The continent of lies by Morrow James 1947-

Author:Morrow, James, 1947- [Morrow, James, 1947-]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: New York : Holt, Rinehart, and Winston
Published: 1984-05-19T04:00:00+00:00

THE CONTINENT OF LIES

wad of the stuff on a lateral branch, 1 began rolling It into a ball, much as children roll snow to make snowmen. I did not get far. Embedded in the moss was a person.

Uncertain whether 1 had discovered friend, foe, or lotos-bean-gobbling lunatic, 1 summoned Jonnie and Iggi.

"So—1 am found," said the man, pawing free like a chick fumbling out of an egg. His voice would have sounded considerably less strange coming from a puppet.

''Who have we found?" asked Jonnie.

'The straw boss," said the man. "1 was asleep," he added.

"Sorry," said Iggi.

"You did me a favor. I was having a terrible dream. A regular terrible dream, I mean. Not—" He pointed to a nearby cluster of Lier-in-Waits.

We nodded knowingly.

The straw boss pulled himself erect, but this did not come to much. He was short, lean, gibbonlike. His face looked stepped on, but was an otherwise pleasing assortment of gentle eyes, thin lips, delicate nostrils, and feathery brows. If he owned a razor or a sewing needle, he had long ago forgotten where he had put them, so scraggly was his beard and tattered his threadworm parka. Bits of moss sprouted from his hair, shoulders, palms, and knees.

"Are you looking for work?" squeaked the straw boss. "Forget it. I'd have gone home long ago, except in my case home is a runty little cottage with a leaking roof and a wife who never loses an argument, and furthermore the landlord hates my insides. So I've exiled myself. It's a better life here than 1 had above ground, much better. The river is full of food."

"No," 1 replied, leaping over the autobiography to retrieve his initial question. "We don't want work."

"If you're not flotsams, then what are you? Spies? Well, you go back to Gidim-Xul and you find Atropos, Number 2703 Primrose Lane. Say you heard it straight from Flick Long-slapper, because that's who you're hearing it straight from. Everything's going to hell, that's what you tell Atropos.

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