h2g2 The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy: Earth Edition

I remembered Jennifer from Cosmo's second wedding, which I entertained at. She was a striking redhead with fine features then. She had gained weight during her two pregnancies, though, and never lost it. Sibyl and Faun, her daughters, stood beside her, picking at their food.

"My condolences," I told Jennifer.

She shrugged and talked about the beautiful hall, then reflected about the wacky ideas that Joseph and Peregrine had been spreading around. "Joseph used to so levelheaded,"
she said with a sigh.

"He might not be as crazy as he seems," Sibyl said. The rest of us looked skeptical, so she added, "I don't mean that we were necessarily contacted by advanced beings on a planet that orbits the Sun once every 3,600 years, but maybe those ancient Sumerian tablets told of *some* kind of intelligent contact."

I didn't know Sibyl well. What I knew was that she had a degree in botany, which she put to good use in her plant nursery. On the side, she was said to be a practicing Wicca with some expertise in healing herbs. Faun was a wildlife biologist at a lab in Maine.

Faun took me aside and said that Sibyl had tried some magic spells, hoping to find a portal to other places. "She doesn't talk much, but I've noticed her carrying around some stuff that couldn't possibly be from this world."

[Amy P]