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"Well, seeatha Brown, she was Church of England, but she just done gone to the Catholics And it seems they don't hold with places like three and one-half, not even when they're decently run And their church here, just up the street, seeures to kill two birds with the saoes on at Mr Brown to close the place down and sell it and with her portion she goin' fix the roof for the Catholics"
"That's a sha to happen to you?"
"Guess I'll ston Live with one ofstores--Issa's mebbe, or Nathan's Sav' La Mar is sort of quiet" The brown eyes became introspective "But I'll sure miss the place Folks have fun here and Love Lane's a pretty street We're all friends up and down the Lane It's got sort of, sort of" "Atot Like sort of old Jamaica Like it must have been in the old days Everyone's friends with each other Help each other when they have trouble You'd be surprised how often the girls do it for free if the ular custoly at Bond to see if he understood the strength of the evidence
"That's nice of thehed "This ain't no business, Mister Mark Not while I' it This is a public service, like water and electricity and health and education and" She broke off and glanced over her shoulder at the clock which said 5:45 "Hell! You got ot Joe and May It's their supper" She went to the cafeand wound it down At once, froe black birds, slightly smaller than ravens, whirled in, circled the interior of the cafe a of any other bird in the world, and untidily landed on the counter within reach of Bond's hand They strutted up and down iolden eyes and went through a piercing repertoire of tinny whistles and trills, some of which required them to ruffle themselves up to almost twice their normal size
Tiffy went back behind the bar, took two pennies out of her purse, rang theer cakes out of the flyblown display case She broke off bits and fed the two birds, always the sreedily seized the pieces fro the scraps of the wooden counter with a claw, tore thements and devoured them When it was all over, and Tiffy had chided theers, they made small, neat white messes on the counter and looked pleased with themselves Tiffy took a cloth and cleaned up the s but learned folk call therackles They're very friendly folk The doctor-bird, the hu bird with the streamer tail, is the Jamaican national bird, but I like these best They're not so beautiful, but they're the friendliest birds and they're funny besides They seehty black thieves"
The kling-klings eyed the cake stand and complained stridently that their supper was over James Bond produced twopence and handed it over "They're wonderful Like mechanical toys Give the up the money and took out two e nice to you So don't you peck ain "She was halfway through feeding the birds when she cocked an ear There was the noise of creaking boards somewhere overhead and then the sound of quiet footsteps treading stairs All of a sudden Tiffy's animated face became quiet and tense She whispered to Bond: "That's Lindy's ood custoo with hih sometimes And he don't like Joe and May because he reckons they make two much noise" She shooed the birds in the direction of the open , but they saw there was half their cake to come and they just fluttered into the air and then down to the counter again Tiffy appealed to Bond, "Be a good friend and just sit quiet whatever he says He likes to get people mad And then" She stopped "Will you have another Red Stripe, mister?"
Bead curtains swished in the shadowy back of the roo with his chin propped on his right hand He now dropped the hand to the counter and sat back The Walther PPK inside the waistband of his trousers to the left of his flat stoers of his right hand curled slightly, ready to receive its butt He moved his left foot off the rail of the stool onto the floor He said, "That'd be fine" He unbuttoned his coat with his left hand and then, with the same hand, took out his handkerchief and wiped his face with it "It always gets extra hot around six before the Undertaker's Wind has started to blow"
"Mister, the undertaker's right here You care to feel his wind?"
Ja room and all he could see was a pale, tall outline Thea suitcase He put it down on the floor and ca rubber-soled shoes for his feet made no sound Tiffy moved nervously behind the counter and a switch clicked Half a dozen low-voltage bulbs came to life in rusty brackets around the walls
Bond said easily, "You ainst the counter The description in Records was exact, but it had not caught the catlikeman, the extreme breadth of the shoulders, and the narroaist, or the cold immobility of the eyes that now examined Bond with an expression of aloof disinterest He earing a well-cut, single-breasted tan suit and co-respondent shoes in brown and white Instead of a tie, he wore a high stock in white silk secured by a gold pin the shape of atheatrical about the getup but, perhaps because of the ure, there wasn't
He said, "I sometimes make 'em dance Then I shoot their feet off" There was no trace of a foreign accent underneath the American
Bond said, "That sounds rather drastic What do you do it for?"
"The last time it was five thousand dollars Seems like you don't knoho I alanced at Tiffy She was standing very still, her hands by her sides The knuckles hite