Thirty-Three Teeth

Warmer Still

He was on his motorcycle, heading at last to Silver City. It was like riding into the blast of a hair-dryer set on hot. The sweat that had soaked him at Manoluk’s dried the moment he stepped out into the sunshine. Now his shirt was burning his skin. The heat didn’t help his troubles at all. There was one thing he couldn’t get out of his mind. Dtui was one of the world’s great carers. She knew about Geung’s condition and that he’d be frantic with worry about her. She wasn’t the type to be away all day without getting word back to him. Siri was sure something had happened to her.

For the first time, his wrinkled letter didn’t impress the guards at the gate of the Secret Police hq one little bit. The man on his stepladder looked down through the peep hatch and read it while Siri held it up to him.

“No. Nothing to do with us. Sorry, Comrade. Can’t let you in.”

After a good deal of contrived pouting and hammering and threatening from the doctor, the guard brought his commanding officer who, in turn, brought Mr. Phot, the interpreter. They still wouldn’t let Siri inside, but they did allow Phot to go out and talk to him. He brought out a large white parasol and opened it over their heads.

“What exactly have you got in there that’s so top secret?” Siri asked.

“Mystery,” was the reply. “People always need to think there’s something going on. It keeps them on their toes. If the proletariat knew we didn’t actually have any secrets, they wouldn’t respect us nearly as much.” Siri smiled. “So, you’re Dtui’s boss. She told me about you.”

“Has she been here today?”

“It was a flying visit.”

“Can you tell me what she wanted?”

“Don’t see why not. It was about something the Russian had started to say on her first visit. She hadn’t really taken much notice then, or perhaps I didn’t do a very good job of translating. He’d made a comment about the teeth marks.”

“The tiger’s?”

“He was sure it was some type of cat. A tiger was the most likely candidate. But there was something odd about them.”

“What kind of odd?”

“He said he’d never seen such sharp canines before. The indentations almost ran to a point. It was almost as if they’d been deliberately sharpened.”

“Sharpened? Why would anyone want to do that, and how?”

“Good questions, doctor. But it certainly makes the creature you’re looking for one scary old foe, don’t you think?”

They both stood reflecting on that for a few seconds.

“Hot, isn’t it?”

“Damned hot.”