He’d had enough of this conversation. He’d been all set with it the second his aunt approached the topic. Families, eggs, and marriage were some of his least favorite topics, especially around this time of year. Still, he appreciated his family, and they hadn’t picked up on his very obvious hints that he wanted the conversation to end, so he tried to defuse the situation with more questions.
“How are sales?”
It was rough and simple, but he felt it would get the job done. Madge liked to talk about how business was, and it always led to her talking about the latest life events of the neighbors. He didn’t care about that, but it seemed like a good way to waste time and make it to the end of dinner without hearing any more about how he should have sex with someone and have as many kids as he could manage.
She perked up and smiled. Good. He knew that would do the trick.
“Well, I’m glad you asked! This have really picked up recently! There’s a whole new ranch nearby, and, while it’s nothing compared to the Havilah ranch, it’s got some promising new cattle breeds nobody’s tried raising around here. I hear there might be some interesting developments and experiments with biology coming up!”
Crow nodded his head and continued to eat. No need to comment on this. It was not information he needed to know. While it was nice to hear that Sophia and her family were in a good position, he did not consider it crucial or important. He would find out what information he really needed when he talked to Sophia next. He counted on her for a lot. She’d always been a confidante, even when he first moved into the town. He wondered if she’d gotten the fence to work. Last time, he’d helped her set up a rune fence to keep her herd from wandering off. There were no poles, only well placed rocks with runes on them. The whole process was a bit experimental, but his theories hadn’t been off in a while.
Hmm, he should bring Irwin to meet Sophia some time, too. They seemed like people who would get along. Irwin enjoyed tea, Sophia enjoyed tea. They were both interesting. Both of them were rone. It made sense that they could appreciate each other’s company. He really would have to bring this up with one of them.
Madge was not talking anymore. Crow wondered how long ago that happened. Hopefully she hadn’t ended with a question. He hadn’t paid enough attention to provide a good response.
“Well, Emil?”
Hmm. It seemed she had indeed asked him a question. That was unfortunate. He tilted his head to the side and blinked at Madge.
“Hmm? What did you ask?”
“I said, how much have you told him about yourself?”
Wait, how had they gotten back onto this topic? He thought they were done with it ten minutes earlier. How unpleasant. He set his fork and knife down and straightened up. Maybe he hadn’t missed any important questions after all. This sounded too out of place for the topic he introduced. She must have asked it for a specific reason. Oh well. At least he had a short respite.
“Enough.”