CHAPTER EIGHT
Paige started to protest, but she recognized the determination in her mother's eyes--she'd seen it in Piper's much too often and knew better than to try to talk her out of it. She shrugged at Coop, who nodded, who motioned for Patty to stand next to him, while Paige started thinking about how much she loved Grams.
"Wait a minute!" Maybe Paige wasn't protesting, but Victor sure was. "This is crazy! Patty, you can't be seri--" but even as he kept protested, he faded out in a glow of pink as Paige, Coop and Patty heart-orbed out.
As things came back into view, Patty cried out, "Where's Victor?"
"Back in the seventies," Coop smiled. "I don't think we're there anymore."
"And we didn't come back to our time either," Paige said as she looked around. "Look at the furniture! I feel like we popped into the middle of a scifi-movie!"
Patty nodded, a bit scared, but more fascinated. "And look." She reached down to pick up a bunny, old and grey, its fur matted down and an ear missing. "It's Piper's Floppy, but look how old he is!"
"I just got a triple score!" They all started at the sound of an old excited voice coming from the dining room.
"You don't spell Zankou with an X!" protested an old woman's voice. While a whole bunch of other voices picked up the argument, Paige's eyes almost bugged out of her head. Zankou? How could anyone old know about Zankou? Reacting rather than thinking, Paige began walking towards the dining room. Coop tried to stop her, but Paige shook him off.
Walking into the dining room, she saw three old couples sitting around a Scrabble board. Near the bottom of the board were six tiles that spelled "XANKOU". All six glanced up, saw the newcomers, but never stopped arguing the latest play, as if strangers walked in on their Scrabble game all the time.
An old woman, her short hair a too-bright cherry-red that didn't match her orange lipstick and who had her back to Paige, turned around. "Do you spell Zankou with an X or a Z?"
"Are you challenging?" demanded another old woman, her long naturally-white hair flowing down her back.
"I'm not asking you," "Red" replied, then smiled at Paige. "I'm asking me."
"Me?" squeaked Paige, but as she looked more closely at "Red", she realized that this was indeed herself--at least 50 years older, but definitely her.
"Well?" Old Paige asked again with an encouraging smile. "How do you spell it?"
"With a Z," Paige managed.
Old Paige spun back with a crow of triumph to smirk at the woman with the long white hair. "Yes, I am challenging. Take the word back, Leo!"
"Leo!" screeched Paige as she looked at the man taking back his tiles. "It is you! You're not frozen!" And now she recognized the woman with the long white hair and the other old woman whose hair was short and bright lemon-yellow. "Piper! Phoebe! You're not dead!" And that must mean…"Henry!"
Her 80-year-old husband nodded, then slowly got up. "Be right back," and he slowly made his way towards the kitchen.
Paige looked at the last old man for a long time before crying out, "Coop? But you're old! How can a cupid grow old?" and the Coop who had heart-orbed her here was wondering the same thing.