\u201cWho are you?\u201d demanded Ari, keeping a firm grip on his yardstick.<\/p>\n
\n\tApparently, the stranger in the deli booth either ignored or didn\u2019t notice the question and continued smiling at the chihuahua, whose antics he obviously found very entertaining. The man\u2019s hair was a curly mop and stuck out from under his cap in random directions. Tortoise-shell spectacles sat halfway down his pointy nose. Ari thought he looked like an owl. And, like the dog, he had a peculiar tendency to reflect the streetlights which made him stand out a bit from the other objects in the deli.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cKipper,\u201d said the man, tapping the end of his ball-topped walking stick on the floor. \u201cGit over here varmint!\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tKipper gave the air a disdainful sniff, then trotted proudly to the man in the booth and jumped on his lap.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDewey,\u201d said the man in the booth.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDo we what?\u201d said Ari, wondering whether he should be waking up Uncle Ellery.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDewey Daylatch,\u201d said the man. He looked around the room, squinting. \u201cWhat do y\u2019all sell here anyway? Funny little place, ain\u2019t it?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDaylatch?\u201d said Ari. He didn\u2019t know Wilton Daylatch had a family, other than his wife Dreama, the new bank manager, but supposed, once he thought about it, that most people did. \u201cSo…did Wilton Daylatch send you here?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWilton?\u201d exclaimed Dewey. \u201cWilly? Rapscallion, that one. He\u2019s a grifter…a grafter. That one\u2019s a bad egg all right.\u201d
\n\tKipper growled as if in complete agreement.<\/p>\n
\n\tAri was confused. \u201cSo, you\u2019re not here because of Wilton?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cOh, I\u2019m here on account o\u2019 Willy all right,\u201d replied Dewey with a chuckle. \u201cDon\u2019t like his style, that one. Don\u2019t like the cut of his jib, if ya catch my drift. That just isn\u2019t how my school for boys was meant to be run. It sure isn\u2019t.\u201d He shook his head, as if to clear the dust away, then chuckled again. \u201cSo what is this joint? A commissary or somesuch?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cIt\u2019s a deli,\u201d said Ari.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cRight,\u201d said Dewey, as if he\u2019d known it all along. He pulled something out of his pocket which resembled a watch or a compass that sparkled magnificently in the streetlight, and squinted at it. \u201cRight…\u201d Then he looked more befuddled than before and stared straight at Ari. \u201cUsed to be a speakeasy you know. So what was I goin\u2019 ta tell you?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d replied Ari.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cYep,\u201d continued Dewey. \u201cI was gonna tell y\u2019all somethin\u2019 all right…somethin\u2019, somethin\u2019, somethin…\u201d He was concentrating so hard, Ari thought he might be in pain, but then his expression relaxed and he laughed.<\/p>\n
\n\u201cWho was it as said dead men don\u2019t tell tales?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cI don\u2019t know,\u201d said Ari again. He had a weird feeling in the pit of his stomach.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat a crock,\u201d said Dewey. \u201cWell here\u2019s a tale. I lost somethin\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAri didn\u2019t think that was much of a tale at all, but it seemed rude to say so.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cOh, I ain\u2019t all that stupid,\u201d continued Dewey, \u201cbut they were always sayin\u2019 I was a little distractible…didn\u2019t they Kipper, didn\u2019t they?\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tKipper looked bored, but Ari had a hunch that he agreed.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cDon\u2019t know what I lost, don\u2019t know where I lost it,\u201d said Dewey. \u201cBut here\u2019s what I do remember…\u201d He paused for a moment, staring at the the wall behind the cash register as if it were a lovely picturesque horizon instead of a wall. \u201cA home for the fleas at three-hundred degrees.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cWhat?\u201d said Ari. He seriously wondered whether this conversation was going anywhere.<\/p>\n
\n\t\u201cJust what I said,\u201d replied Dewey, as if it should have made perfect sense to anybody. \u201cA home for the fleas at three-hundred degrees. Thing is, I never got around to tellin\u2019 anybody. Which is why I\u2019m tellin\u2019 y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\n\tAri looked around wondering if he\u2019d ever figure out who \u201cy\u2019all\u201d was. Then he turned toward Dewey and Kipper because he wanted to say \u201cWhy are you telling me this,\u201d but there was no-one to say it to. The booth was empty.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
\u201cWho are you?\u201d demanded Ari, keeping a firm grip on his yardstick. Apparently, the stranger in the deli booth either ignored or didn\u2019t notice the question and continued smiling at the chihuahua, whose antics he obviously found very entertaining. The man\u2019s hair was a curly mop and stuck out from under his cap in random […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[9],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=138"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":140,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/138\/revisions\/140"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=138"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=138"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.emilygillespieclement.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=138"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}