M.Y.T.H. Inc. Link By Robert Asprin

The casino was all mine, and I decided ta go for broke. I found a painter with a sense of humor, and we did the place in camouflage . . . except instead of usin’ greens and browns, we leaned heavy on the basic colors in day-glo shades. For a crownin’ touch, we spaced mirrors all around the place, but we used the distortion mirrors from the carnival Fun House. This not only gave the place the illusion of bein’ larger, but when the customers glanced at themselves in the mirrors, they had the same kind of meltin’ lines as the decor. It definitely raised questions in the mind as to exactly which reality we were operatin’ in.

Vic was afraid the impact of the whole operation was a bit bright, but I argued that the whole idea was ta stand out from the crowd and let people know we were there. I did, however, unbend enough to agree that we should have Skeeve on hand for our meetin’ with Hysterium the night before our opening. I mean, negotiatin’ never was my strong suit, and I had no idea how the client was going to react to our rather innovative ideas.

“You’ve ruined me! That’s what you’ve done! Ruined me!”

That was our client speakin’. You may guess from the sound of it that he was less than pleased with our work. When you realize that that was how he was soundin’ after we had spent an hour calmin’ him down, you’ve got an idea of exactly how unhappy he was.

“I’m not sure I understand what your problem is, Mr. Hysterium,” Vic said. “If you have a complaint . . .”

“A complaint?” the Deveel shrieked. “I wouldn’t know where to start! What did you people think you were doing, anyway?”