The Stranger - Max Frei [255]
“Juffin gave those instructions not to us, but to you. He told me just to guard you from possible trouble.”
“My heart is absolutely sure that I can’t experience anything remotely like trouble in Kettari! Not a thing!”
“We’ll see,” Lonli-Lokli said. “Wait! Where are you off to? This is our home. Number 24 the Riverbank. Have you forgotten?”
“Yes, I did forget! As one Sir Lookfi likes to say: ‘people are so absentminded.’”
The bathroom was in the basement. Obviously, the inhabitants of all the provinces of the Unified Kingdom had come to a consensus on this matter.
There were no luxuries or extras available to us—just a single bathroom, somewhat larger than we were used to in my homeland, but otherwise nearly identical.
Sir Shurf frowned in displeasure.
“I must say, after a few days on the road I was counting on three or four bathing pools.”
I sighed sympathetically.
“I’m sure that you have no less than twelve at home. Well, you’ll just have to get used to a life of deprivation and do without.”
“I have eighteen of them at home,” said Lonli-Lokli with palpable longing in his voice. “And I don’t think that’s excessive.”
“Are there any holey ones among them?”
“Alas, I am not privileged with such,” my friend said. “You may bathe, Lady Marilyn. I’ll wait in the living room.”
When I went back upstairs a half hour later, my friend raised his eyebrows quizzically.
“You didn’t have to hurry. I would have waited. Or are you always so quick with bathing?”
“Almost always,” I said. “I’m terribly uncouth, don’t you think?”
“To each her own,” Lonli-Lokli said reassuringly. “But I’ll apologize in advance for not being able to clean myself up in record time like you can.”
“Nonsense,” I said, brushing off his apology. “It so happens that I have a little matter to attend to.”
When I was by myself, I reached for my pillow, thrust my hand under it, and waited. Only a few minutes passed before the first cigarette was within my grasp. It had only been smoked halfway to the end. Putting it out completely, I hid it in the small treasure box where I kept my loot. It was a sort of cigar-case with two sections: one for butts, and another for whole cigarettes, which came to me so rarely I was beginning to forget how they tasted. I was loathe to complain, though; they were better than nothing. The few weeks that I tried to get used to the local tobacco were a heroic and bitter memory for me.
About three hours later Shurf finally deigned to come out of the bathroom. By this time, I had already managed to snatch four cigarette stubs, each one longer than the last. It was an uncommonly good harvest. My right hand had rested motionless under the pillow for twenty minutes already, and I didn’t intend to interrupt the procedure. Why should I? This fellow knew too much about me as it was. What kinds of secrets could I keep from him?
“May I know what you are doing?” he inquired politely.
“Well, I’m just making magic to the best of my abilities. This is how I come by my smoking sticks. It takes a long time, but it doesn’t cost a thing. A habit is very hard to break.”
“Is that—are they from your homeland?” Lonli-Lokli asked.
I nodded and tried to concentrate. Sir Shurf examined the butts with skeptical interest.
“Go ahead and try one,” I offered. “It’s like your tobacco, only much better. You’ll like it so much that I’ll have to retire just to have the time to rustle up enough for both of us.”
“You don’t mind? Thank you, you’re more than kind.” Lonli-Lokli chose a shorter butt and lit up.
“Well, how do you like it?” I asked.
My right hand was still empty, and I had promised myself that I wouldn’t light up until I had finished my tedious work.
“The tobacco is rather strong, but it really is much better