. . . muttered the ogre

I sent Dad a pretty piece of meteorite, without explanation, knowing that he and his missus would have fun guessing what it is. I had never seen stuff like it: lumps of olivine (a translucent silicate rock) in a matrix of nickel-iron, nicely polished. When I saw that it had been delivered, I called, and Dad asked: “So what kind of monsters can I repel with this talisman?” (That suggested kryptonite, but I found no smooth way to slip that hint into the conversation.) Kid Brother had been visiting and it seems he exposed them to DnD-style gaming, which they had never done though they’re big fans of Myst and the like.

Stop me if I’ve mentioned this before: Some weeks ago my One True Ex took me to a gem show in San Mateo. (She goes to these things every n months and buys pearls which she flogs at SCA events.) We spent an afternoon feasting our eyes on pretty rocks, fossils, rocks, netsuke and of course meteorites. I spent like a sailor, tsk tsk.