Part 48 (2/2)

They partnered up to drain the pain from the Bledsoe. With Silverman somehow bleeding off the acc.u.mulations and earthing them where they would do the world no harm.

It wasn't many months before the improvements became noticeable.

Morley played the parrot hand for all it was worth, heading back to the house. I suppose that wasn't unjustified, after the yeoman blow delivered by Mr. Mulclar.

He did say, ”The underworld should calm down for a while, just to sort itself out.”

”Good news, good news. Maybe I can talk Tinnie into going off to Imperial New City for a couple weeks. We could tour the historic breweries. What the h.e.l.l is this?”

The street was blocked. Mummers, jugglers, people in period costume, guys on stilts, whatnot, were crossing in front of us.

”One of the playhouses trying to pump up attendance, probably. Like everything else does, the playhouse fad has gone into overkill.”

That's my hometown. When one man strikes gold everyone else tries to cash in by imitating his success. Instead of panning new gold.

This looked like a sizable show. It held us up for ten minutes. I concluded, ”I saw so much here. Why should I go to their playhouse?”

”Because there you get a story?”

”I don't need a story. My whole life is a story.”

Thinking no more about it, I trudged on toward my showdown with a partner who insisted on toying with his a.s.sociate. And a date with the new keg of Weider Select that Dean was supposed to get in today.

Maybe I'd go see the redhead later, see if she was interested in a brewery tour.

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