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The smell always struck him first It was an earthy, ht, of air that sat still and unrew used to the odor

"Good evening, Henry," Jonas said "He’s here, I take it?"

He could scarcely see the figure at the door, so dark was the interior Henry was a silhouette, scarcely five feet tall, skinny and slouched

"Aye," Henry said,back "Where else would he be?"

Jonas spread his hands--his cold hands--in supplication to the universe and looked up "Where else," he sighed, "indeed"

Every tiet any worse Every ti

The front room--could one even call it a room when there was no room at all?--was completely filled A little bit of illumination beckoned; a hint of reflected fire filtered down a narrow hallway

It looked like a narrow hallway, at a first glance At a second glance, one ht have concluded that the as a natural tunnel ed, discontinuous rocks

It was only when one got close that one could see that this cavern was not made of limestone It was made of discarded bits of furniture, old copper pots that had been broken and tossed in thepieces of iron that looked to have been taken from the broken wheels of carts and barrels that had been staved in These were all stacked together precariously Dinized the newest article to join the collection: an old stove, its boiler ruptured It added a faint metallic rustiness to the bouquet of the rooet to the bedroom, I’ll have to actually scuttle sideways at this point"

The silhouette of Henry shrugged in the darkness

"There is no roo else You’ll have to tell hi by He"That’s what you said last tis over the barrels, there’s still nearly a foot of good space there"

"Of course Over the barrels" Jonas rubbed his forehead "And pray it doesn’t cause an avalanche It doesn’t matter Whether there’s space now doesn’t ain "If I tell hi to sack me like he did the others"

Maybe it wasn’t as bad as it looked Maybe…

Jonas knew he had failures enough, and a tendency to too ers twitched if he saw a single picture fraave him a full-body itch, one that settled just beneath his temples and could not be relieved

He picked a few spoons off the floor as he e and set them, neatly in order, atop ato close a mortal wound with two inches of twine