Page 116 - Student: dazed And Confused

George led her up the back stairs to what would be her own room for another
month. He saw that Hector has wetted his finger and drawn a big J in the dust on the door.
"You must meet my new friend Henry. He gets scared of things sometimes but he is jolly
good fun "
Jane was looking forward to it. It would be so nice to have more than one person to
play with. But suddenly she remembered something she had learned on the way down.
"Hector told me on the coach that this house is haunted. Oh, do tell me it's true. Do ! "
It would be mighty difficult for a house this old not to have a ghost or two, wouldn't
it? "I don't know if it's true or not," he admitted. "But it will be ripping good fun finding
out "

(In the style of Enid Blyton)

Shot after dark

It was after midnight when I met Macey in downtown New York. I knew we would meet in a
bar with the door falling off the hinges, a selection of beaten up furniture and bullet holes in
every wall. Those places called to him like a whore to her pimp. I guess it helped that many
of those holes had been put there by Macey himself - it was probably like coming home for
him.
I was grumpy at being called out so late but I knew the pay-off would fill my wallet

the way a seventeen-year-old mugger fills his boots; quickly, easily, profusely. Vaguely, I
wondered what kind of case he was going to set me up with but I wasn't really bothered. In
the car lot, I saw his Plymouth Belvedere parked between a Honda Civic and a bollard and a
gang of teens were spraying POSH FAGIT on his bonnet. I should do something about. I did.
I corrected the spelling then crossed the road to find the bar.
There were a couple of call girls there fawning over dealers like there was no
tomorrow. There were a number of petty criminals I'd passed in the street and a woman
behind the bar yelling at Jim, the owner. I saw Macey at the far end of the bar nursing a
large whiskey and what looked like a headache as big as an eighteen-wheeler. There was a

mirror behind him, smashed into splinters though the neon sign of the pole dancer was
glowing happily away.
"What you got for me?" Small talk was for women and kids.