Sentence The Onehundredandfourth
“There is certainly something Plutonian about Martin Elginbrod,” said Uncle Jock to the four cousins, who formed the nucleus of The Justice League of Auld Reekie; “but I am not claiming that he has made a pact with the Devil – I am sure he doesn't believe in the Devil, for if he did, he would surely sign Auld Nick up for ME Enterprises – the Holding Company which manages all of his business interests and quite separate from his legal practise – did I ever tell you, Rankine, Felix, that ME Enterprises has all the publication rights for the Court of Session and the High Court – they supply the stenographers and the sound technicians for every court in Scotland and the reports which appear in the newspapers or in the broadcast media earn them a handsome royalty; Elginbrod is certainly a hard worker and very punctilious, you can't fault him for his attention to detail and he employs the very best technical people in Scotland; he leaves nothing to chance and as the umpteenth head of the family business, he is, like his forefathers – or many fathers – before him, is known for his longanimity – I recall Zhou Enlai, the Premier of China (though he had retired from being Foreign Minister by then) telling me that it was too soon to tell whether the Acts of Union between Scotland and England in 1706 had been a success – he considered Scotland a Beacon in the Age of Enlightenment and was a great fan of Rabbie Burns.....” and Felix burst in asking his Uncle if he had actually met the famous Chinese leader: “oh, yes, Felix; in fact he was sitting just where you are and Henry Kissinger was in your seat, Dixie – it was in late 1970 when the early feelers were being put out for Nixon's visit to China; and six months or so before Kissinger made his own first, and secret, trip to Beijing; they had agreed on the need for an initial contact on neutral territory and Edinburgh was an obvious choice; but I can't go into all of that now; my point is that, as with the Chinese, Elginbrod plays a very long game and leaves nothing to chance; but there is one unusual side to him, a sidereal one,” he paused and Rankine chuckled and said that it was true – Elginbrod reads his Horoscope in every Scottish morning newspaper before the Office opens for business; this morning, in fact, the theme had been about keeping his ears open in places of power, and Rankine had discovered that he was planning to bid for the recording rights for the Scottish Parliament and its Committees; “that's right,” said Linkumdoddie, “there is pressure on Parliament to put the transaction recording, written and electronic, out to tender and I am meeting with Ginger Goldfish in the morning to ask her, either to resist, and prevent this happening, or if she cannot, to at least put safeguards into the process; she is a niece of my good friends and rather distant cousins, Daphne Dumbiedykes and Maude Lyttleton, and we know each other well enough to be able to move beyond the strictly business and speak openly about the worries I have; so far as live and recorded television broadcasting is concerned, that is not in the pot, as it were, for the nonce, at any rate; but mentioning Ginger brings me to another point, Bunty: I wonder if you should make contact with members of Daphne and Maude's close family circle – you are already on its fringes – because I believe you might well find that you have common interests: I am thinking particularly of matters concerning the activities of Sir Parlane MacFarlane and Griselda of Longformacus and the involvement of MacFarlane in the death of Sister Evadne Eglantine, I know that Elginbrod has a similar interest, but with very different motives” there was an almost stunned silence as his young friends absorbed what he had said, broken by Bunty when she suggested that it might be useful if Uncle Jock could perhaps see a friend of theirs – one Angus Og of The Bog, and Rankine – while acknowledging that as Chief Clerk he had access to all of the legal work which went through the Chambers, he had no involvement in Elginbrod's other business activities, other than he could glean surreptitiously, but he did know that Elginbrod had two young lovers whom he kept in flats not far from his Chambers – he had given the girls – he indicated Bunty and Dixie – as much information as he had and Bunty said that The Economic Migrant was on the job, monitoring all of Elginbrod's communications and that their cousin Bernie had managed to get herself picked up by Elginbrod at Daphne and Maude's Wedding Reception and has a date with him tomorrow (she had cancelled the first one complaining of a severe migraine) and he has been calling and texting her a lot, so he seems to have swallowed the bait; and Dixie told them about The Shottstown Ladies Quick-Draw Club's arrangements to kidnap the two sex-slaves and put them into protective custody at their Clubhouse in Penicuik; Uncle Jock was pleased to see that the younger generation was demonstrating its ingenuity – and it was just at that moment that the door opened and he glanced up to see the newly promoted Detective Inspector Gordon Brevity and his wife, Station Sergeant Goldy Brevity enter, accompanied by Goldy's cousin, the sublime WPC Isa Urquhart; Linkumdoddie rose from his seat and beckoned them to join the group – “I don't think you all know each other particularly well, although I am sure that your paths have crossed a great many times, perhaps obliquely, perhaps tangentially, but I feel that it will be useful to introduce you all and give you the opportunity to get to know each other,” and he invited the officers from The Grassmarket and Cowgate Community Policing Hub to sit with The Justice League of Auld Reekie and called to Frankie, the barmaid he was so fond of, to send over drinks for everyone; and she gave him a wink, and he winked back and nodded.
