with, personally.”
The Djin had a positive talent for making me feel uneasy
about decisions that had already been made.
Fortunately, the wine arrived just then. I fidgeted through
the tasting ritual, then started in drinking with a vengeance.
A combination of nerves and thirst moved me rapidly
through the first three glasses with barely a pause for breath.
“You might go a little easy on that stuff until you get
some food in you,” Kalvin advised pointedly.
“Not to worry,” I waved. “One thing Aahz always told
me: If you aren’t sure of the food on a dimension, you can
always drink your meals.”
“He told you that, huh? What a buddy. Tell me, did it
ever work?”
“Howzat?”
“Drinking your meals. Did it ever do you any good, or
just land you in a lot of trouble?”
MYTH-NOMERS AND IM-PERVECTIONS 67
“Oh, we’ve had lots of trouble. Sometime lemme tell
you about the time we decided to steal the trophy from the
Big Game.
“You and Aahz?”
“No. Me and … um … it was …”
For some reason, I was having trouble remembering
exactly who had been with me on that particular caper. I
decided it might be wisest to get the subject of conversation •
off me until my meal arrived.
“Whoever. Speaking of bottles, though, how long had
you been waiting before I pulled the cork on that one of
yours?”
“Oh, not long for a Djin. In fact, I’d say it hadn’t been
more than …”
“Tananda!”
“Excuse me?”
“It was Tananda who was with me when we tried for the
trophy … the first time, anyway.”
“Oh.”
“Glad that’s off my back. Now, what was it you were
saying, Kalvin?”