Cut thin to Win by Fair A. A. & Gardner Erle Stanley

Author:Fair, A. A. & Gardner, Erle Stanley
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: William Heinemann Ltd
Published: 1965-04-16T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 10

I went to a Chinese restaurant and made certain that it was real Chinese, run by an old character who had a seamed face and bright, glittering eyes.

I walked up to the counter. “Hoh shah kat mah,” I said conversationally.

That was a form of Chinese greeting, meaning “Is the whole world good?”

He was looking down at some account books he was figuring and he answered mechanically, “Hoh shah kat.”

Since the Chinese language is one of varying tones, it is impossible to use the rising inflection as incicative of a question. Therefore, they put the word “mah” on the end of a sentence to show that there is a question. By answering me, the Chinese assured me that the whole world was good.

And then suddenly he jerked his head erect in surprise as he realized that I wasn’t another Chinese. ‘‘You speak Chinese?” he asked, his words all running together.

“Just a little bit,” I told him. “Dik kom doh. I have many Chinese friends.

“I want to write a letter to a Chinese friend. I want lots of red paper, big red envelope. Have you got one?”

I put a dollar bill on the counter.

“What kind of letter?”

A joke letter,” I said, “gong seuh, I need a big envelope, very, very red.”

He grunted, picked up the dollar, put it in the cash till, reached down under the counter and came up with a huge red envelope.

“Very fine,” I said. “Now, take your brush and write in Chinese on the envelope.”

“What do I write in Chinese?”

“The name of the restaurant, anything.”

He hesitated a moment; then dipped the brush in the black India ink and made flowing Chinese characters down the side of the envelope.

“You read?” he asked.

I shook my head. “I don’t read. I only speak a little. I have lots of Chinese friends. I learn a little from them.”

“You live in Las Vegas?”

“No, Los Angeles.”

I picked up the envelope and extended my hand.

He gravely shook hands with me.

I walked out; went to one of the gambling houses and looked around for advertising matter. I finally found a big piece of cardboard that would just fit in the envelope. The cardboard advertised the advantages of gambling at that particular place of business.

I put it in the envelope, sealed the envelope, went to the post office, got airmail stamps and special delivery stamps; then addressed the envelope to Clayton Dawson at the Dawson Re-Debenture Discount Security Company at Denver, Colorado, wrote the address of the office building where Helen Loomis maintained the mail drop service, and dropped the envelope in the mail.

I looked up the schedule of planes to Denver and won a little over seven hundred and fifty dollars at the crap table before I had to leave.

I rented a drive-yourself car in Denver; had a good night’s sleep, and the next morning, bright and early, was where I could watch the office of Helen Loomis.

Once that red envelope with the Chinese lettering on it came in special delivery, I knew she was

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.