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“Yes, you do.” She eyed her son critically. “And what happened to your hair?”

“What do you mean what happened to my hair?”

“It’s gone.”

“It’s not gone.”

“Yes, it is. Last time you had a nice big head of hair and now you’re bald.”

“I’m not bald. I have thin hair is all.”

“You look like an old bald man. You look older than me.”

“This is what I look like, Ma, whether you like it or not.”

“How can I introduce you to my friends looking like this?”

“I don’t care about your friends!”

“Maybe I’ll ask Master Omar to give you hair. A man needs his hair.”

“I have hair!”

“Not that I can see. I’ll ask Omar to give you a nice hair transplant.”

“Oh, God, Ma!”

“Exactly. Omar is a god, so he should be able to give you a nice hair transplant.”

“No offense, babe,” said Chase quietly, “but I think your grandmother has finally lost her last marble.”

“I think she lost that marble a long time ago,” Odelia whispered back.

They were shuffling in the direction of what appeared to be the main room of the house, where the conference with Master Omar was taking place. Chairs had been placed in a semi-circle around a large table, where several people were already seated.

“That’s the inner circle,” Gran commented. “Best seats in the house.”

“You’ll notice that all the seats are taken,” said Uncle Alec.

“So? They’ll just have to kick someone off the inner circle to make room for me.”

“Ever the altruist,” Tex grunted, earning himself a dark scowl from his mother-in-law.

They were directed to a couple of chairs in the back, near the wall, and Gran, clearly not happy with this seating arrangement, grumbled,“Last night I got seated in the first row. This is all your fault. I should never have recruited so many of you.”

Finally they were seated and the waiting began. The room was very airy and very bright, and there were cameras everywhere, filming the entire thing.

“What’s with all the cameras?” Odelia asked Gran, her resident expert on all things Soul Science.

“Oh, they have a YouTube channel,” Gran said with a wave of her hand. “They post videos all the time. If you’re lucky you’ll be in one of them and become a minor Soul Science star.”

“Are you in these videos?” she asked.

“Oh, sure. I’m in all of them.”

“Why am I not surprised?” muttered Uncle Alec.

A sudden hush descended on the room, and when Odelia turned to look, she saw that a smallish man had entered. He was dressed in a plain knit sweater and looked like an accountant.

She looked away, thinking that surely he could never be the famous Master Omar, but then Gran gave her a prod in the ribs and loud-whispered,“It’s him! Master Omar!”

Master Omar greeted the crowd with a kindly nod and took a seat at the head of the table. His hair was conservatively coiffed, and he had a square and doughy face.

“Huh,” said Odelia’s mom. “Is that Omar?”

“Shush!” said Gran. “He’s about to speak!”

And so he was.“Friends, welcome to my humble abode,” he said, in a surprisingly soft voice. “And I’m glad to see that so many of you have turned up. Let’s start with a couple of questions.” And then he turned the floor to those sitting at the table.

Odelia half expected them to ask about investment strategies and the difference between the debit and the credit column, but instead a young blond woman with a face like an angel said,“One of our members has singlehandedly brought no less than a dozen new people to our meeting, Master Omar. Not only that, but she’s managed to convince her entire family to join us here tonight. Her name is Vesta Muffin, and surely she should be applauded for her fine work.”

Suddenly all eyes turned to Gran, who had the decency to blush, and a polite smattering of applause broke out amongst those present.

“Indeed the force is strong in this one,” said Master Omar. “Your spirit is commendable, Vesta. Please tell us, in your own words, how you managed such a remarkable feat.”

Gran cleared her throat.“If you’re inspired,” she began, “it’s easy for other people to get inspired, too. They sense the holy fire burning in your soul and it’s infectious. Besides which, I told my kids that if they didn’t join me I’d disinherit them, so there’s that.”

This elicited a smattering of laughter, and even Master Omar was shaking with mirth.

“Funny,” said Chase.

“I wonder how my cats are doing,” said Odelia. “I hope they’re not too uncomfortable up there.”

“I’ll bet they’re just fine,” said Chase. “Besides, they’ve been in tougher situations than being cooped up with a minor feline deity.”

“I can see that your family has many questions for us,” said Master Omar. “Please go ahead and ask them and I’ll do my best to answer them to their satisfaction.”

Suddenly Dad shot up like a rocket, eager to ask the first question. But as he stood there, his brain working hard to formulate his opening remarks, suddenly a man strode in and took position next to Omar. He directed a slight smile at Odelia’s dad, and the latter suddenly turned a nice and vivid crimson.