a hand in the fight.”
“Maybe, but by my count it still squares things between
us. You promised one round of minor help, and delivered
it at a key moment. That’s all your contract called for . . .
and more.”
The Djin folded his arms and stared, frowning into the
distance for several moments.
“Check me on this, Skeeve,” he said finally, “I’ve been
helpful to you so far, right?”
“Right,” I nodded, wondering what he was leading up to.
“And I’ve been pretty good company, haven’t I? I mean,
I do tend to run off at the mouth a bit, but overall you
haven’t seemed to mind having me around.”
“Right again.”
134 Robert Asprin
“So why are you trying to get rid of me?”
Suddenly, the whole day caught up with me. The well
meant advice from the Butterfly, the drinking, the fight, the
head-butting with the police all swelled within me until my
mind and temper burst from the pressure.
“I’M NOT TRYING TO GET RID OF YOU!!” I
shrieked at the Djin, barely aware my voice had changed.
“Don’t you think I want to keep you around? Don’t you
think I know that my odds of finding Aahz on my own in
this wacko dimension are next to zip? Damn-lit, Kalvin, I’M
TRYING TO BE NICE TO YOU!!!”
“Um . . . maybe you could be a little less nice and quit
shouting?”
I realized that I had backed him across the sidewalk and
currently had him pinned against the wall with the force of
my “niceness.” I took a long, deep breath and tried to bring
myself under control.
“Look,” I said carefully, “I didn’t mean to yell at you.
It’s just …”
Something trickled down my face and it dawned on me