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.He readabout the Emerald City Home Guard suppressing some Animal dissenters, who weremaking a nuisance of themselves in the palace gardens.He looked for news of theprovinces, and found a filler about Munchkinland, which continued experiencingnear-drought conditions; occasional thunderbursts would drench the ground, butthe water would run off or sink uselessly into the clay.They said that hiddensubterranean lakes underlay the Vinkus region, that water resources there couldserve the whole of Oz.But the idea of a canal system across the entire country madeeveryone laugh.The expense! There was great disagreement between the Eminencesand the Emerald City as to what was to be done.Secession, thought Boq seditiously, and looked up to see Uphaba, alone, withouteven a nanny or Ama, standing over him."What a delicious expression you have on your face, Boq," she said."It's muchmore interesting than love.""It is love, in a way," said Boq, then remembered himself, and leaped to his feet."Won't you join me? Please, take a seat.Unless you're worried about beingunchaperoned."She sat down, looking a bit etiolated, and allowed him to call for a cup of mineraltea.She had a parcel in brown paper and string under her arm."A few trinkets for mysister," she said."She's like Miss Galinda, she loves the fancy outside of things.I founda Vinkus shawl in the bazaar, red roses on a black background, with black and greenfringe.I'm sending it to her, and a pair of striped stockings that Ama Clutch knittedfor me.""I didn't know you had a sister," he said."Was she in the play group we were intogether?"- 133 - "She's three years younger," Elphaba said."She'll come to Crage Hall before long.""Is she as difficult as you are?""She's difficult in a different way.She's crippled, pretty severely, is my Nessarose,so she's a handful.Even Madame Morrible doesn't quite know the extent of it.But bythen I'll be a third-year girl and will have the nerve to stand up to the Head, I guess.Ifanything gives me nerve, it's people making life hard for Nessarose.Life is alreadyhard enough for her.""Is your mama raising her?""My mother is dead.My father is in charge, nominally.""Nominally?""He's religious," said Elphaba, and made the circling palms gesture that indicatedyou could grind millstone against millstone all you liked, but there wasn't any quernin the land that could produce flour if there was no grain to grind."It sounds very hard for you all.How did your mama die?""She died in childbirth, and this is the end of the personal interview.""Tell me about Doctor Dillamond.I hear you're working for him.""Tell me about your amusing campaign for the heart of Galinda the Ice Queen."Boq really wanted to hear about Doctor Dillamond, but was derailed by Elphaba'sremark."I will keep on, Elphie, I will! When I see her I'm so smitten with longing, it'slike fire in my veins.I can't speak, and the things I think about are like visions.It's likedreaming.It's like floating in your dreams.""I don't dream."- 134 - "Tell me, is there any hope? What does she say? Does she ever even imagine thather feelings for me might change?"Elphaba sat with her two elbows on the table, her hands clasped in front of herface, her two forefingers leaning against each other and against her thin, grayish lips."You know, Boq," she said, "the thing is I have become fond of Galinda myself.Behindher starry-eyed love of herself there is a mind struggling to work.She does thinkabout things.When her mind is really working, she could, if led, think on you-even, Isuspect, somewhat fondly.I suspect.I don't know.But when she slides back intoherself, I mean into the girl who spends two hours a day curling that beautiful hair, it'sas if the thinking Galinda goes into some internal closet and shuts the door.Or as ifshe's in hysterical retreat from things that are too big for her.I love her both ways, butI find it odd.I wouldn't mind leaving myself behind if I could, but I don't know theway out.""I propose you're being hard on her, and you're certainly too forward," said Boqsternly."Were she sitting here I think she'd be astounded to hear you speak so freely.""I'm just trying to behave as I think a friend should behave.Granted, I haven't hadmuch practice.""Well, I question your friendship with me, If you consider Miss Galinda your friendtoo, and if that's how you tear a friend apart in her absence."Though Boq was irritated, he found that this was a more lively discussion thanthe conventional patter he and Galinda had so far exchanged.He didn't want to burnElphaba off with criticism."I'm ordering you another mineral tea," he said, in anauthoritative voice, his father's voice in fact, "and then you can tell me about DoctorDillamond."- 135 - "Skip the tea, I'm still nursing this one and you have no more money than I do, Ibet," said Elphaba, "but I'll tell you about Doctor Dillamond.Unless you are tooaffronted at the slice and angle of my opinions.""Please, perhaps I am wrong," said Boq."Look, it's a nice day, we're both off thecampus.How do you come to be out alone, by the way? Is your escape sanctioned byMadame Morrible?""Take a guess about that," she said, "Once it was clear that you could come andgo from Crage Hall by way of the vegetable garden and the roof of the adjacentstable, I decided I could too.I'm never missed.""That's hard for me to believe," said he, daringly, "for you're not the kind whoblends into the woodwork.Now tell me about Doctor Dillamond.He's my Idol."She sighed, and set the package down on the table at last, and settled in for along chat.She told him about Doctor Dillamond's work in natural essences, trying todetermine by scientific method what the real differences were between animal andAnimal tissue, and between Animal and human tissue.The literature on the matter,she had learned from doing the legwork herself, was all couched in unionist terms,and pagan terms before that, and they didn't hold up to scientific scrutiny."Don'tforget Shiz University was originally a unionist monastery," said Elphaba, "so despitethe anything-goes attitude among the educated elite, there are still bedrocks ofunionist bias.""But I'm a unionist," said Boq, "and I don't see the conflict.The Unnamed God isaccommodating to many ranges of being, not just human.Are you talking about asubtle bias against Animals, interwoven into early unionist tracts, and still inoperation today?""That's certainly what Doctor Dillamond thinks.And he's a unionist himself.Explain that paradox and I'd be glad to convert.I admire the Goat intensely.But the- 136 - real interest of it to me is the political slant
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