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notice.
They went to the street. Mr. Mulclar hoisted his toolbox to his shoulder. He
was wide, short, dark, craggy, an ugly man who counted a dwarf among his
ancestors somewhere. He owned one of those faces that need shaving three times
a day just to look dirty.
Junker is overly fond of cabbage, in both kraut and unpickled form. Whenever
he stays in one place long that becomes overwhelmingly evident.
Good morning, Mr. Mulclar. It seems to be the hinges this time.
Call me Junk, Mr. Garrett. Everybody does. What happened? He rumbled
enthusiastically at the nether end. He didn t apologize. All part of the
natural cycle.
Same as always. These bad guys were bigger than usual, though.
No! That can t be. He punctuated with a minor poot. That door I put in
last time ought to stand up to
It isn t the door, Mr. Mulclar. It s the hinges. And if you saw those guys,
you d preen like a peacock for ten years because your work stood up so well.
Mulclar indulged in a rumbling chuckle, proud. Then rumbled in the opposite
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direction. The air was getting thick. Junk didn t notice. You got some spare
room in your basement? Space you ain t using? On account of I m over here a
whole lot anyway and my wife is throwing me out& He cut a competition class
ripper. Not sure why. Maybe she found a new heartthrob. Anyways, then I d be
right here whenever it was time to service my mainest account.
That don t sound like such a bad idea, Junk. Hard to converse when you
don t want to inhale. But I already have more people living here than I can
manage. And, nothing personal, but I owe them all more than I owe you.
So it goes. I ll stay with my cousin Sepp. Or my sister. Rip ! It ll all
work out. Though I m going to have to diversify. With all this law and order
going on they ain t so many doors getting broke down.
Junker Mulclar is a genius with hands and tools. There aren t enough like him
in the Brave New TunFaire of postwar Karenta.
I gulped in some fresh air as a whiff breezed past. Junk, I m going to do
you a favor. If you swear on your mother s grave you ll fix my doors forever.
Rumble! Sure, Mr. Garrett. I thought we had that deal already.
You know where the three-wheel manufactory is in Stepcross Pool?
Sure.
You go find the green door, tell the man there I said you should see Mr.
Dale Pickle. Take your tools. They ll give you all the work you can handle,
and then some. And a place to stay, if that s what you need.
My business associates, all of whom possess percentages bigger than mine,
agree that we should take care of our workers. Max Weider built his brewing
empire by valuing and rewarding the people who made it happen for him.
Weider brewing employees are happy and ferociously loyal.
The manufactory could use a man of Mr. Mulclar s skills. And if he lived in,
he d soon become less aromatic. They wouldn t let him do his own cooking.
Mulclar did me an immense favor. If you ll move out of the way, I can get
those hinges fixed. It ll take maybe an hour.
Good luck with that, I thought.
I noted that Comstock and Nicolist hadn t taken their cart. If stolen carts
kept turning up out front, there were bound to be questions.
I went in to warn everybody that we wouldn t have a door for a while.
38
It was quiet in the Dead Man s, room. Singe and Dean had grown scarce to the
point- of invisibility. Several guests remained fixed in place. So did the
metal statues in their lead-lined coffin.
Those two had a point, Chuckles. It can t be long before we have a visit
from the Watch. I heard whispers again. Saying evil things.
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Excellent.
You want them to?
I hope Colonel Block comes himself.
There s a chance. If he thinks you re snoozing. We ll never see Relway
again, though. He s too clever and too paranoid to take a chance.
No doubt.
You seem distracted.
I am trying to locate the creature Penny Dreadful. I feel her close by, but
she is extremely elusive. Even the pixies could not pinpoint her when I sent
them out last night. If the parrot were available&
He s gone to a better place, far, far away. Tell me about these statues. I
could make out no words, but the whispers continued.
In a moment. I want to examine an idea I found cowering in the back of your
mind.
It must have been skulking aroundway back there. I couldn t recall having any
that didn t involve heading back upstairs to Tinnie.
Yes. I do have sufficient capacity. Think about your breathing. You will have
to manage for yourself for a while.
Huh?
I felt a distinct difference when he let go. I thought he had already.
Minutes later one of our guests got up and sleepwalked out of the house.
Focusing on my work, I breathed steadily as I watched him ease past Mr.
Mulclar. He didn t notice the miasma, which had taken over the hallway. He
didn t hear the voices. He was operating on another plane.
Old Bones retained control all the way down to Wizard s Reach, well away from
Mrs. Cardonlos place.
So. Now I knew what had been plucked from my brain. A wisp about filling
empty heads with conflicting false memories so we could get these people out
from underfoot. So we didn t have to feed them and take them potty and
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