12-20-2018, 04:43 AM
Yes, that was how some people reacted - this is all nonsense and fairy tales, don't waste my time. Disbelief and disdain were typically cues to hold back there, to parry the prickly response with some disarming self-effacement. Jude fell silent, going over the tapes in his head, the hundreds and hundreds of choppy strips of failed and successful persuasions. The thing with the family was, there was always another mark. The very rich were as vulnerable to snake oil as the very poor, and nothing tempted them more than the one thing their money could not yet buy. But Jude - Jude had only a handful of names and places, scribbled hastily in his notebook. His hopes, and time, were limited.
"How do you know," he asked absently, "what it is I really want?" He took the bottle from Near's hands, and turned it over, examining it. He nearly told Near the truth, simple as he was - I don't drink. Alcohol, coffee, cold medicine - all of it he avoided, the way a wary parent never left their car keys where their teenager might lift them. But he thought on the bottle a little more, and came up with another idea. "He had a cellar, yes?"
"How do you know," he asked absently, "what it is I really want?" He took the bottle from Near's hands, and turned it over, examining it. He nearly told Near the truth, simple as he was - I don't drink. Alcohol, coffee, cold medicine - all of it he avoided, the way a wary parent never left their car keys where their teenager might lift them. But he thought on the bottle a little more, and came up with another idea. "He had a cellar, yes?"