Marshall never did go into what his former job had been. Lisa, on the other hand, was more than happy to talk about her antique business. Before her change (she didn't mention what had caused it), she had spent her time at auctions, tag sales, estate sales, and so forth, which explained the house. No longer welcome at these functions in person (nothing like seeing a skeleton in Victorian dress walking through the place), she runs it all through agents now. It was clear that most of the money that kept the house going is hers. I don't know anything about antiques, but I was happy to listen while she talked; her enthusiasm for the subject is somewhat contagious.
    After dinner, Steven cleared the table with some grumbling, and the rest of us went into the library. Lisa had furnished this room, too, although it wasn't quite as much of a showpiece as the front room was. Very nice bookcases, completely filled.
    "I also do work in first editions," she mentioned, noting my interest in the books.
    "Very nice." About half of the books in the room were meant to be read, and used. Military history, archaeology, oceanography, some kids books. The other half were first editions in excellent condition. I noted a copy of The Great Gatsby.
    "You like that one? It's signed."
    "I don't want to think about how much that cost."
    "No, probably not," she agreed cheerfully.
    "This is a very impressive collection."
    "Thank you, I spent a lot of time putting it together."
    "Undoubtedly the best library on... probably in the whole state, now that I think of it."
    "No, there's probably a couple better ones. A couple of the universities, I'm sure."
    "Well, the best private collection, then."
    "Oh, no, Miss Rajid definitely has that."
    "Miss who?" Surely I had misheard that name....
    "Rajid."
    "Is she an island resident?" I asked with perhaps more intensity than was warranted.
    "No. Well, out in Maine, in the state proper." She gave me an inquiring look.
    "Sorry, I know someone else with that last name," I apologized. "It's not very common, so... but I don't think she lives in Maine."
    "No, this is an old dowager antiquarian, she's been out there forever."
    Three thousand years, maybe? I wondered.
    "I occasionally get correspondence from her, we trade things back and forth."
    Couldn't be.
    Steven came in and sat down, still fidgeting. He started talking about national politics, which I was willing to pick up on, though I haven't been paying a lot of attention lately. It was hard to tell what he was thinking, not like Marshall and Lisa, who aside from the oddities of their appearance and a few quirks no doubt related to their lonely lifestyle, seemed perfectly normal. Steven seemed to be expecting something, and I wasn't sure what. Looking for a reaction of some kind. I ignored his veiled attempts at provocation. Eventually he excused himself.
    "I'm gonna go take my mandatory spa."
    "Have a nice night, see you later," Marshall wished him.
    "I'm so sorry," Lisa said quietly once he was out of earshot.
    "I have a weird family," I assured her. "Don't feel you need to apologize."
    "He's not bad."
    "Seems like a perfectly fine person."
    "He's very good with his hands, he can fix near anything, he's just... cornered."
    "You guys don't have an easy life."
    "He could," Marshall muttered.
    "Marshall." Her tone held a weary warning.
    "Well, he could. He keeps going over there."
    "Enough. All right?"
    "Yeah." Quiet moment. "So anyway...." The conversation resumed along normal lines, and we started talking about movies. Marshall likes the new stuff and old WWII films, but I found to my delight that Lisa is a fan of the silents. We could have talked all night. I don't think either of us noticed when Marshall gave up and left the room to fetch dessert.
    I hadn't had an evening this normal, this pleasant, in months.
    After a pause in the conversation she suddenly said, "Thank you."
    "For what?"
    "For coming over. For having dinner."
    "I'm having a good time. Thanks for the invitation."
    "Aren't you even going to ask?"
    I looked at her. "Evidently not, since I don't know what you're talking about. What?" It was still hard to read her, but I figured she was curious about my lack of reaction to them all. "There's a lot of strange things in the world," I shrugged. "They're not bad."
    "They're just... strange?"
    "Yes." Quiet. "No offense, or anything," I added, not sure if I'd said something wrong again.
    "That's okay, I can deal with being just 'strange.' As long as it's not... bad. You know, for the first few years or so, I only let myself come out on Halloween."
    What is it with these people and their need to unburden themselves, I found myself wondering, nodding.
    "We still do it. We shouldn't," she added with a little laugh. "It's so darn easy."
    "Well, if you can't have fun, then...."
    "I don't know how much it's fun. It's...."
    "You want to make them notice," I guessed.
    "I want them to accept me on my own terms, and not as... the girl with no skin. I've had people tell me, well why don't you get a job in Hollywood, you know, acting, just by being Œspooky skeletal lady.'"
    "You have a job, you seem to like it."
    "But I'm not just spooky skeletal lady. People think I must be the one who has it worst, but I don't think I really lost anything except company," she said with a sad little smile.
    "That can be a loss."
    "Yeah, but... Marshall lost his career and his dream at the same time. If you know that there's something you always wanted be that you're now this close to, and can't, and what you did before that you found fulfilling is now denied to you?" Silence. "Poor Valerie, upstairs. And Steven. Who needs to get out of here," she said, very softly.
    "What keeps him?" I asked, just as quietly.
    After a pause, she went on, not answering. "He fell off of a boat, in the winter, when he was nine. His mother had bundled him up, sweaters, coat, and so forth. The variant eruption saved his life. They put him on the carnival circuit."
    I winced.

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