‘Show him the card,’ said Marvin,
pushing her back towards the desk.
Stella patted her trouser pockets then
lifted her hands up. ‘Must have lost it.’
‘You’re pathetic!’ said Marvin, half
smiling. ‘It’s in your back pocket. I saw you put it there earlier.’
‘Oh, yes,’ she said, pulling the card
from her pocket. ‘Here it is.’
She lay the small rectangular card on
the desk in front of the old man. She stared at it for a few seconds before
pushing it towards his side of the desk. Seeing her tremble slightly, Marvin
took her hand and squeezed it.
‘It’ll be okay,’ he said.
‘Just explain…’
‘This is too old for here,’ said the
man, cutting across their conversation. ‘This code… it starts with a B and all
these,’ he said, waving his hand around the room, ‘starts with an L.’
‘Which means what exactly?’ said Marvin.
‘What it means is that whatever you
pawned, it ain’t here anymore,’ said the man, pushing the card back across the
desk and resuming his book reading position. ‘Close the door on your way out.’
‘Oh!’ said Stella, her voice a little
startled. ‘Okay then. We’ll be on our way.’ She grabbed the door handle making
the shop bell ring again.
‘Hold on a minute!’ said Marvin. He
leant over the desk, his face parallel to the old man’s.
Stella stepped away from the door,
moving in behind him.
‘My friend has a ticket for something
she pawned in this shop. Now she’s come to redeem it. So where is it?’
‘Not here!’ said the man, resting his
book on his lap. ‘Only L tickets onwards here.’
‘So where are the B tickets?’ said Marvin.
‘Don’t know. L tickets onwards here.’
‘What?’ said Marvin. ‘So where are
tickets A to K?’
‘Try Old Kedigan…’
‘You mean you’re not… him… Kedigan?’
‘Not Old Kedigan, no,’ said the old
man.
‘So where do we find this, Old Kedigan
then?’ asked Marvin, tapping his fingers on the desk.
‘Go to the manor.’
‘Go to the manor where?’
‘Go to the manor at top of the hill…
and ask for Old Kedigan,’ said the man, picking up his book again. ‘And close
the door on your way out.’
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