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It was a good idea, anyway

The h Since it was Sunday, I was technically off duty I woke up in ti up on cat food and baking supplies before the after-church hordes descended

By noon, I had redients whisked, sifted, and separated and the late, great Katie Webster blasting soie Queen blues on the stereo My trusty electric handIt was a local nurammed into the phone

I lowered the volume on Katie "Hello, you’ve reached Daisy Johanssen"

There was a lot of noise in the background on the other end, too "Hi? This is Mark Brennan at Bazooka Joe’s You asked me to call?"

My mind was a blank "I did?"

"If those kids caht I shifted aht here down on the dock," he said "Got a pretty big crowd, too"

"Thanks," I said "I appreciate it"

Okay, so the cookies would have to wait On a hunch, I exchanged my cute but slippery-soled sandals for a pair of white Keds sneakers If ility For the sake of r on ed kids, I ith theit across my torso Since I wasn’t sure hoell my face was known in the wider eldritch coent of Hel soh like a tourist to pass

Truth be told, I actually enjoy this part of h adrenaline to ate h I do like to win It’s when things get serious, like they did earlier this suets scary

My apartment was a couple of blocks away froet there

Sure enough, it appeared that a trio of kids was running a shell ga affair There was the hawker, who looked like aJustin Bieber in an oversize baseball cap, sweeping bangs over his eyes, doing the whole "Ladies and gentleht up!" bit And there was the operator, a sole on the dock over a piece of cardboard, his handsthree e twenty-dollar bills fanned like playing cards in one hand Nor-Rockould have been proud of these three

I sidled through the crowd, ignoring a few protests Blinking laoblins, all three

I have to say, it was obvious they were having great fun Their feral nut-brown faces were contorted with gleefulle of teeth Sharp, bristly ears twitched with ht

"You, sir, you look like a sharp-eyed gent!" the Bieber-goblin said encouragingly in a clear, piping voice, identifying a new mark "Try your hand?"

A portly tourist in a polo shirt and Dockers cleared his throat "I don’t want to take advantage, son"

"Oh, it’s all right, sir," the Bieber-goblin assured him He laid one hand on the towhead’s shoulder "Nate here just needed to find his rhythht, Nate?"

The ostensible Nate returned his wink, handsht you are, Toh I watched the portly tourist pony up a twenty-dollar bill for his bet The see the twenty into the array of bills he held fanned in his hand The towheaded operator made a number of smooth passes with the pea and the walnut shells, just fast enough to be credible, just slow enough to be detectable The portly h to follow hiood on the bet

"Double or nothing, sir?" the Bieber-goblin asked