Prologue

      “Well, now I declare, isn’t this the nicest surprise? You’ve come to visit Granny Bee. Bring yourself in and have some homemade lemonade. I still make my honey, of course. Was how I got my name Granny Bee.

      “Tell you a story? Land’s sake, I’ve been spinnin’ tales as far back as I can remember.

      “How would you like to hear about the Bishop boys? Now then, Tux is the oldest, then a year later along came the twins, Blue and Bram. There was so much love in that big, old shabby house, you could feel it by walkin’ in the door.

      “Jana-John, the boys’ mama, has been paintin’ pictures ever since I can recall. She doesn’t give a hoot if they’re any good. She’s happy paintin’, and that’s just fine.

      “The boys’ daddy is Abraham Lincoln Bishop, and I swear he truly does have the looks of Mr. Lincoln. Abe Bishop was a history professor ‘fore he retired. Now he writes long papers on history doin’s, but I’ve never heard tell of what he does with the things once he writes ’em.

      “Now Tux, it was found, had psychic powers. He can see in his mind somethin’ that’s goin’ on far away. He doesn’t fancy doin’ it, ’cause those powers are embarrassin’ to him, makes him feel like folks might not accept him as the person he is, and would figure he was strange. He’d just as soon no one knew ’bout those powers.

      “A while back, the boys sat ‘round the table with their folks, and the brothers decided it was time to marry and have some babies. It was as good as done, they thought, as they were used to doin’ what they set out to do. Well, findin’ the right person to love isn’t all that easy. Those boys were in for a mighty big surprise.

      “Now, I told you ‘bout Tux’s powers, that he didn’t like havin’. You can just imagine how upsetting it was when those pictures started comin’ without him doin’ one thing to bring ’em. Tux didn’t like that one little bit.

      “But, my stars, that’s exactly what was happenin’....”