"Yeah," he said, walking toward the kitchen. "It's me."
"We've got company," she said. "Guess who."
"I don't claim to be much good at guessing," said Anketam. "I'll have to
peek."
He stopped at the door of the kitchen and grinned widely when he saw who
the man was. "Russat! Well, by heaven, it's good to see you!"
There was a moment's hesitation, then a minute or two of handshaking and
backslapping as the two brothers both tried to speak at the same time.
Anketam heard himself repeating: "Yessir! By _heaven_, it's good to see
you! Real good!"
And Russat was saying: "Same here, Ank! And, gee, you're looking great.
I mean, real great! Tough as ever, eh, Ank?"
"Yeah, sure, tough as ever. Sit down, boy. Memi! Pour us something hot
and get that bottle out of the cupboard!"
Anketam pushed his brother back towards the chair and made him sit down,
but Russat was protesting: "Now, wait a minute! Now, just you hold on,
Ank! Don't be getting out your bottle just yet. I brought some _real_
stuff! I mean, _expensive_--stuff you can't get very easy. I brought it
just for you, and you're going to have some of it before you say another
word. Show him, Memi."
Memi was standing there, beaming, holding the bottle. Her blue eyes had
faded slowly in the years since she and Anketam had married, but there
was a sparkle in them now. Anketam looked at the bottle.
"Bedamned," he said softly. The bottle was beautiful just as it was. It
was a work of art in itself, with designs cut all through it and pretty
tracings of what looked like gold thread laced in and out of the
surface. And it was full to the neck with a clear, red-brown liquid.
Anketam thought of the bottle in his own cupboard--plain, translucent
plastic, filled with the water-white liquor rationed out from the
commissary--and he suddenly felt very backwards and countryish. He
scratched thoughtfully at his beard and said: "Well, Well. I don't know,
Russ--I don't know. You think a plain farmer like me can take anything
that fancy?"
Russat laughed, a little embarrassed. "Sure you can. You mean to say
you've never had brandy before? Why, down in Algia, our Chief--" He
stopped.
Anketam didn't look at him. "Sure, Russ; sure. I'll bet Chief Samas
gives a drink to his secretary, too, now and then." He turned around and
winked. "But this stuff is for brain work, not farming."
He knew Russat was embarrassed. The boy was nearly ten years younger
than Anketam, but Anketam knew that his younger brother had more brains
and ability, as far as paper work went, than he, himself, would ever
have. The boy (Anketam reminded himself that he shouldn't think of
Russat as a boy--after all, he was thirty-six now) had worked as a
special secretary for one of the important chiefs in Algia for five
years now. Anketam noticed, without criticism, that Russat had grown
soft with the years. His skin was almost pink, bleached from years of
indoor work, and looked pale and sickly, even beside Memi's sun-browned
skin--and Memi hadn't been out in the sun as much as her husband had.
* * * * *
Anketam reached out and took the bottle carefully from his wife's hands.
Her eyes watched him searchingly; she had been aware of the subtleties
of the exchange between her rough, hard-working, farmer husband and his
younger, brighter, better-educated brother.
Anketam said: "If this is a present, I guess I'd better open it." He
peeled off the seal, then carefully removed the glass stopper and
sniffed at the open mouth of the beautiful bottle. "Hm-m-m! Say!" Then
he set the bottle down carefully on the table. "You're the guest, Russ,
so you can pour. That tea ready yet, Memi?"
"Coming right up," said his wife gratefully. "Coming right up."
Anketam watched Russat carefully pour brandy into the cups of hot, spicy
tea that Memi set before them. Then he looked up, grinned at his wife,
and said: "Pour yourself a cup, honey. This is an occasion. A big
occasion."
She nodded quickly, very pleased, and went over to get another cup.
"What brings you up here, Russ?" Anketam asked. "I hope you didn't just
decide to pick up a bottle of your Chief's brandy and then take off." He
chuckled after he said it, but he was more serious than he let on. He
actually worried about Russat at times. The boy might just take it in
his head to do something silly.
Russat laughed and shook his head. "No, no. I'm not crazy, and I'm not
stupid--at least, I think not. No; I got to go up to Chromdin. My Chief
is sending word that he's ready to supply goods for the war."
Anketam frowned. He'd heard that there might be war, of course. There
had been all kinds of rumors about how some of the Chiefs were all for
fighting, but Anketam didn't pay much attention to these rumors. In the
first place, he knew that it was none of his business; in the second
place, he didn't think there would be any war. Why should anyone pick on
Xedii?
What war would mean if it did come, Anketam had no idea, but he didn't
think the Chiefs would get into a war they couldn't finish. And, he
repeated to himself, he didn't believe there would be a war.
He said as much to Russat.