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The house was curious. Was this going to be a new member of the household? Or (I detected a hint of jealousy) was he going to take me away from it? To another house? The house wasn't sure it like the idea of me going away after we'd just been reunited.
"Don't worry," I said. "I won't leave you for at least five years."
"That's good to know," Martinus said, looking around with curiosity, "but I'd like you to stay with me for longer than five years. I'm a monogamous man, you know. All Novaks are."
"I wasn't talking to you," I said. "I was talking to the house."
"Ah," Martinus said, after a pause. "The house. You just talk to it like that?"
"You think it's crazy?" I asked.
"I don't know if it's crazy," Martinus said, shrugging, "but it sure is confusing."
I considered it.
"You're
