Another Fine Myth by Robert Asprin

“Look, kid, how does a person normally act when they come into a new town?”

“I don’t know,” I admitted. “I haven’t been in that many towns.”

“Well, let me sketch it out for you. They want to be noticed. They carry on and make lots of noise. They stare at the women and wave at people they’ve never seen before.”

“But that’s what we’ve been doing.”

“Right! Now do you understand?”

“No.”

Aahz heaved an exasperated sigh.

“C’mon, kid. Think a minute, even if it hurts. We’re acting like anyone else would walking into a strange town, so nobody will look at us twice. They won’t pay any more attention to us than they would any other newcomer. Now if we followed your suggestion and came skulking into town, not talking to anyone or looking at anything, and tried real hard not to be noticed, then everyone and his kid brother would zero in on us trying to figure out what we were up to. Now do you understand?”

“I… I think so.”

“Good … cause there’s our target.”

I blinked and looked in the direction of his pointing finger. There squatting between a blacksmith’s forge and a leatherworker’s displays was the shop. As I said, I was new to city life, but I would have recognized it as a rug merchant’s shop even if it was not adorned with a large sign proclaiming it such. The entire front of the shop was lavishly decorated with colorful geometric patterns apparently meant to emulate the patterns of the rugs inside. I guess it was intended to look rich and prosperous. I found it unforgivably gaudy.

I had been so engrossed in our conversation, I had momentarily forgotten our mission. With the shop now confronting us at close range, however, my nervousness came back in a rush.