The Stranger
“THIS WAS a record—it had been a long time had passed since I had slept till sundown.
Are you sleeping? Well, I’ll be, mate! Melifaro’s call resounded in my sleep-muddled brain. Good for me. I just earned a crown.
What for? I asked, uncomprehending.
Nothing much—it’s just that I made a bet with Melamori. She claimed you’d wake up before sundown, and I bet on later. I was ready to lose, but you’ve done me a good turn!
So now you owe me not one, but two meals, I said. Your debt to me is growing by... leaps and bounds. Over and out.
I yawned and dragged myself downstairs, my head buzzing like I had a hangover. Ella and Armstrong were slumbering by their bowls in the middle of the front room. Urf, the farmer’s son, a junior official at the Ministry of Perfect Public Order, had most likely come in while I was sleeping. The cats looked full and contented, and their fur had been carefully groomed—not by me, of course. In childhood I sometimes frightened my parents by sleepwalking down the corridor, but I would hardly have known how to carry out such a delicate hairdressing operation with my eyes shut.MoreLess
Are you sleeping? Well, I’ll be, mate! Melifaro’s call resounded in my sleep-muddled brain. Good for me. I just earned a crown.
What for? I asked, uncomprehending.
Nothing much—it’s just that I made a bet with Melamori. She claimed you’d wake up before sundown, and I bet on later. I was ready to lose, but you’ve done me a good turn!
So now you owe me not one, but two meals, I said. Your debt to me is growing by... leaps and bounds. Over and out.
I yawned and dragged myself downstairs, my head buzzing like I had a hangover. Ella and Armstrong were slumbering by their bowls in the middle of the front room. Urf, the farmer’s son, a junior official at the Ministry of Perfect Public Order, had most likely come in while I was sleeping. The cats looked full and contented, and their fur had been carefully groomed—not by me, of course. In childhood I sometimes frightened my parents by sleepwalking down the corridor, but I would hardly have known how to carry out such a delicate hairdressing operation with my eyes shut.MoreLess
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