The Exploding Page

i) that he had once been married (albeit briefly);

and

ii) that his little second cousin twice removed, Filipe, had been so excited about being a page boy at Josh's wedding that he had insisted on remaining a page boy and staying with Josh ever since.

This arrangement had worked out well for both of them: Josh had been separated from his wife since the third day of his honeymoon and had refused to leave the house since his return; while Felipe had (for reasons he never revealed) been placed under house arrest at around the same time.

All this had happened so long ago that both Josh and Felipe had forgotten that Felipe was electronically tagged and, this being Texas, that the tag contained a pound and a half of C4.

So shortly after Josh follows Sir Fred out of the house there is a loud explosion from the doorway.

When the smoke clears Josh's eyebrows have been burned off, while all that is left of Felipe is his right hand carrying, as it had done every day since the wedding, a red velvet cushion on which is placed Josh's most precious possession:

1. an eyebrow repair kit
2. a plastic ray gun
3. a photo of Josh with Bruce Boxleitner
4. a dragon-finding compass
5. a phial containing a clear liquid and a syringe

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