dinner. Mother's Day is about the same."
40 "I see," replied Bullet. He was just about to say something else
when the phone rang.
41 Smiling Fox picked it up. "Yes," he answered, "this is he. Yes, we
can. No, we can be there by lunch time. That would be nice. Yes, thank
you. Good day to you, too."
42 He put down the receiver. "We're in!" he cried. "We're invited for
lunch! And, a discussion! The other emissaries never got in the house!"
43 Bullet clapped his hands. "Good!" he laughed, "Good! Now maybe we
can get somewhere. Now what's this other holiday?"
44 "Of course," Smiling Fox continued. "Everybody knows The New Year
celebration. We give thanks for the end of summer and the coming of
fall, the rains and the crops of winter. We praise The Lords for Their
Bounty. I think that celebration is universal in every religion."
45 Bullet nodded. "But you have another holiday," he continued, "not
one, but actually three. I remember my mother telling me about it. She
used to get mad because for those three days you took her t.v. shows
off and everybody ran around with black ribbons on, like those we're
wearing now. I remember when I was a boy, we used to run around and rip
the big ones down you hung on your doors, or set fire to them."
46 "Those aren't really holidays," explained Smiling Fox, "they're The
Days Of Sorrow. They come five days, one week, before New Season. The
first one we pray for the Eternal Spirits of Those we have been forced
to kill in battle.
47 The second one we pray for all those who have committed suicide
without just cause.
48 Thirdly we pray for all those in The Darkness, no matter how evil
their crime, that they may find peace and come to The Path of Truth, to
stand in The Light."