Hello Again My Friends and Lucky Clients;
I must say I am appreciative of all your kind words and support after my fowl brush with death. I have spent the past few days at home, resting. But when you live above the famous
House of Curios, even a simple rest can become more than it seems.
In the chilly evening air, I resolved to light myself a small fire in the stove downstairs. There was a bit of wood left from the day before, and I bent down to start the fire. As I fumbled with my tinder drill, the bundle broke. I shook my head, chuckling to myself at my own clumsiness. I had a spare tinder drill in a drawer, and I retrieved it from a drawer and returned to my task. But it broke - again! Surely, I was much more careful at my task than I was just moments before. I was out of tinder, and it was the dark of night, but I was now determined to start a fire.

I put on my boots and set off outside, collecting grass and small twigs to set up a small pile near my fields. Again I set about trying to light the fire, but the only result was more snapped twigs and further frustration. The night dragged on, and my annoyance became routine. I would scour my fields for small sticks, only to return to my pile and watch them snap at my touch. By this point, I must confess, I my blood was already so heated that I scarcely needed a fire to keep warm. I was more than annoyed, and each snap meant another anguishing trip back into the darkness to find more tinder.
Soon, I noticed my eyes had become more skillful at picking out the sticks from the dirt. As I sat by my fire pile for what must have been the eighth or ninth time, I noticed I could see my work quite plainly. I wondered if I had somehow grown accustom to the darkness, only to realize that the Sun had steadily crept up behind me. It was morning and by now, my need for a fire and my patience for starting it had both left me.
As I slowly plodded back inside, I began to wonder if I had been cursed by an unseen hand. Perhaps a client who felt my terms were not fair? Perhaps a witch whose heart I had broken? Could it be that I, Waspo, was the target of a diabolical hex?! Surely, such witchcraft has not taken root in Salem... right?
Your tired, tattered, tinderless trader,
Waspo