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 guest was female and under forty. Dean has a way with women young enough to be his daughters. They like to hang out in his kitchen. Partly that’s because he’s safe, partly because he indulges them like they were favorite
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 guest was female and under forty. Dean has a way with women young enough to be his daughters. They like to hang out in his kitchen. Partly that’s because he’s safe, partly because he indulges them like they were favorite
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