Free Heaven Cent by Piers Anthony Page B

walking three abreast, with Dolph in the middle, and the two skeletons took turns explaining about the G rib.
    It seemed that long, long ago, when magic was new, the Demon X(A/N)th (or someone; Dolph wasn't quite clear about that) made the ordinary Land of Xanth for the ordinary creatures, and the gourd for the extraordinary creatures that the others could only dream about, and left the refuse to drear, unmagical Mundania. He put a kind of barrier around Xanth to keep the Mundanes mostly out, and sealed off the gourd realm by making it difficult for any ordinary creature to bring its body inside. In the very center of the gourd he made a fine cemetery, and there he put the first skeleton.
    But this skeleton got lonely, for there were no others of his kind. So the Demon took one of his ribs and broke it into pieces, and the pieces grew and became the first female skeleton, complete in every detail. However, the male was no longer complete, because he was missing that one rib. Thus the female had one more rib than he, and so it was ever since.
    The first two skeletons made beautiful music together, for their bones resonated each to a different key. Marrow could play over 200 notes, and Grace’l could play over 201 notes. It was the first skeleton's smallest rib that was missing, the one that played the highest note. From that time on, the female always had the higher range, and could always top the male by one note. The male missed that note, but was satisfied to have the female play it for him, which she did when appropriate.
    “When is that?” Dolph asked.
    Now they were silent. “Uh,” Marrow said at last, “when they want to reproduce.”
    “You mean they play music to signal the stork?” Dolph asked, suddenly very interested. Maybe he could get a line on how flesh folk did it, too! If it was just a matter of playing a tune or singing a song, maybe a mushy (ugh!) love song—
    “Not exactly,” Grace’l said, as diffident as Marrow. “We don't use storks; they are reserved for the living folk.”
    “Oh? Then how do skeletons do it?”
    “You would not care to know,” Marrow said.
    Now Dolph was sure that the process was similar to the one living folk used mat was secret from children. “Sure I would!”
    “It involves—mushy stuff.”
    “Oh.” What a wet blanket! Just when it was getting interesting, too. But he had sort of known it would be something like that, because adults were entirely too interested in mush. Maybe age turned their brains mushy. What a fate!
    They continued searching the isle, but neither gourd nor cent snowed up. “I fear the gourd has rotted,” Marrow said. “None remain on the isle. But there should be many on the mainland.”
    “The mainland?” Grace’l asked. “You mean there's more?”
    Dolph managed not to laugh. She really was innocent!
    “Yes, this is but one island, and not the largest,” Marrow said. “Normal Xanth is actually a fairly extensive place, having perhaps as much room as the gourd.”
    “Amazing!” she exclaimed. “I had no idea!” Then she turned to him. “How did you come to be here in Xanth?”
    “I got on the Lost Path, so of course was lost. A man from Xanth found me, and brought me from the gourd. I confess it was a strange realm out here, but once I came to know it I found it interesting, and decided to stay. Certainly it is better than returning to the Lost Path.”
    Her skull nodded. “I suppose so. But you should be able to avoid the Lost Path now, if you return in the company of one who is not lost.”
    “That is true,” Marrow said. “But I have a duty here.”
    “What duty is that?”
    "I am the adult companion for Prince Dolph. I must see that he does not get into too much trouble, and help him find the Heaven Cent.”
    She did not reply. They kept on searching, but as the sun dropped low, getting ready to set the distant trees on fire, they knew that neither gourd nor cent was to be found on the isle.
    “It seems this was a