Page 10 of Deja Who
FIVE
“Brought you more of that chicken.” Leah held out the bag, and Cat set aside the newspaper and took it with the delicate greed of her namesake.
“Thanks. Tough one?”
Cat had recognized the detectives at once; fortunately, Chart #6116 had been easier to fool. “Not really.”
“S’why you take all those judo lessons, right? Sometimes they don’t like what you tell ’em.”
“Mm-hmm.” Judo, no. Aikido and Eskrima, yes. She carried an expandable baton in her purse and a balisong in her bra, which was fine, since on agoodday she was maybe a thirty-four B. All that in this lifetime’s attempt to avoid being murdered again. Eskrima had been the easy one; in one of her former lives she’d been expert. Relearning hadn’t been akin to relearning to bike-ride, but still, she’d been able to shave a couple of years off her training.
Enh. Old habits. No need to burden Cat with any of it.
“So check this,” Cat began, nodding at the newspaper neatly folded beside her on the bench. “They got enough votes to move the graveyard.”
“Yeah, I know, and a day before you did.”
“Don’t start,” Cat warned.
“Nobody reads newspapers made from paper anymore. It’s so much quicker, more accurate, and better for the environment to just—”
“Oh, Jesus spare me from a grumpy eco-terrorist.”
“I am not! Well, yes, I’m grumpy, but the rest of it isn’t true. And you know the library lets you have online access whenever you want—”
“Donotget me started on libraries!”
Ah. Shit. That was a definite lapse on Leah’s part. It was never good to bring up anyone’s wildly passionate/destructive love/hate relationship, especially one as tempestuous as Cat’s with libraries. “Sorry. Sorry.”
“And it isn’t about getting news.” At Leah’s pointed silence, Cat elaborated. “It’s not entirely about getting news. Newspaper is good for so muchstuff!Insulation, windows—”
“Windows?”
“Yeah, it gets your windows wicked clean.”
“Do you have windows? Somewhere?”
“You can use it for kitty litter, you can stick a sheet on your windshield and it won’t get all iced up...”
“You don’t have a car.”
“And if you do the same thing in summer your car doesn’t get so hot.”
“You don’t have a car.”
“Eventually, of course, it’s great for compost.”
Leah blinked and considered her response. Finally: “You don’t have a compost pile.”
“Who said it was formycompost pile?”
“You’re like those people who clip coupons for cat food even though you don’t have a cat.”
“Yeah, but everyone elsedoes. Seems like it, anyway. And when they need a coupon, I’ll be ready.” She took a long look at Leah’s expression and added, “Maybe we should let the newspaper war go for a few more days.”
“I’m on board.”
“Subject change?”
