with any paying customers. Time’s money, ya know.”
In response, I tossed a gold coin into his blanket.
“So call me a customer who’s buying some of your time.
Let me know when that’s used up.”
He made a quick pass with his hand and the coin disap-
peared as his smile emerged from hiding.
‘ ‘Mister, you just got my attention. Ask your questions.”
“Why do you do this?”
The smile faded into a grimace.
“Because I’m independently wealthy and get my kicks
sitting in the rain and running from the cops . . . why do
you think? I do it for the money, same as everybody else.”
“No. I meant why do you do this for money instead of
getting a job?”
He studied me for a moment with his Pervish yellow
eyes, then gave a small shrug.
“All right,” he said. “I’ll give you a straight answer.
You don’t get rich working for someone else . . . especially
not at the kind of jobs I’d been qualified for. You see, I
don’t come from money. All my folks gave me was my
name. After that I was pretty much on my own. I don’t
have much school to my credit, and, like I say, my family
isn’t connected. I can’t get a good job from an old pal of
my dad’s. That means I’d start at the bottom . . . and
88 Robert Asprin
probably end there, too. Anyway, I gave it a good long
think, and decided I wanted more out of life.”
I tried to think of a tactful way of saying that this still
looked pretty bottom of the barrel to me.
“… So you think this is better than working at an
entry-level job for someone else?”
His head came up proudly.
“I didn’t say that. I don’t figure to be doing this forever.