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"Take It Easy, Mr Bond''

It was one of those days when it seemed to Ja but a heap of six to four against

To begin with he was ashaover, a bad one, with an aching head and stiff joints When he coughed---s too over---a cloud of small luminous black spots swam across his vision like anals itself unmistakably His final whisky and soda in the luxurious flat in Park Lane had been no different froone down reluctantly and had left a bitter taste and an ugly sensation of surfeit And, although he had taken in the reed to play just one more rubber Five pounds a hundred as it's the last one? He had agreed And he had played the rubber like a fool Even now he could see the queen of spades, with that stupid Mona Lisa s triumphantly down on his knave---the queen, as his partner had so sharply reminded him, that had been so infallibly marked with South, and that had rand slam redoubled (drunkenly) for him, and four hundred points above the line for the opposition In the end it had been a twenty-point rubber, £100 against him---important money

Again Bond dabbed with the bloodstained styptic pencil at the cut on his chin and despised the face that stared sullenly back at hinorant bastard! It all ca to do More than aoff his nuot spikier as the weeks passed, and snapping back down the telephone when soue with hione doith the flu and he had been given a silly, and, worse, ugly bitch from the pool who called hih a mouth full of fruit stones And noas another MondayThe May rain thrashed at the s Bond sed doo Phensics and reached for the Eno's The telephone in his bedroo of the direct line with Headquarters

Ja faster than it should have done, despite the race across London and a fretful wait for the lift to the eighth floor, pulled out the chair and sat down and looked across into the calray, damnably clear eyes he kneell What could he read in them?

"Gooda bit early in theGot a very full day ahead Wanted to fit you in before the rush''

Bond's exciten when M addressed him by his Christian name instead of by his nu personal There was none of the tension in M's voice that heralded big, exciting news M's expression was interested, friendly, al noncommittal

"Haven't seen much of you lately, James How have you been? Your health, I mean'' M picked up a sheet of paper, a for to read

Suspiciously, trying to guess what the paper said, what all this was about, Bond said, "I'ht, sir''

M said mildly, "That's not what the MO thinks, Jaht to hear what he has to say''

Bond looked angrily at the back of the paper Nohat the hell! He said with control, "Just as you say, sir''

M gave Bond a careful, appraising glance He held the paper closer to his eyes “ `This officer,' '' he read, ” `remains basically physically sound Unfortunately his mode of life is not such as is likely to allow his, he adarettes a day These are of a Balkan her nicotine content than the cheaper varieties When not engaged upon strenuous duty, the officer's average daily consuion of half a bottle of spirits of between sixty and seventy proof On exan of deterioration The tongue is furred The blood pressure a little raised at 160/90 The liver is not palpable On the other hand, when pressed, the officer admits to frequent occipital headaches and there is spasm in the trapezius muscles and so-called `fibrositis' nodules can be felt I believe these symptoms to be due to this officer's estion that over-indulgence is no re and can only result in the creation of a toxic state which could finally have the effect of reducing his fitness as an officer I recommend that No 007 should take it easy for two to three weeks on a ime, when I believe he would h state of physical fitness' ''

M reached over and slid the report into his OUT tray He put his hands flat down on the desk in front of him and looked sternly across at Bond He said, "Not very satisfactory, is it, James?''

Bond tried to keep impatience out of his voice He said, "I'm perfectly fit, sir Everyone has occasional headaches Most week-end golfers have fibrositis You get it fro in a draft Aspirin and e to it, really, sir''

M said severely, “That's just where you'remedicine only suppresses these syet to the root of the trouble It only conceals it The result is a hly poisoned condition which s are harmful to the system They are contrary to nature The same applies to e reoodness machined out of it, pasteurized milk which has hadovercooked and denaturized Why''--- M reached into his pocket for his notebook and consulted it---”do you knohat our bread contains apart froly at Bond “It contains large quantities of chalk, also benzol peroxide powder, chlorine gas, sal ammoniac, and alum'' M put the notebook back in his pocket ”What do you think of that?''

Bond, mystified by all this, said defensively, "I don't eat all that much bread, sir''