me from going into detail on how the next half hour went.
Suffice it to say that Kalvin abandoned me and hovered
near the ceiling to watch and wait until I was done. Now
I’ve knocked around a bit, and been knocked around more
times than I care to recall, but if there’s any memory that
compares to holding my own against a mob of Pervish
shoppers, my mind has successfully suppressed it. I elbowed
and shoved, used more than a little magik when no one was
looking and called on most of the dirty tricks I learned in
the Big Game, and in the end 1 had two outfits I wasn’t
wild about but was willing to settle for rather than enter the
fracas anew in search of something better. I also had a
lingering fondness for the fat Pervish lady I hid behind from
time to time to catch my breath.
Having sat out the battle, Kalvin was in good shape to
guide me back to the exit. That was fortunate, since the
adrenalin drop after emerging from the brawl was such that
I could barely see straight, let alone walk steadily.
I don’t know where Edvik was waiting, but his cab
materialized out of the traffic as soon as we emerged from
the store and in no time we were back in the safety of the
back seat. It wasn’t until later that I realized what a commen-
tary it was on department stores that the cab now seemed
safe to me.
“Can we go to the hotel now?” I said, sinking back in
the seat and shutting my eyes.
“Like that? Don’t you want to change first?”
“Change?” Somehow I didn’t like the sound of that.
“You know, into a conservative suit. Business types al-