I let him disappear from my life.
“He was a bit upset and throwing a snit-fit at the time,”
I muttered, avoiding the question of my motives completely.
“I just want him to know that he’s welcome if he wants to
come back.”
With that I resumed my progress down the street. Half a
dozen steps later, however, I realized the Djin was laughing
ruefully.
“Now what?”
“Skeeve, you’re really something, you know?” Kalvin
said, shaking his head. “Perverts . . . excuse me, Pervects
. . . are feared throughout the dimension for their terrible,
violent tempers. But you, you not only describe it as a
snit-fit, you’re willing to show up on Perv itself just to make
a point. You’re either very good or an endangered species.”
It suddenly occurred to me that I wasn’t making as much
use of my Djin as I might. I mean, he had said that one of
24 Robert Asprin
the things he was good at was advice, hadn’t he?
“I don’t know, Kalvin. I’ve never had much trouble with
them. In fact, one of the things Aahz told me was that
Pervects manufacture and spread a lot of the bad rumors
about themselves just to discourage visitors.”
“Oh, yeah?”
The Djin seemed unconvinced.
“Well, let’s see then. Could you share some of the things
you’ve heard about this dimension with me?”
Kalvin shrugged.
‘ ‘If you want. I remember hearing about how one of your
buddy’s fellow citizens ripped off some guy’s head and spit
down his throat . . . literally!”
I ducked around a heavyset couple who were bearing
down on me.
“Uh-huh. I heard the same rumor, but the one doing the