Stories: All-New Tales - By Neil Gaiman & Al Sarrantonio Page 0,126

inside the bassinet. I didn’t know why until later.” Ava stopped speaking and just stared at me for a few moments. I think she was gathering her energy to go on to the difficult part.

“Now I’m going to tell you the story exactly as it happened. You can believe it or not, but just know that I do with all my heart because of what Lamiya told me about myself. Details and facts no one on earth could know but me. No one, do you understand? Not my parents, or my sister, no one. But Lamiya knew. She rattled off the most intimate things about me like she was reading them from a list.

“Let me first explain the silent child. According to legend, there are three of them in Russia at all times. When one dies another is immediately born to replace it. It’s kind of like the succession of the Dalai Lama in Tibet: a silent child chooses its mother before it’s born.”

“What do you mean, before it’s born? Before the child is born?”

“Yes. Lamiya said she knew she’d have a silent child the moment she first sensed she was pregnant. So when hers was born, she wasn’t surprised or upset to see it.”

“Why would you be upset to see your own baby? Was there something wrong with it?”

Ava looked apprehensive, as if hesitant to tell what must be said next. “The child is not alive. I mean, it’s half alive—half alive and half dead; it lives half in this world and half in the other world too.”

“What ‘other world’?”

“The afterlife. The baby’s half alive and half dead, as I said. It never ages. It lives a certain number of years; they never know how many it’ll be. That’s different for each child. The day it dies, it looks exactly the same as it did on the day it was born, although some of these children live for decades. It never moves, eats, or breathes. It never opens its eyes. But its heart beats, and most important, it’s an oracle.

“After she’s told you secret things about yourself that absolutely convinces you beyond a doubt that she’s genuine, you’re allowed to ask the mother two questions. You can ask anything—about the past, about the future, anything you want. As long as she’s touching her silent child, she will answer them. But you are only allowed to ask two.”

“What did you ask?”

Ava shook her head. “I won’t tell you. But part of—” She stopped, got up, and walked to the window. I sat still, waiting for some sign about what to do—go to her, sit, talk, keep quiet…

Touching the window glass, she slid her fingers in a long arc across the condensation there. I could almost feel the cold wetness under my own fingertips. What she said next took me completely off guard.

“Did Eamon Reilly ever tell you about his past? About his childhood?”

“Eamon? What does he have to do with this?”

“A lot.” Ava began rubbing both hands back and forth very fast on the glass, as if trying to erase something. Then she turned to face me. “Just go along with me on this—it’s all of a piece. Did you ever talk to him about his past?”

“No.”

“Eamon’s father was a pilot. He terrorized his family for years, beat them all up and did many other terrible things—a genuine sadist. One of his favorite tortures was to fly really low back and forth over their house in a small plane when he knew everyone was home. Eamon said it was so frightening that the kids and their mother used to all hide under the beds or in the cellar because they were sure one day he’d crash the plane into the house and kill them.”

“What happened to him?”

“The guy was also a drunk who luckily drove his car off a bridge one day and died.”

“Jesus! So that’s why Eamon has…what, issues?”

“Yes. Once I got so fed up with the way he was behaving that I slapped him. Only then did he tell me some of the stories and details of his childhood. Finally I began to understand why he is the way he is. It doesn’t make him any less exasperating, but boy, with that background…”

“Terrible. Poor guy.”

“Yeah. I don’t know if that’s the whole reason for him being so peculiar, but it’s gotta contribute.”

Crossing my arms over my chest, I asked, “But what does it have to do with the silent child?”

“One of the things Lamiya told me was that