He gave her a hand up. Margo dried her cheeks again and gave him a brave smile. “Thanks. I’ll pay you back ….
He laughed and gallantly offered his arm: “Don’t mention it. I’ll take it out of your wages.”
Margo found herself grinning as she took Mr. Jackson’s arm. Maybe, finally, her luck had changed for the better. Just wait until Kit Carson heard about this! He’d choke on his eggs again. And after the way he’d treated her, he deserved it! Dreaming of thrills, adventure, and plates of heaped bacon and pancakes, Margo accompanied her new teacher out into the bright, busy Commons of Shangri-la Station.
* * *
CHAPTER FIVE
The Down Time’s pool room was a snoop’s paradise. Thanks to the acoustics, it was possible to hear snatches of several conversations at once. Kit had always wondered if the place had been purpose-built. He lined up a shot, called it, and put the two ball neatly in a side pocket. Out in the bar proper, somebody was laughing about an invasion of grasshoppers at TT-37.
”Came right through a random gate into Commons. Tourists screaming, Station Pest Control tearing hair and swearing. Must’ve killed a million of ’em, minimum. Took days to sweep ’em all up in another corner, Robert LI’s unmistakable bass voice rumbled, “…so when Wilkes said that, Bull told him all ATF courtesy passes were canceled, effective immediately ….”
Kit grinned. Another wrinkle in the continuing saga. The station manager’s battle to keep ATF’s nose where it belonged-out of everybody else’s business-had spawned an entertainment form unique to La-La Land. Known as “Bull Watching,” it involved avid betting on the outcome of any random encounter between Bull Morgan and Montgomery Wilkes.