“How?”

“I don’t know how. I just do. I’ve always known it. Perhaps I know it by smell. Your name is Senenmut.”

“Never heard of it. Whatever made you think that?” he questioned and placed the snail on a small silver dish for them to light so they could dine by candlelight.

  “Lovely!” exclaimed Miss Hatshepsut, handing him the lighter. “You light the glass snail while I bring supper.”

Senenmut, the architect, took the lighter and read the inscription aloud: “If you strike me three times, your wish will be granted.”

“And it will, you know, before this evening is out!” she added, laughing. He flicked the lighter once and a flame appeared. She clapped her hands. He brought the snail’s wick close to the flame and lighted it. The glass snail suddenly came aglow on the table, transformed into the most beautiful Christmas candle. The room seemed to take off from its foundations and float in a gentle ball of light.

“What are you doing?” she cried. “You have to strike the lighter three times!”

“Why three times, when I lit the candle at first go?”

“Because that’s what it says on the lighter! Don’t you know that? Everything must be said three times in order to be heard once.”