Chapter 24

“Is there some reason for that—how you do it?”

I stared down at the digit, puzzling, and then, out of my dim memory came the reason.

“Oh!” I said. “I never thought about that.” Then I chuckled uneasily. “Well, it was something I heard on the radio years ago. It was about Native Americans, in the American South-West. They disliked the Highway Sixty-six, which went through their land, east-west. I don’t remember the details of the piece, but the crux was something about the number six. It involved making a spiral-circle in the counter-clockwise direction, which they considered unlucky.”

Pat blinked, then nodded.

“And, anyway, for some reason, I thought about that, and decided to make my sixes clockwise.” I made another six.

Pat clapped her hands together. “Exactly!”

She seemed to feel she had made a point. I tried to get it, but couldn’t.

“What are you saying?”