“You got to help us,” I said. “Folks are after us.”

“Folks, say you?” said one of the old guys. I nodded. “Lawrence, this young fella says he has folks after him.”

“Aye,” said Lawrence. “I have ears as well, lest ye forget.”

“Hard to forget with that racket out back, eh?” He pointed to the piano player.

“He should learn some new songs, say I, instead of bashing about with the same old same old. I tire of ‘Dirty Blue Boots,’ do you not, Johnson?”

“Aye, sir. I am weary to the bone.”

“Please,” said Tally. “You got to help us. These folks after us mean business. They’re dangerous, they got knives, they got—”

“Knives, you say?” said Lawrence. “Well let them come. We fear not knives, do we Johnson?”

“Nay,” said Johnson. “I’ve been stabbed two and twenty times, and yet I walk, do I not Lawrence?”

“I would say you hobble, dear sir, and with the aid of a cane.”

“Too true. Hear hear!” said Johnson, and slapped the table. The two old men raised their mugs and drank.

This was durn useless. Cecily Bob and Mr. Hugo were probably going to be here any minute and I would be tied up and slung back in a boat, on my way once again to Boss Authority. That I simply could not abide.

“Perhaps the children would like some food?” said Johnson. “Shall we offer them some?”

“Aye, Johnson,” said Lawrence. “Splendid idea. Victuals, children?”

“We are in danger,” said Tally, slowly, deliberately. “What about that don’t you understand? This is no time for food.”

“No time for food! Danger is the perfect time for dining,” he said. “Keeps the appetite low and the heart rate high, I say!”

“He speaks facts, Johnson does,” said Lawrence. “You would do well to listen to him. As it stands, Johnson and I have just ordered dinner, and we would be delighted if you could join us.”

A short man in a stained apron and a chef’s hat came walking out of the back, carrying a giant steel platter with a barbecued hog on it. The hog had an apple in its mouth and it looked durn proud to be there, I must say. The man dropped the hog on the old men’s table with a thunk.

“Capital hog!” said Lawrence, tying a napkin around his neck.

“He looks positively delighted,” said Johnson, clapping his hands. “The finest hog yet, Stanley my good sir.”

“Caught him myself,” said Stanley. “He was out back, grunting through the waters. Charged at me, he did, with them tusks of his. Near took my arm off!”

“I should salute you, sir,” said Lawrence, “with twelve guns or more.”

“A ticker tape parade,” said Johnson. “Wouldn’t that be nice? Like we had after the war.”

“Aye, those were the days,” said Lawrence. “A hero’s welcome in every shop, a mug uplifted in every tavern. Drink, drink, Johnson. To our youth!”

“To our youth!”

They both drank deep.