came to my
house. It was night out and as quiet as it gets in my block but
damned if Mrs. Cardonlos wasn’t outside watching my place
like she expected entertainment of the sort only I can provide.
I studied the area carefully. First I get an armed escort, then
I find my neighborhood nemesis on point. “What’s
happening, Old Bones? How come the wicked witch of Macunado Street
is on patrol?”
Saucerhead looked at me like I’d gone goofier than
he’d ever expected. “Just thinking out loud,” I
said. “Priming him.”
“Yeah?” Winger said. “Then tell him to read
his account book. There’s two marks each due here.”
“Two marks? Don’t be ridiculous.”
It is indeed ridiculous, Garrett. The woman has swung into
her avaricious mode. And she is testing our ability to communicate,
to establish, if she can, our limits. Two pennyweights silver was
the agreed upon fee. And that was overly generous. On reflection I
believe you ought to convince them to take an equivalent value in
copper sceats. The price of silver is depressed. It will stabilize
at a higher level once the euphoria of victory is swept away by
reality’s breeze.
What was he going on about? “Euphoria? You’ve got to
be kidding. You know what’s happening in these
streets?”
Winger and Saucerhead gaped.
Yes. I do know. Would you say that what is happening
involves the sort of people who deal in large quantities of noble
metals?
“All right. I understand.” Dummy me. I understood,
too, that I had given Winger a bucket of information for free.
Please deal with those two quickly. We have company and I am
impatient to correct that.
Oh my.
----
----
23
Winger wouldn’t take copper. She wasn’t bright but
she was possessed of a certain cunning. If we didn’t want to
let go of our silver, we must know something.
She respected the Dead Man’s brains.
Saucerhead followed her lead though he wasn’t sure why. He
gave me a black look for trying to pay him in copper. I told him,
“Don’t spend it all in one place.”
“It’s already spent, Garrett. I owe
Morley.”
Imagine that. Tharpe runs a tab at Morley’s place. Even
now that it’s The Palms. How come Morley lets him?
Winger told me, “You need to consult some kind of expert,
Garrett.”
“Expert?”
“About your habit of talking to birds.”
“I could cure it in a minute. Faster, even. Take him home
with you. He idolizes you. And he makes more sense than most people
do.”
Winger responded with a big raspberry. As they walked away
Saucerhead tried to convince her that she’d just blown the
best offer she’d had all year. Nobody human had shown as much
interest.
“You want a knuckle sandwich for supper you just keep on
jacking your jaw,” Winger growled.
“Where we gonna eat, anyway?”
I shut the door, pleased that we’d gotten by without
Winger trying to enlist me in some harebrained scheme for replacing
the Crown Jewels with paste. They say you can’t pick your
relatives but you can pick your friends. I must have some really
strange secret urges.
Garrett. Cease dallying.
I entered the Dead Man’s room, calling to the kitchen,
“Dean, I need you to come bear witness.” I knew the
signs. I was about to be granted a nose-to-the grindstone lecture
by the all-time grandmaster procrastinator and slough-off artist.
Trouble was, the only witness who could really indict him would be
another Loghyr. “A little chow wouldn’t hurt,
either.” My own particular Loghyr, despite having been dead
for ages, has the reputation of being one of the most ambitious of
his kind ever.
Some battles you can’t win. Wisdom is attained when you
start to recognize those beforehand and slink onward in search of
ground you do have a chance to hold.
Dean, please bring our guest when you come. And do put
together a platter for Garrett, if you will be so kind. He is
hungry and becoming cranky.
I was going to get crankier. His attitude earlier and that
message told me our
house. It was night out and as quiet as it gets in my block but
damned if Mrs. Cardonlos wasn’t outside watching my place
like she expected entertainment of the sort only I can provide.
I studied the area carefully. First I get an armed escort, then
I find my neighborhood nemesis on point. “What’s
happening, Old Bones? How come the wicked witch of Macunado Street
is on patrol?”
Saucerhead looked at me like I’d gone goofier than
he’d ever expected. “Just thinking out loud,” I
said. “Priming him.”
“Yeah?” Winger said. “Then tell him to read
his account book. There’s two marks each due here.”
“Two marks? Don’t be ridiculous.”
It is indeed ridiculous, Garrett. The woman has swung into
her avaricious mode. And she is testing our ability to communicate,
to establish, if she can, our limits. Two pennyweights silver was
the agreed upon fee. And that was overly generous. On reflection I
believe you ought to convince them to take an equivalent value in
copper sceats. The price of silver is depressed. It will stabilize
at a higher level once the euphoria of victory is swept away by
reality’s breeze.
What was he going on about? “Euphoria? You’ve got to
be kidding. You know what’s happening in these
streets?”
Winger and Saucerhead gaped.
Yes. I do know. Would you say that what is happening
involves the sort of people who deal in large quantities of noble
metals?
“All right. I understand.” Dummy me. I understood,
too, that I had given Winger a bucket of information for free.
Please deal with those two quickly. We have company and I am
impatient to correct that.
Oh my.
----
----
23
Winger wouldn’t take copper. She wasn’t bright but
she was possessed of a certain cunning. If we didn’t want to
let go of our silver, we must know something.
She respected the Dead Man’s brains.
Saucerhead followed her lead though he wasn’t sure why. He
gave me a black look for trying to pay him in copper. I told him,
“Don’t spend it all in one place.”
“It’s already spent, Garrett. I owe
Morley.”
Imagine that. Tharpe runs a tab at Morley’s place. Even
now that it’s The Palms. How come Morley lets him?
Winger told me, “You need to consult some kind of expert,
Garrett.”
“Expert?”
“About your habit of talking to birds.”
“I could cure it in a minute. Faster, even. Take him home
with you. He idolizes you. And he makes more sense than most people
do.”
Winger responded with a big raspberry. As they walked away
Saucerhead tried to convince her that she’d just blown the
best offer she’d had all year. Nobody human had shown as much
interest.
“You want a knuckle sandwich for supper you just keep on
jacking your jaw,” Winger growled.
“Where we gonna eat, anyway?”
I shut the door, pleased that we’d gotten by without
Winger trying to enlist me in some harebrained scheme for replacing
the Crown Jewels with paste. They say you can’t pick your
relatives but you can pick your friends. I must have some really
strange secret urges.
Garrett. Cease dallying.
I entered the Dead Man’s room, calling to the kitchen,
“Dean, I need you to come bear witness.” I knew the
signs. I was about to be granted a nose-to-the grindstone lecture
by the all-time grandmaster procrastinator and slough-off artist.
Trouble was, the only witness who could really indict him would be
another Loghyr. “A little chow wouldn’t hurt,
either.” My own particular Loghyr, despite having been dead
for ages, has the reputation of being one of the most ambitious of
his kind ever.
Some battles you can’t win. Wisdom is attained when you
start to recognize those beforehand and slink onward in search of
ground you do have a chance to hold.
Dean, please bring our guest when you come. And do put
together a platter for Garrett, if you will be so kind. He is
hungry and becoming cranky.
I was going to get crankier. His attitude earlier and that
message told me our
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