Come the end of supper Delia had become comfortable around Isaac de la Vega, and they, along with Andy, moved into the sitting room to watch Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory. Delia picked the movie, in part to get over her fear of it, and in greater part to show Isaac how brave she was. He, by now, had seen the movie and didn't mind when Delia would start to talk to him in the middle of it.

Ephram, as to be expected, did not sit and watch the movie. He sat at the counter in the kitchen, casually eating out of a bowl of ice cream. He heard Isaac laugh and frowned at his ice cream. Then, by some chance, he looked up and saw something move on the back porch. He glanced toward the sitting room and quietly stood up, abandoning his ice cream, sneaked behind the three people watching TV, grabbed his coat which was conveniently placed by the back door, and walked out onto the porch.  

Surprisingly, he found Jig wrapped up in one of the blankets from the sitting room, sitting on the swing, shivering slightly but not seeming to mind. She was just looking across the street, probably so lost in thought she didn't know that she was staring blankly.

"I never expected you to be out here…" Ephram told her. Jig turned to him and smiled when her eyes recognized him.

"Isaac and I have been joined at the hip for the past three days. A breath of fresh air is a breath of fresh air…" she told him. He nodded and sat down next to her on the swing, waiting for it to once again become motionless before he spoke.

"So how is he adjusting to the cold?" Ephram asked. Jig thought he pretended to care very well.

"Pretty well, I suppose. He came here from Paris. One of his movies is having a big premiere in LA next week, so he stopped by for a visit," Jig said and Ephram nodded. He sighed.

"You know, the fact, that Isaac is who he is, it's kind of, unrealistic…" Ephram told her. She nodded her head.

"I guess you'd have to grow up in LA to understand," she told him. He didn't even understand the statement, but trusted Jig knew what she was talking about.

"So what's it like, being friends with a star?" he finally asked. She sighed.

"A lot easier then being his son I'll tell you…" she said and he chuckled slightly, "but, um, it was weird. Some people, girls, actually, sent me hate mail when they heard I was his best friend. But, his lawyers or something stopped that from continuing. Mostly, I think, people just ask me what kind of person he is…."

"And what do you say?"

"I tell them that he hums when he sleeps. And, I know this because when his mom's boyfriend got angry he'd come down and sleep with me…" she told him. Ephram nodded.

"He hums?" he asked her and this time she nodded, smiling as past memories resurfaced themselves in her mind.

"It's always the same tune, too. 'A Whole New World,' from the Aladdin movie. Ever since we saw it at Auntie's apartment he'd hum it every night. Still does, it's weird…" Jig told him. Ephram lowered his eyebrows in both wonder and pleasure. Isaac was weird and imperfect, and it made Ephram feel great.

"So, how'd it go with Desi? She told me she's staying with Amy tonight," Ephram changed the subject.

"47 times…" Jig sighed. Ephram laughed slightly.

"That's a big number for one day…"

"Yup… There's no way Amy is going to pass that."

"She has more respect for it, I suppose."

"Oh respect shemect, Amy's just been commanded not to 'use the lord's name in vain.' It's a bunch of bull plop…" Jig grumbled. She looked over to Ephram to see him grinning at her.

"What?"

" 'Shemect?' 'Shemect!' That isn't a word!" he told her and she laughed slightly.

"Jig?" they heard and both turned toward the door. Isaac stood there, leaning out onto the porch.

"Edna's here," he told her. She nodded and stood up.

"See you tomorrow Ephram," she told him, standing up and handing him the warm blanket she had wrapped around herself. She walked past Isaac and into the house, for Edna was on the other side. For a few, brief moments after Jig was out of sight, Isaac's and Ephram's eyes met, faces set to a threatening glare. Then Jig called Isaac's name and the two stopped glaring at each other. Although each hated the other, or, rather, envied, neither was aware of the fact that as they walked away from each other, they were each thinking the same thing… that they had lost their best friend.

That Monday, Andy had some tasks at hand. Edna offered to do it for him, but he had the time and she had filing, so he did it himself. He returned his book to the library. For the third time Andy walked into the giant mansion turned library. The more times he entered the building, the stronger the scent of time seemed to be. It was the smell of books a hundred years old that soaked into the wood and the pages of the newer books. It was also the faint smell of wood polish that still lingered in the older wood years after it had been applied.

He walked up to the front desk as usual and the smell of new computers added to the general smell of the library. Penny Laderer sat at the desk, typing frantically on the keyboard, seemingly focused solely on the task at hand.

"Writing the great American novel?" he asked her. She turned in her seat and smiled, seeing him.

"Not unless it involves straightening out the card catalogue. What are you doing here?" she asked him. In response he pulled a book out of his pocket and placed it on the counter. She looked at it, a little wide eyed.

"I finished it."

"Already? I wasn't expecting to get that back for another week. For a guy with two kids you sure have a lot of reading time…" she told him. He chuckled slightly.

"Well, through years of neglect my children have become quite independent…" he told her, smiling at it, seemingly proud. She nodded in understanding.

