09/03/2026 16:49

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            And so one morning, Pops took me in the pickup to a private school in Ruby River City.             I looked up. And it's often wordless except for expressions of love, which are rudimentary. We have a good colony here, a good religion that suits us perfectly.

They mop the marble and polish it afterwards.             But it was all up for Pops.             'Listen to me,' I said, pulling up a chair.             When I reached the front steps I sat down with the leather-bound book I'd found in Rebecca Stanford's trunk, and tried to make out the writing inside.