Then he saw the weird little glass statuette among the usual bric-a-brac. It rather resembled a ground hog, had seven fingers on each of its six limbs, and smiled up at him as he stared.
"Can I help you, sir?" a middle-aged saleswoman inquired. "Oh, good heavens, whatever is that thing doing here?"
Pembroke watched with lifted eyebrows as the clerk whisked the bizarre statuette underneath the counter.
"What the hell was that?" Pembroke demanded.
"Oh, you know—or don't you? Oh, my," she concluded, "are you one of the—strangers?"
"And if I were?"
"Well, I'd certainly appreciate it if you'd tell me how I walk."
She came around in front of the counter and strutted back and forth a few times.
"They tell me I lean too far forward," she confided. "But I should think you'd fall down if you didn't."