24.7.09

DECLINE and FALL

I was at the bar earlier reading DECLINE and FALL.

Chuckling over the line:
"Am I going to die?" said Tangent, his mouth of cake.

But it could equally have been any other line. I put down the book to sip my beer and contemplate Waugh's brilliant audacity.

Immediately, a black man appeared as if from nowhere. I mention he was black merely to add colour to the story. He said,
"Don't put book down. They steal it".

I told him that I thought it unlikely.

He explained,
"Some man he Australian leave down wallet in his pocket on the table. Next minute it is stealen".

"In his pocket? On the table?", I smart-arsed.

He ignored me.
"I me good judge just by looking. Always I tell good man and bad man".

"Always?", I asked.
"Sometimes it's 50-50", he admitted.

He walked away after that. I think he knew it was going nowhere.

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