Long before I reached the offices I could hear their voices raised in their favorite “song.” The lyrics changed from time to time, but I knew the melody by heart.
“Incompetent bungler!”
“Who are you calling an incomplete bungler?”
“I stand corrected. You are a complete bungler!”
“You better watch your mouth! Even if you are the boss’s partner, one more word and I’ll….”
“You’ll what? If you threw a punch the safest place to be would be where you’re aiming.”
“Izzatso?”
It sounded like I had arrived in the nick of time. Taking a deep breath, I casually strolled into the teeth of the fracas.
“Hi, guys.” I pretended to be totally unaware of what was going on. “Anyone want a bagel?”
“No, I don’t want a bagel!” came the sneering response from one combatant. “What I want is some decent help.”
“… and while you’re at it see what you can do about getting me a little respect!” the other countered.
The latter comment came from Guido, senior of my two bodyguards. If anything, he’s bigger and nastier than his cousin Nunzio.
The former contribution came from Aahz. Aahz is my partner. He’s also a demon, a Pervect to be exact, and even though he’s slightly shorter than I am, he’s easily twice as nasty as my two bodyguards put together.
My strategy had worked in that I now had their annoyance focused on me instead of each other. Now, realizing the potential devastation of their respective temperaments individually, much less collectively, I had cause to doubt the wisdom of my strategy.
“What seems to be the trouble?”