leaning against the wall behind me, but except for that
ignored my bodyguard as completely as the record keeper
had.
“Yes sir?”
“Gretta, this is Mr. Skeeve. He’s trying to locate someone
who might have been a student here. I’d like you to help
him locate the appropriate file in the archives . . . if it
exists. Mr. Skeeve, this is Gretta. She’s one of the appren-
tices here who helps us … is something wrong?”
166 Robert Asprin
I had suddenly drawn back the hand I had been extending
to shake hands with Gretta, and the record keeper had noted
the move.
“Oh, nothing . . . really,” I said embarrassed. I quickly
reached out and shook the offered hand. “It’s a … bad
habit I learned from Aahz. I really should break it. You
were saying?”
The record keeper ignored my efforts to cover the social
gaff.
“What bad habit is that?”
“It’s silly, but … Well, Aahz, back when he was my
teacher, wouldn’t shake hands with me once I became his
apprentice. When we first met and after we became partners
it was okay, but not while I was his student. I don’t shake
hands with apprentices he used to say … only louder. I
hadn’t realized I had picked it up until just now. Sorry,
Gretta. Nothing personal.”
“Of course . . . Aahzmandius!”
The record keeper seemed suddenly excited.
“Excuse me?” I said, puzzled.
“Gretta, this won’t require a file search after all. Bring
me the file on Aahzmandius … it will be in the dropout
file … three or four centuries back if I recall correctly.”
Once the apprentice had scampered off, the record keeper