“Hey, you! Hold it a minute!”
This last was blasted with such volume that it momentarily
dominated the street noise. Glancing behind me, I saw a
uniformed Pervect who looked like a giant bulldog with
scales bearing down on me with a purposeful stride.
“What’s that?” I said, almost to myself.
Of course, unlike the direct questions I had put to him,
Kalvin decided to answer this one.
“I believe it’s what you referred to as ‘unnecessary atten-
tion’ . . . also known in some dimensions as a cop.”
“I can see that. I just can’t understand what he wants
with me.”
“What did you say?” the cop demanded, heaving to a
halt in front of me.
“Me? Nothing,” I replied, barely remembering in time
that he couldn’t see or hear Kalvin. “What’s the trouble,
officer?”
“Maybe you are. We’ll see. What’s your name?”
“Don’t tell him!” Kalvin whispered in my ear.
“Why?” I said, the words slipping out before I had a
chance to think.
“Because it’s my job to keep track of suspicious charac-
ters,” the cop growled, taking my question as being directed
at him.
“Me? What have I done that’s suspicious?”
“I’ve been following you for a couple of blocks now,
and I’ve seen how you keep swervin’ around folks. I even
Robert Asprin
28
saw you apologize to someone and . . . say, I’ll ask the
questions here. Now, what’s your name?”
“Tell him to bag it!” Kalvin advised. “He doesn’t have
a warrant or anything.”
“Skeeve, sir,” I supplied, desperately trying to ignore
the Djin. All I needed now was to. get in trouble with the
local authorities. “Sorry if I’m acting strange, but I’m . . .