"It was the most entertaining spectacle since the dissolution of the Soviet Union. A handshake that meant nothing, a pretension of civility."
"Jack, is it?" The old man raised a brow.
Jack gave an exclamation of affirmation. "As in Jack of Diamonds."
The old man found it neither funny nor entertaining.
"It was a wonder how he had survived seven decades and a marriage with such distaste for life. Had growing old robbed him of muscle strength required to pull back the ends of his lips? Or had he been born deprived of appreciation for finer joys of life?"
"Well, shall we get to it—"
Jack interrupted the old man, "Is there a need?"
"Excuse me?"
"Well, Mr—" He looked at the old man inquiringly.
"King."
The smiling man rolled a languid tongue over his drying lower lip, his face a sheepish amalgamation of confusion and exhaustion.
