“That’s right. A real aphrodisiac. I’ve tried it, and, well…” Manfred giggles. “I don’t want to talk about it. But it works.”

“Wow.”

“We’re sailing it over from Hawaii, that’s our new route. Our idea is to make a brief rendezvous with a small boat that will come out from Newport and meet us behind San Clemente Island. Then the small boat will bring it on in. I realize it’s a risk for the last carrier, but if you were willing to do it, I’d be willing to pay you for that risk, in cash and in a part of the cargo.”

Sandy nods noncommittally. “How much?”

“Say, twenty thousand dollars and six liters of Rhino.”

Sandy frowns. Is there really going to be a demand for six liters of some strange new aphrodisiac? Well … sure. Especially if it works. OC’s new favorite, no doubt.

Still, the plan goes against Sandy’s working principle, which demands a constant low profile and labor-intensive work in small quantities. “And what percentage of the total does that represent?”

They begin to dicker over amounts. It goes on slowly, genially, as a kind of theoretical discussion of how much such a service would be worth if one were to contemplate it. A lot of joking from Bob, which the other two appreciate. This is the strange heart of drug dealing; Sandy has not only to come to a financial agreement with Manfred, but also to reach a certain very high level of trust with him. They both have to feel this trust. No contract will be signed at the end of their dealing, and no enforcement agency will come to one’s aid if the other breaks their verbal agreement. In this sense drug dealers must be much more honest than businessmen or lawyers, for instance, who have contracts and the law to fall back on. Dealers have only each other, and so it’s crucial to establish that they’re dealing with someone they can trust to stick to their word. This, in a subculture of people that includes a small but significant number of con artists whose very art consists in appearing trustworthy when they are not. One has to learn how to distinguish between the false and the real, by an intuitive judgment of character, by probing at the other in the midst of the joking around: asking a sudden sharp question, making a quick gesture of friendliness, making an outright, even rude, challenge, and so on; then watching the responses to these various maneuvers, looking for any minute signs of bad faith. Judging behavior for what it reveals of the deeper nature inside.