'Don't the Welsh recognize New Year then?' said Joe.
'Don't be silly. Can't recognize what you've never seen before, can you?'
Starbright was obviously in sportive mood.
Joe said, 'You'll be glad to know, that business, we've got it sorted.'
Thought we had it sorted yesterday,' said the Welshman suspiciously.
'We were wrong,' said Joe. 'It wasn't Mary and Schoenfeld. In fact, they're the good guys. It's Doug Endor.'
Starbright chewed over this for a while but, rather flatteringly, required neither evidence nor explanation. Finally his face cleared.
'That's all right,' he said. 'Never did like that slimy bastard. It'll be a pleasure to rearrange his face.'
'Fine,' said Joe. 'But not till after the race, promise? Don't want to upset Zak.'
He saw he'd found the magic formula and headed up the path.
Mrs. Oto opened the door to him with a big smile.
'Joe, come on in. You're our first-foot, we had a nice early night last night what with the race and all.'
Joe hesitated, saying, 'Shouldn't I be tall, dark and handsome with a lump of coal or something?'
'Not going to quarrel over a lump of coal, are we?' said Mrs. Oto. Which when Joe worked it out was one of the nicest things anyone had ever said to him.
He went in. She gave him a kiss. Henry Oto appeared and shook his hand. Eddie, on his way up to his computer said, 'Hi, Joe.' And last but by far the best of all, Zak herself came running down the stairs and when she heard Joe was their first-foot, insisted on kissing him also.
This felt like it might turn into a good year.
She said, 'Come upstairs. I've got something for you.'
He took the opportunity as they ascended of passing on the good news.
'It's all OK,' he said. 'It's all taken care of. I'll save the details till later, but there's no threat, you can run as fast as you like, so long as you whup the rest of them.'
And now came a surprise which was that she didn't show any.
'Yeah, that's great, Joe. Doug told me yesterday but it's good to have it confirmed.'
'Doug?' he said stupidly.
That's right. Like you asked him to, that's what he said. He didn't jump the gun, did he?'
'No, no. Just told you it was all sorted, no more problem, is that right?'
That's it.' She was looking at him puzzled and he forced a smile.
'So what's the routine?' he said heartily.
'Few exercises this morning, nothing heavy. Light lunch about midday. Get down to the track couple of hours before the race. Nice gentle warm-up. Last long suck at the old Bloo-Joo to bring my energy level back to top line. Then out in front of the fans, take the cheers, get them all inside me, forget about the people, focus everything I've got on what's to come, ready steady go, and run like hell!'
'Sounds easy,' said Joe. 'Maybe I'll try it. You said you had something for me?'
That's right. Here we go.'
She handed him an envelope. He opened it. It contained two tickets to the mayor's reception that evening.
'Hey, these are for VIPs,' he protested.
'Joe, you're my VVIP,' she said. 'Where would I be without you? This is your evening as well as mine in many ways. Promise you'll come.'
'I promise, I promise,' said Joe, who'd have promised to sign the pledge if she'd asked him with that smile.
But his concern about Endor's tactics was strong as ever. He left Zak's room and knocked at Eddie's door. The boy invited him in.
'Eddie, do me a favour. Those bets you tracked down the other day, can you check if they're still on?'
'Easy peasy,' said the boy. 'First time takes time. After that, you know the way.'
It took a few minutes all the same.
'Still there,' said Eddie. 'Plus there's a lot more money.'
'Laid on Zak losing?'
That's right.'
This made things even more puzzling. OK, so Endor had decided he was so close to being rumbled, his best move was to play innocent, bluff it out. And OK, so it might not be easy to withdraw a bet once made. But this putting more money on, that was crazy. Unless it wasn't Endor?
He found himself looking with renewed suspicion at Mary when she turned up with Abe, then scolded himself. No one could be that devious. Could they?
