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Valentine paid them no more attention than he would a group of lakeside turtles. He passed through a set of steel-and-glass doors and into the Pyramid.
Moyo kept his realm cleaner than the zoo, Valentine gave him that. The impossibly cool interior smelled of floor polish and washroom disinfectant. He was on some kind of outer concourse, advertisements for alcohol, tobacco, women, games of chance, and sporting events hung on banners tied everywhere. As he walked tout after tout, mostly teenage boys Hank's age, tried to hand him flyers. Valentine finally took one.
Black letters on orange card stock read:
Bloody "Cyborg" Action Pulp Fontaine
(hook on right hand)
VS
The Draw
(solid aluminum left arm)
3 rounds or maiming
Friday July 22 9PM Center Ring
all wagers arranged by
Roger Smalltree Productions
"the pharaoh of fair odds since y37"
• Payouts are Moyo Bonded and Insured •
(Gallery of Stars Booth 6)
The teen squeaked: "Listen, sir, my brother's a locker warden. He says Draw's long-shotted to pay off big. Do a bet and you can pay a whole week on the Midway, say?"
"Say," Valentine said and moved on. A woman thrust out a mimeograph of a nude woman with snakes held in each outstretched arm. "Angelica the Eel-swallower!"
Four-color circus posters, bigger than life-size, screamed out their attractions as he followed an arrow to Plaza North.
Tammy's Tigereye Casino-Fortune Level
Rowdy Skybox
• Bring Your Attitude and Leave Your Teeth •
M-certified Tricks and Treats at Zuzya's-
You've tried the rest, now get sqweeffed by the best!
Loudspeakers played upbeat jazz or orchestral renditions of old tunes Valentine couldn't quite categorize but which fell under the penumbra of rock-and-roll.
He found the food market using his nose. A lively trade from grill and fish vendors added to the aromas of cut melons, fresh berries, and tomatoes. At another stall fryers bubbled, turning everything from bread paste to sliced potatoes into hot, greasy delight, ready for salting.
His stomach growled.
He placed his hand on a pile of ice at the edge of an ice-filled bin holding two gigantic Mississippi catfish, resting on a semicircular counter, and felt the wonder of the wet cold.
"Mind! Mind!" yelled the woman behind the bins of freshwater food. "You buy? No? Shove off!"
Valentine settled on buying a five-gallon plastic jug full of water and some "wheat mix for cereals." Then he found a bottle labeled aspirin-it also smelled like it.
"You just bought that, son," the trucker-cap-wearing druggist said. He paid, glad that Memphis scrip was good in here.
