PodCastle 175, Giant Episode: El Regalo
Show Notes
Rated PG
El Regalo
by Peter S. Beagle
“You can’t kill him,” Mr. Luke said. “Your mother wouldn’t like it.” After some consideration, he added, “I’d be rather annoyed myself.”
“But wait,” Angie said, in the dramatic tones of a television commercial for some miraculous mop. “There’s more. I didn’t tell you about the brandied cupcakes—”
“Yes, you did.”
“And about him telling Jennifer Williams what I got her for her birthday, and she pitched a fit, because she had two of them already—”
“He meant well,” her father said cautiously. “I’m pretty sure.”
“And then when he finked to Mom about me and Orlando Cruz, and we weren’t doing anything—”
“Nevertheless. No killing.”
Angie brushed sweaty mouse-brown hair off her forehead and regrouped.
“Can I at least maim him a little? Trust me, he’s earned it.”
“I don’t doubt you,” Mr. Luke agreed. “But you’re fifteen, and Marvyn’s eight. Eight and a half. You’re bigger than he is, so beating him up isn’t fair. When you’re . . . oh, say, twenty-three, and he’s sixteen and a half—okay, you can try it then. Not until.”
Angie’s wordless grunt might or might not have been assent. She started out of the room, but her father called her back, holding out his right hand.
“Pinky- swear, kid.” Angie eyed him warily, but hooked her little finger around his without hesitation, which was a mistake. “You did that much too easily,” her father said, frowning. “Swear by Buffy.”
About the Author
Peter S. Beagle
Peter Soyer Beagle is an American novelist of fantasy literature, and a screenwriter and musician. His best-known works are is A Fine and Private Place, I See By My Outfit, The Last Unicorn, The Innkeeper’s Song, and The Rhinoceros Who Quoted Nietzsche, During the last twenty-five years he has won many literary awards, including a World Fantasy Award for Life Achievement in 2011. He lives and writes in the San Francisco Bay Area.
About the Narrator
Emily Smith
Emily Smith is a part-time physician and full time mom in central California. While not narrating for Pseudopod or saving lives, she lives in constant danger of being eaten by cats, tripped by a baby, choked by a wisteria vine or smothered by wild birds. The wisteria vine is currently the most likely cause of her demise as it is the only thing not dependent on her for sustenance and her death dovetails nicely into its plan for world domination.
You can occasionally find her as Fireturtle on the Escape Artists forums, particularly if there is a flash contest in the offing.
