Gelignite

Gelignite by William Marshall Page B

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Authors: William Marshall
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its little hill, with its rows and rows of tombs set out like neat houses on an estate. On the other side of the hill was the harbour.
    Mr Tam said, 'What do you think?'
    'Yes.'
    'Beautiful?'
    Feiffer said, 'It's a fine place.'
    'Yes.' Mr Tam said, 'Do you think I am an evil man?'
    'No.'
    Mr Tam said, 'If she wishes the business, Mr Leung's widow may have it.' He asked, 'Will you put it in writing?'
    'I will telephone someone for you.'
    Mr Tam said, 'That would be an act of merit.'
    Feiffer looked out at the cemetery. As far as he could see to the top of the hill, there were little grave markers. He asked, 'Where is your family's tomb?'
    'On the other side of the hill.'
    'Overlooking the water?'
    'Yes.'
    Feiffer said, 'The best feng shui is probably over there.'
    Mr Tam said, 'It is.' He asked, 'Did I tell you a man was brought all the way from Canton to divine the site?'
    'No.'
    'It is true.' The smell was very strong.
    Feiffer said, 'I'm sorry to have bothered you.' He said quietly, I envy you your place.'
    Mr Tam said, 'There are no more places left.' He said, 'The New Government Cemetery is a good place, but it does not have the feng shui of this site.'
    'No.'
    Mr Tam said, 'I will not have to wait much longer.'
    Feiffer nodded. He stood by the window looking out at Mr Tarn's place for a long time until Mr Tam finally dozed off into an uneasy sleep, then he went quietly out of the room and shut the door softly behind him.
    Leprosy is a disease that often takes up to thirty years to kill. Now known to be normally non-contagious in many forms, it is, neverttheless, in many ways, totally unpredictable. What is not totally unpredictable however are the parts of the body it attacks: the nose, eyebrows and limb extremities. These, often to the accompaniment of a pungent smell, become deadened and, apparently of their own accord, mortify and, finally, drop off. These symptoms are certain, as indeed, is the fact that, without fingers, it is very difficult to fabricate anything as delicate as a bomb.
    Feiffer turned out of Soochow Street. A stream of taxis went by on their way back from the cross harbour tunnel, but he let them go by. He decided to walk back to the Station.
    He stopped at the corner of Great Shanghai Road and Jade Road and lit a cigarette.
    *
    The first letter was addressed to a man named Wong. The postman handed it to him and then passed on down Yellowthread Street towards the Police Station. Apart from the dozens of other letters to be delivered on the way, he had a long manilla envelope to be dropped into the Detectives' Room at the Police Station.
    The late sorting had put him behind time and he quickened his pace.

4
    Mr Wong looked at his letter. A customer came up to his hot-chestnut stall outside the Paradise Cinema on the corner of Canton Street and Yellowthread Street and proffered a ten cent coin. Mr Wong put the letter to one side next to his charcoal burner and filled a brown paper cornet from a metal scoop. The customer nodded. Mr Wong dropped the ten cents into his box and looked at the letter for the second time. Mr Wong thought about it for a moment. He scooped up his scoop, his money box and his letter and ran after the postman. He thought the letter must be a mistake. He never got letters. The few letters he had had in his forty-three years had been from the Government. They were always bad news: always something to pay. This one, though, was a mistake. Letters from the Government were always addressed in Chinese.
    He caught the postman by the shoulder and tried to give him back the letter. The postman, in a hurry, refused to take it
    Mr Wong showed him the spidery black ink address. He said reasonably to the postman, 'It's in English.'
    The postman said, 'So what?' There was a heavy pumice dust in the air and the postman coughed. Encouraged, a pneumatic drill on the fifth or sixth floor of one of the half torn down buildings coughed with him, then went BERAMABER-AMABRRAMA! A hammer started going

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