"They'll do that," she said straightening some piles on her desk. Andy narrowed his eyes slightly, a little worried.

"Do you have kids, Penny?" he asked her. She turned back to him, and for a quick second, well, it wasn't a quick second seeing as how a second cannot be quicker nor slower than a second, a wave of almost nausea flashed in her eyes.

"No, no I don't. I never intend to, either," she told him, nodding in approval of her own statement.

"Well, you should. They're great… I'm sure…" he said and the two fell into a silence.

"Look, I don't have a book ready for you, so, if you have some time, I can make up for it by giving you a tour around the library?" she asked. He checked his watch and nodded to her.

"I'm actually quite curious."

Penny stood up and led him to a portrait in the middle of the library. It was of a man in what looked to Andy like late 19th century clothing, with a bald shinning head, and a moustache the size of a rat Andy saw in NYC once. But, despite and despite, he looked distinguished. Of course, he looked distinguished in the way that meant the artist had taken some liberties for a price.

"Andy Brown, meet Ronald Richard Stevenson Everwood the Third. Ron, meet Andy Brown. Ronny-boy here is the founder of Everwood. Well, actually, Everwood was founded five years before Ronald Everwood ever got here. It was founded by a group of Mexicans but came under the United States control a few years later. Everwood was sent with his wife and six daughters to Americanize it. You know, I'm the only person in this entire town who can remember the name of Ronald's six daughters," Penny told him, beaming with pride. Andy chuckled a little.

"What were they?"

"I'm not going to tell you. If I tell you you'll remember and then I won't be the only person in Everwood who can name them," she said and he nodded.

"That makes sense…"

"Anyway, this library was the first building built in Everwood by the Americans. It was the house of Everwood and his family. It stayed in the family until Ronald's great grandson left for California. He sold the building to the city, and it was used as a museum of Everwood's history. But at that point there wasn't enough history to fill the building, so they turned it into a library 87 years ago. There was originally a left wing to the building, but 50 years ago there was a fire and the entire wing burnt to the ground. There's a plaque where the wing was in memory of a cat that was caught in the blaze. Mickey, he was a sweet heart."

"Poor thing," Andy said as Penny led him into another room and in front of another portrait. This one of a girl in her late teens with short, dark brown locks that curled, a fancy green dress, and a smile on her face.

"This, is Annabelle Everwood. She's the one daughter everyone in town knows. Her story is the most famous…" Penny told him smiling at the portrait.

"What was it?" Andy asked, swimming in curiosity.

"Well, when Annabelle was seventeen, she took a horse one night after a fight with her father, and rode into the woods. Now, riding in the woods at night and alone is never a good idea, and, Annabelle found that out. She got lost very quickly, and ended up wandering around the woods for days, until she came across a small village of Native Americans. They saw her exhausted and very frightened state and welcomed her to their food and clothing. They even fed her horse.

Annabelle stayed with these people, they where a tribe of Jicarilla Apache who had settled there, anyway, she stayed with them for a few months, not being able to tell them where she was from. But, while there, she met the Chief's son, we call him Masked Thief never learning his real name. He got that name because from what sources says, he had the eyes, spirit, and loyalty of a raccoon, which is an animal greatly favored by the tribe. Anyway, Annabelle and Masked Thief fell in love, and after she had been there a year, she gave birth to their son, Thomas. At this point Annabelle was beginning to miss her family, and was able to tell her Native American husband this though the English she had taught him. So one day he took her to the town's edge with Thomas, whom Annabelle wanted to show to her parents. Now at this point the town thought Annabelle had died, and no one recognized her with the native clothing and hair style, carrying a Native American child in her arms.

When she got to her home, at first her mother, who answered the door, shooed her away. But Annabelle called her mother a name only Annabelle had ever called her. Her mother was so horrified that her dead daughter was alive, and, well, what she considered, savage, that she fainted. Then Ronald came to the door, saw his wife laying still on the ground, and, without letting Annabelle explain, went for his gun. He chased after Annabelle right into the forest, where Masked Thief was waiting for her by a creek. He heard the gunshots and finally saw her clutching their child as she ran for their lives. He saw her just in time to watch her fall at her own father's gunshot. Everwood left promptly, feeling very good about himself. Masked Thief ran to his wife and child. Thomas, the baby, was miraculously unhurt, but a few moments later, Annabelle died in Masked Thief's hands.

She was given a proper Christian funeral, as she had taught Masked Thief many of her beliefs and even enough English to read from the Bible she had with her. Twenty years later Thomas returned to Everwood, to what had once been his mother's home, and for the first time, in English, told Ronald and his wife who he was, and what Ronald had done. The two wept for years until Ronald grew ill, and finally died. Many people say that the hole Ronald received from hearing the news he had killed his own daughter, had grown and grown, until finally it killed him," Penny told Andy. Andy nodded as the two were both silent, glaring at the eyes of the young woman in the portrait.

"That's a good story," he told her. She nodded.