The table glowed with soft candle light as Tanya lit the silver candelabrums on each side. The white of the table cloth caught the candle's glow and shimmered with tracings of gold. She pressed her fingers across the starched surface, smoothing imaginary wrinkles, and adjusted the Royal Doulton place settings. Suffering from boredom and slightly depressed, Tanya had decided to hold a dinner party.
"You never told me you had money," Judith said, beside her.
"You never asked," Tanya said, avoiding the subject as she skirted her friend and adjusted another place setting. She lifted the crystal wine goblet and held it toward the candle light, watching the sparkles, fire light caught and held within.
"I did. I asked you why you were a volunteer at the Arts Gallery, and why you didn't sell your work."
Tanya placed the goblet beside the dishes, and turned to her friend. "I'm sorry," she said, her expression contrite. "I really didn't want to hide anything from you, and it certainly wasn't because I didn't trust you. Part of it is reluctance to show off my wealth, wealth I didn't even know I had until four years ago. And that's the other part-I'm simply not used to being rich." She frowned. "To go from dirt poor to rich, just like that…" She snapped her fingers. "I have a tendency not to believe it myself, at times." She removed two goblets from the table and poured wine for Judith and herself. "Let's sit. Charles and Edda should be here any minute."
"How did you find out about the money?" Judith asked.
Tanya looked slightly uncomfortable, as if the subject disturbed her. "It was late afternoon, I remember," she said. "A man arrived at the Listown Farm, near North Bay. He was wearing a dark suit and a bright tie-I can still see that tie in my mind's eye-bright yellow, almost phosphorescent-and shiny, expensive shoes. He told me he'd been wandering around looking for the owner when he heard noise coming from the barn." Tanya paused. "The pig barn. The barn I was cleaning."
"A pig barn!" Judith said, looking disgusted. "I hear the smell is atrocious."
"It's pretty bad, but you get used to it." Tanya looked thoughtful, lifted her wine glass to the light and watched the glitter. "You get used to most anything, in time."
"So, what did the phosphorescent man want?" Judith asked.
"He seemed to want answers. He asked me a whole lot of questions, like who I was and where I'd been, and so on. Then he told me to meet him in his office the next week, after school. That's how it all started."