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SOMEONE singing, "Turn of the Century Blues" in a sultry, melancholy voice was all that Phil could hear as he walked down the dark rahter Tan Jet No live or robot dooruard, at least no obvious one, and no hostess ca up Apparently customers were supposed to know their way around

There were a lot of them They sat in small parties with a truculent quietness that sneered at and challenged the frantic hustle of the ti anywhere There were no juke box theatres in the corners, no TV screens visible, and the booths didn&039;t seem to be equipped with handies Four live musicians softly blew and struht shone on the coffee colored, deceivingly languid songstress, whose sequined dress went all the way to her wrists and chin

I&039;ht,

My heart is heavy in the sodiu frohted each other "Lambie Pie!" he cried She stood stock still as he walked up to her and gave her a slap that rocked her red-ringletted head Then, "Loverman!" she cried and slapped him back Phil could see his eyes roll ecstatically as the red flamed in his smacked cheek They linked arms ritualistically and made off

And it don&039;t help, sweetheart, to know

That the whole world went crazy -

Moon-o,

So -

At that moment Phil spotted the dark sheen of Mitzie Romadka&039;s hair and cloak at the far end of the roo a trifle uneasy

Put awayot those turn of the century -

Turn of the millennium -

Blues!

As the listeners softly hissed their applause, Phil stopped a few feet away fro men, but they sat away fro hness that seemed to be the specialty of the joint than any other people in it They had the quiet dignity ofat, she sprang up with the delighted cry of "Phil!" though there was alar ly with her left hand

He whipped up his hand to slap her back, hesitated, and barely lared at hiayly, "Fellows, Phil Phil, meet Carstairs, Llewellyn, and Buck"

Carstairs had a head that bulged at the top like a pear He wore thin bangs, the effect of which was not effeminate He remarked lazily to Mitzie, "So this is the clown you blabbed tonight&039;s plans to"

Llewellyn looked very British and was very black He said, "You also seem to have told him we&039;d co the police"

Buck was hawk faced and had a Kentucky accent that sounded as if it had been learned from tapes "P&039;lice never tried to pick up anybody in the Tan Jit, yit," he observed "Not here, Otie!" This last re which thrust its head fros and snapped at Phil

Phil leaned on the table, his hand next to a tall, slim pitcher He said to Mitzie, "I&039;m surprised to find you at a tahts and naked wos, what do you think we&039;re drinking?" she said furiously "As for knife fights, wait And as for naked wo, well, if Carstairs, Llewellyn, or Buck should happen to see a girl who took their fancy, I&039;d just walk up to her and rip off her clothes!

She was looking past Phil when she finished He swiveled his head and saw Miss Phoebe Fil own, looked even reen-blonde hair Perhaps she had heard Mitzie&039;s last renized Phil, and astonishht Phil sness At that moment Phoebe&039;s escort called her attention to an empty booth back toward the door, and the two of theerness of slummers who have overreached themselves

Phil felt remarkably bucked up He snared an elass and filled it from the tall, slim pitcher Llewellyn, who, like the others had a half-inch in the bottoht Buck&039;s attention and rolled his eyes significantly toward the ceiling The white made eerie half-moons under the irises

"Just rip &039;em off," Mitzie repeated with conviction

Carstairs said, with a quietly scathing coldness, "Mitz, quit playing the solicitous little mother to Llewellyn, Buck and ht have adjusted his wig before pronouncing sentence "It&039;s quite clear that you spilled our plans to this clown, and that he told the police so that they aiting for us e knocked over the first sales-robot"

"Quite," Llewellyn said, while Buck nodded

"And if I hadn&039;t insisted on putting a new charge in the rocket assist," Carstairs continued, "we&039;d have been nabbed"

"It was just a coincidence," Mitzie asserted sharply

"First time we ever had a coincidence," Carstairs observed "Personally, I don&039;t believe there are such things"

Phil took a deep drink It seemed mild, sweet stuff, compared to the adulterated whiskey Juno had fed him That is, it seemed so for the first two or three seconds Then he felt the top of his head balloon outward, pear-wise, like Carstairs&039; The dark songstress was singing so, I&039;e, quite out of any ordinary range

Carstairs continued quietly, "Mitz, we let you into the gang, we initiated you, although we knew you were a psychoanalyst&039;s daughter and doubtful lared at him "Initiated me?" she said "I&039;ll say you did!"

"Be that as it ht At the best you acted irresponsibly" His words cah" He paused for a long cruel moment "You&039;re out, Mitz"