“There is certainly something Plutonian about Martin Elginbrod,” said Uncle Jock to the four cousins, who formed the nucleus of The Justice League of Auld Reekie; “but I am not claiming that he has made a pact with the Devil – I am sure he doesn't believe in the Devil, for if he did, he would surely sign Auld Nick up for ME Enterprises – the Holding Company which manages all of his business interests and quite separate from his legal practise – did I ever tell you, Rankine, Felix, that ME Enterprises has all the publication rights for the Court of Session and the High Court – they supply the stenographers and the sound technicians for every court in Scotland and the reports which appear in the newspapers or in the broadcast media earn them a handsome royalty; Elginbrod is certainly a hard worker and very punctilious, you can't fault him for his attention to detail and he employs the very best technical people in Scotland; he leaves nothing to chance and as the umpteenth head of the family business, he is, like his forefathers – or many fathers – before him, is known for his longanimity – I recall Zhou Enlai, the Premier of China (though he had retired from being Foreign Minister by then) telling me that it was too soon to tell whether the Acts of Union between Scotland and England in 1706 had been a success – he considered Scotland a Beacon in the Age of Enlightenment and was a great fan of Rabbie Burns.....” and Felix burst in asking his Uncle if he had actually met the famous Chinese leader: “oh, yes, Felix; in fact he was sitting just where you are and Henry Kissinger was in your seat, Dixie – it was in late 1970 when the early feelers were being put out for Nixon's visit to China; and six months or so before Kissinger made his own first, and secret, trip to Beijing; they had agreed on the need for an initial contact on neutral territory and Edinburgh was an obvious choice; but I can't go into all of that now; my point is that, as with the Chinese, Elginbrod plays a very long game and leaves nothing to chance; but there is one unusual side to him, a sidereal one,” he paused and Rankine chuckled and said that it was true – Elginbrod reads his Horoscope in every Scottish morning newspaper before the Office opens for business; this morning, in fact, the theme had been about keeping his ears open in places of power, and Rankine had discovered that he was planning to bid for the recording rights for the Scottish Parliament and its Committees; “that's right,” said Linkumdoddie, “there is pressure on Parliament to put the transaction recording, written and electronic, out to tender and I am meeting with Ginger Goldfish in the morning to ask her, either to resist, and prevent this happening, or if she cannot, to at least put safeguards into the process; she is a niece of my good friends and rather distant cousins, Daphne Dumbiedykes and Maude Lyttleton, and we know each other well enough to be able to move beyond the strictly business and speak openly about the worries I have; so far as live and recorded television broadcasting is concerned, that is not in the pot, as it were, for the nonce, at any rate; but mentioning Ginger brings me to another point, Bunty: I wonder if you should make contact with members of Daphne and Maude's close family circle – you are already on its fringes – because I believe you might well find that you have common interests: I am thinking particularly of matters concerning the activities of Sir Parlane MacFarlane and Griselda of Longformacus and the involvement of MacFarlane in the death of Sister Evadne Eglantine, I know that Elginbrod has a similar interest, but with very different motives” there was an almost stunned silence as his young friends absorbed what he had said, broken by Bunty when she suggested that it might be useful if Uncle Jock could perhaps see a friend of theirs – one Angus Og of The Bog, and Rankine – while acknowledging that as Chief Clerk he had access to all of the legal work which went through the Chambers, he had no involvement in Elginbrod's other business activities, other than he could glean surreptitiously, but he did know that Elginbrod had two young lovers whom he kept in flats not far from his Chambers – he had given the girls – he indicated Bunty and Dixie – as much information as he had and Bunty said that The Economic Migrant was on the job, monitoring all of Elginbrod's communications and that their cousin Bernie had managed to get herself picked up by Elginbrod at Daphne and Maude's Wedding Reception and has a date with him tomorrow (she had cancelled the first one complaining of a severe migraine) and he has been calling and texting her a lot, so he seems to have swallowed the bait; and Dixie told them about The Shottstown Ladies Quick-Draw Club's arrangements to kidnap the two sex-slaves and put them into protective custody at their Clubhouse in Penicuik; Uncle Jock was pleased to see that the younger generation was demonstrating its ingenuity – and it was just at that moment that the door opened and he glanced up to see the newly promoted Detective Inspector Gordon Brevity and his wife, Station Sergeant Goldy Brevity enter, accompanied by Goldy's cousin, the sublime WPC Isa Urquhart; Linkumdoddie rose from his seat and beckoned them to join the group – “I don't think you all know each other particularly well, although I am sure that your paths have crossed a great many times, perhaps obliquely, perhaps tangentially, but I feel that it will be useful to introduce you all and give you the opportunity to get to know each other,” and he invited the officers from The Grassmarket and Cowgate Community Policing Hub to sit with The Justice League of Auld Reekie and called to Frankie, the barmaid he was so fond of, to send over drinks for everyone; and she gave him a wink, and he winked back and nodded.
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