-ins. Book section. Fourth set of shelves to the right, in the sunroom area. We have several books that will give you further insight into humanity on Earth and what you're expected to tell them."
"Thanks," he said, flashing odd metal-capped teeth.
I watched his retreating back for so long that I missed Mark's approach until he came behind the counter and almost within touching distance. "Problem?" he asked.
"Nah," I said. "A walk-in. From the Gorianth sphere."
Mark raised his perfect black eyebrows over his bright blue eyes. "No kidding. Another one? It's the tenth since the psychic fair."
"Yeah." I looked at the stick for my rice-cream. The licked clean stick said LIFE IS SENSELESS WITHOUT BELIEF. Well, then, I thought to myself, I shouldn't work at a New Age store. Nothing jaded you quicker. "Elroy wanted to know when you came in."
Mark frowned. He took off his bright blue tapestry jacket, shoved it out of sight under the counter. "Why?"
"Jonni