Free That Book Your Mad Ancestor Wrote by K.J. Bishop Page B

unreasonable standards in there. It takes a certain humility to carry your money around in a little plastic bucket. Unless you play the coinless machines. But then it’s easy to spend more.’
    ‘ I dare say.’
    ‘ But the point is, coins or notes or bloody cowrie shells, if you go in there it means you’re looking for something that you’ve got no power to get except by dumb luck, the grace of fortune. You’re admitting your inadequacy and throwing yourself on the mercies of the universe. It’s as good as praying, wouldn’t you say?’
    ‘ Oh, for sure,’ I said agreeably. She was wearing a cerise skirt and blazer and a strong perfume, and her voice was rather loud. Next to her I felt drab and insubstantial. Though it wasn’t just her. It was the place we were in, the first-floor mezzanine above the atrium at the intersection of the casino, the adjacent hotel, and the shopping mall that ran along the extensive river frontage of the whole complex.
    There was an entrance to the mall between Armani and Prada, facing towards Gucci. Versace and Hermès were down an escalator to the left. The corridor boasted black marble walls and brass fittings. Around the corner from Gucci, the corridor opened into the atrium, a cavernous space clad in more black marble and ringed by two mezzanine levels.
    A light show with a theme of the four seasons coruscated over glass walls within the atrium, to the accompaniment of a musical soundtrack. Laminar fountains danced in time to the music, the solid water arcs leaping in and out of holes in each fountain ’s polished black surface. Liquid nitrogen fog floated up from the fountains every time winter had its turn. The ceiling high above was an inverted, iridescent ocean, fashioned from thousands of pendant crystal beads, through which the colours of the rainbow, projected by lights around the edge of the ceiling, waved like soft corals and darted like fish. The effect of all of this was sense-pleasing and fantastical. It was obvious how it might inspire one with the feeling of being in a magic realm where the chance of wonderful things happening was high. Back on the ground, the brighter lights of the casino were flashing through a wide entrance from the atrium.
    To reach my present location I had climbed a glassy black staircase with small lights set in the steps. The area upstairs was opulent in a muted and comfortable way. Around the mezzanine there were several bays like the one I was in, furnished with sofas and lamps, inviting people to sit and relax. Warm-toned abstract paintings hung on the walls, and doors led to bars and function rooms.
    Although the bosses of this place were obviously wealthy, none of the bodies enjoying the fountains below and the sofas above looked affluent. Those gathered in the dark to watch the dancing water were mostly parents with kids and people with the rumpled, drip -dry look of budget tourists. A young woman sat at the bottom of the black stairs with two toddlers and a baby in a stroller. A thin man wearing a flannel shirt and tracksuit pants was lying sound asleep on a sofa under one of the paintings. None of the staff who frequently walked by had even looked as though they wanted to move him on. I assumed the great and the glamorous would make their appearance at night.
    I had come here from the Medina. I had discovered what only Authorised Personnel know: that there is a magic to the back corridors in shopping malls. They ’re like the secret tunnels of Agharta, all interconnected below ground. And busy – there was a great coming and going of people, suited types like the man I saw in the Medina, and others who were obviously technicians and cleaners. I could only suppose that they all had assumed I was Authorised, as no one had detained me. Many of the people, both suits and maintenance staff, were going around on upright electric scooters with round platforms to stand on. I found these stored in parking bays every kilometre or so. A card