chapter 5

~Mr Geiger's bookstore~

Geiger's store was on the north side of the boulevard, near Las Palmas. As I stopped to look in the

window, a man in the street gave me a knowing smile. The door closed quietly behind me and I stepped

onto a soft blue carpet. There were big comfortable blue armchairs and some expensive−looking books

on small tables. In one corner a woman sat at a desk.

She got up slowly and came towards me. She was wearing a short black dress, which looked good

over long legs. She had blonde hair and green eyes. Her fingernails were silver. You don't often buy a

book from a girl like that.

`Can I help you?' she asked me.

I asked her for a book. It was a famous book, but she had never heard of it. I tried another name.

She didn't know it. She knew as much about books as I knew about painting my fingernails silver.

`I'll have to speak to Mr Geiger,' I told her. `Is he here?'

`I'm afraid not,' she said. `He'll be here later.'

`I can wait,' I said. `I have nothing else to do this afternoon.'

I sat in one of the blue armchairs and smoked a cigarette. Nothing happened. The girl sat at her

desk and stared at me. She looked unhappy.

Then the door opened and a tall man with a big nose came in. He hurried past me and put a large

packet on the desk. He took something out of his wallet and showed it to the blonde. She touched a

button and a door opened. He disappeared through it.

Minutes passed. I smoked another cigarette and the blonde watched me.

The door opened and the tall man came out. He was carrying another large packet. He lookedquickly at me as he passed me.

I followed him. Someone who looks like that is easy to follow. When he stopped to cross the street,

I let him see me. He walked on quickly and turned left, between two houses surrounded by trees. I stood

and waited, as rain began to fall.

Minutes passed. Then he came back and walked straight past me. He didn't have the packet any

more. He was safe now.

I watched him go down the street. Then I went between the houses and found the packet behind a

tree. Nobody saw me pick it up.

I went back to the boulevard. I found a phone book and discovered that Geiger lived on Laverne

Terrace, a street off Laurel Canyon Boulevard.

Then I went to visit some other stores. In one of them I found a girl who could describe Geiger.

She said he was about forty, a fat man with a fat face and a moustache. He dressed fashionably.

I ran back to my car through heavy rain. Then I opened the packet. I knew what was inside it. A

heavy book, full of photographs. They made me feel sick. The worst pornography I had ever seen. The

book was not new. A lot of people had borrowed it before the man with the big nose. Geiger's store was

a library of ugly dirt. To run that business on the boulevard he must be paying someone a lot of

protection money. I sat in my car and smoked and thought about it.

continued ~

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