This scene was replaced during revisions with the scene in which Merlin and Katie go out to lunch and run into a robbery. I needed to get some action into the story and show Merlin's power. But I still like this original scene, which shows Merlin learningabout modern Manhattan while having a quiet lunch with Katie.

As we left the building, I said, “It’s a bit of a walk -- not too bad, though -- but I think the South Street Seaport would be a good place to go. They have a lot of restaurants there, and you can see the water.” The eighteenth and nineteenth-century buildings in that area would still be hopelessly modern to Merlin, but I figured it would be less strange to him than anything too truly modern.

“Whatever you suggest,” he said, holding his arm out for me to take.

As we walked, he asked constant questions about the things we passed. Everything was new to him. I answered as well as I could, but I felt inadequate to the task of integrating one of the most legendary people of all time into twenty-first-century New York. This was yet another of those things that I was dying to tell someone about, but who would believe it if I said I’d had lunch with Merlin? All those people we passed on the streets probably thought I was just out for a stroll with my grandfather.

In a way, Merlin did remind me of my long-dead granddad. My real grandfather had been a Texas farmer, and not very much like a Dark Ages wizard, but both of them had the same curiosity and good humor. If they’d met, they’d have probably been friends.

We chose a restaurant that was a mock-up of an old English pub, which was still way ahead of Merlin’s time, and took a table outside. It was a crisp fall day, the kind of day when it’s hard to believe that anything truly bad can happen. But we were just taking a break from a day focused on combating evil.

Merlin kept asking questions, throughout the meal. Everything fascinated him -- the menu, the tourists with their camcorders, people on Rollerblades. After we’d been served our meal, he asked, “Why are there so many pumpkins around, and these decorations that seem to depict bats and cats?”

I hadn’t even noticed the seasonal decor. After a while, it’s easy to tune it out. “Halloween is at the end of the month. All Hallows Eve. I think there’s also some kind of festival on the pagan calendar.”

He’d looked blank at the mention of Halloween, but he nodded when I mentioned the pagan calendar. “Ah, Samhain. But what do the pumpkins and cats have to do with that?”

“To be honest, I’m really not sure. What we celebrate today probably isn’t anything like what you knew. Mostly, it’s a holiday for children and for adults to act silly. People wear costumes and eat a lot of candy. It’s a fun holiday. The stores and restaurants all decorate because they want us to think about fun and then spend money. You’ll find that most of the major holidays have been heavily commercialized.”

He grinned. “Marketing!”

“Exactly! See, I knew you’d catch on. I guess they didn’t have anything like this back where you came from.”

“Nothing more than one blacksmith trying to tell you his work was superior to the other blacksmith’s. Perhaps they should have tried making signs.”

I laughed at the mental image of medieval blacksmiths advertising. Once again, the weirdness of my situation struck me. I was having lunch at the South Street Seaport with Merlin. The folks back home would never believe this, even if I did tell them.

Merlin looked around, then up at the masts of the ships looming above us. “Is that how your people travel across the sea?” he asked.

“Not now. This is a museum. It’s meant to show us how people used to travel. These days, we mostly fly.”

“Ah, the carpets.”

“No, more like airplanes. They’re machines that fly. You don’t get too many around the Manhattan airspace these days, but someday we’ll have to go out to La Guardia or JFK so you can see them land and take off.”

“These aren’t magical machines?”

“Not as far as I know. But don’t ask me how they work. They might as well be magical to me. There’s a reason I’m not an engineer.”

“I would most definitely like a good look at one of these flying machines.” I could already see the wheels in his mind turning. Rod had said he liked to tinker. It wouldn’t be long before he’d be working on an airplane in his office. I decided that my next lesson in modern life would involve the Internet, so he’d learn how to look up information when he had a question.

“I bet all this is really strange to you, huh?” I said after watching him think for a while.

“Strange, and wonderful.”

“Did you leave anyone behind that you miss?”

He shook his head sadly. “That’s one of the reasons I took to my cave when I did. I had no family, and I’d fallen out of favor with the ones I thought of as my friends.”

I didn’t know what to say to that. I wasn’t sure what was worse, leaving the people you loved centuries behind or not having anyone to leave behind. I doubted he’d want my pity. The best I could offer was my friendship.

I helped him figure out the bill when it came, then tried to explain the concept of tipping. “The bill is to pay for the food itself. But then you pay for the service.”

Once he understood the concept and the appropriate percentage of the bill, he quickly calculated the amount and proved a quick study in determining just how many bills and coins it required. We were just getting up from the table when there was a whoosh above us. I ducked instinctively, then straightened to find Sam perched on the back of one of the empty chairs at our table.