tourist?”
“Yes,” he said.
“Get out and see the sights,” she continued.
“And have breakfast, yes.”
“Like a pair of human targets,” she grimaced.
“Now you’re on the trolley,” he said.
There was a small pause.
“That one was more Jolson than Cagney,” she said gently.
“Well, they can’t all be winners,” he shrugged.
Fourteen
The day felt like a whirlwind to Kit Baxter. There were other travellers seeing the sights of Luxor, of course. Most of the people in the crowds were either there to see the wonders or to sell something to the people seeing the wonders, but Kit didn’t really notice any of them. She was awestruck at the enormity of her surroundings, at the fact that people had made such things with their own hands, and at how very long ago they had done so. She felt like she was on an alien world somewhere, and for a time she allowed herself to be entirely distracted.
The Red Panda was clearly enjoying himself, playing guide. In his supposedly misspent youth he had travelled the world, but all that time he had been gathering the training he needed to start his crime-fighting career. Kit had no idea that he’d even been to Egypt, but he plainly had, as he waved his hands about speaking of history and architecture and hieroglyphs and all sorts of other things that flew past Kit in a blur. She watched him talking as they walked down the narrow street. He was in a white linen suit in deference to the heat, with a white panama hat upon his head. August Fenwick usually wore browns or blacks, if only to stay away from his alter ego’s all-grey color scheme. But today he not only looked different, he was different. Thousands of miles away from home, he felt no need to put on the wealthy, foolish prat attitude that served as his best disguise. He was calm and in good spirits and slightly in love with the sound of his own voice, which was fine because so was she. Kit wondered if this was what August Fenwick was actually like, and if she would ever know for sure.
She sensed movement in a stand of palm trees beside them as they passed, and leaned in slightly toward him, not wanting to break the spell.
“Boss,” she said , “in the trees-”
“Not now,” he smiled . “I’ve been saving this one all morning.”
They rounded the corner past the palm trees and she suddenly saw what he had been talking about. It was a row of sphinxes – there had to be thirty or forty of them at least, all guarding the path that led past crumbled walls to the left toward an enormous temple. There were two seated statues, one on either side of the gap in the great wall of the temple building itself, and while they were still too far away to tell, it seemed to Kit that they had to be at least fifty feet tall.
He was already talking about the enormous obelisk in front of the temple and what is was made of and what it signified, and she supposed she ought to be listening, but she only had eyes for the sphinxes. She had seen pictures of the enormous one on the Giza plain and these were much smaller, but there were so many of them, and they seemed to stretch down the road beyond . It made them seem somehow more real. Some were broken, of course, and where faces and details had been replaced by crumbling sandstone the illusion was broken, but if she did not look too closely, she could imagine them to be a pack of fantastic animals descending upon them.
It was then that she realized what she had seen moving in the trees – she saw him again, stepping casually out from between two sphinxes. She stumbled slightly as she turned and grabbed on to Fenwick’s arm to steady herself. As if by automatic reaction, his elbow lifted slightly, presenting her with a small crook to hold onto if she liked. She wondered exactly how she could do this and make it look like she just sort of forgot to let go of his arm. Who were they supposed to be right now, exactly? Did it matter if they went about arm-in-arm? She decided
“Yes,” he said.
“Get out and see the sights,” she continued.
“And have breakfast, yes.”
“Like a pair of human targets,” she grimaced.
“Now you’re on the trolley,” he said.
There was a small pause.
“That one was more Jolson than Cagney,” she said gently.
“Well, they can’t all be winners,” he shrugged.
Fourteen
The day felt like a whirlwind to Kit Baxter. There were other travellers seeing the sights of Luxor, of course. Most of the people in the crowds were either there to see the wonders or to sell something to the people seeing the wonders, but Kit didn’t really notice any of them. She was awestruck at the enormity of her surroundings, at the fact that people had made such things with their own hands, and at how very long ago they had done so. She felt like she was on an alien world somewhere, and for a time she allowed herself to be entirely distracted.
The Red Panda was clearly enjoying himself, playing guide. In his supposedly misspent youth he had travelled the world, but all that time he had been gathering the training he needed to start his crime-fighting career. Kit had no idea that he’d even been to Egypt, but he plainly had, as he waved his hands about speaking of history and architecture and hieroglyphs and all sorts of other things that flew past Kit in a blur. She watched him talking as they walked down the narrow street. He was in a white linen suit in deference to the heat, with a white panama hat upon his head. August Fenwick usually wore browns or blacks, if only to stay away from his alter ego’s all-grey color scheme. But today he not only looked different, he was different. Thousands of miles away from home, he felt no need to put on the wealthy, foolish prat attitude that served as his best disguise. He was calm and in good spirits and slightly in love with the sound of his own voice, which was fine because so was she. Kit wondered if this was what August Fenwick was actually like, and if she would ever know for sure.
She sensed movement in a stand of palm trees beside them as they passed, and leaned in slightly toward him, not wanting to break the spell.
“Boss,” she said , “in the trees-”
“Not now,” he smiled . “I’ve been saving this one all morning.”
They rounded the corner past the palm trees and she suddenly saw what he had been talking about. It was a row of sphinxes – there had to be thirty or forty of them at least, all guarding the path that led past crumbled walls to the left toward an enormous temple. There were two seated statues, one on either side of the gap in the great wall of the temple building itself, and while they were still too far away to tell, it seemed to Kit that they had to be at least fifty feet tall.
He was already talking about the enormous obelisk in front of the temple and what is was made of and what it signified, and she supposed she ought to be listening, but she only had eyes for the sphinxes. She had seen pictures of the enormous one on the Giza plain and these were much smaller, but there were so many of them, and they seemed to stretch down the road beyond . It made them seem somehow more real. Some were broken, of course, and where faces and details had been replaced by crumbling sandstone the illusion was broken, but if she did not look too closely, she could imagine them to be a pack of fantastic animals descending upon them.
It was then that she realized what she had seen moving in the trees – she saw him again, stepping casually out from between two sphinxes. She stumbled slightly as she turned and grabbed on to Fenwick’s arm to steady herself. As if by automatic reaction, his elbow lifted slightly, presenting her with a small crook to hold onto if she liked. She wondered exactly how she could do this and make it look like she just sort of forgot to let go of his arm. Who were they supposed to be right now, exactly? Did it matter if they went about arm-in-arm? She decided
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