Alexander smiled. “Actually,” he said with equal dryness, “I distrust everyone.”
CHAPTER XVI
“If you think this job is easy, you have another think coming,” Kennon said bitterly. “I hired out as a veterinarian, not as a nursemaid for a bunch of psychoneurotic humans and superstitious Lani. The place is jinxed, they tell me.—Ha! Jinxed! Sure it’s jinxed! What job wouldn’t be with a bunch of goofballs like these I’ve got working on it.
“I can’t keep a Lani here for two weeks without having her throw a catfit, and the superstitious idiots are affecting the men—who ought to know better! I wish I’d never have opened my big mouth to Alexander! As far as I’m concerned he can take this job and—”
“Hey—take it easy, man!” Blalok said. “You’re heading straight for a nervous breakdown.”
“And why shouldn’t I?” Kennon asked. “Nothing goes right. There’s always trouble. I order materials—they don’t arrive. There’s worker trouble, equipment trouble, installation trouble. Everybody’s cutting corners, trying to get done faster and away sooner—and all they do is mess up work that should have been done right the first time. We should have been finished last week, but we have another week to go, at least unless some bumble-fingered beanbrain gets another bright idea that sets us back again. I’m sick to death of it!”
“I know, I know,” Blalok said soothingly, “and I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? What good is that? You and Jordan come up here in relays. Just what do you think you’ll find? Or has Alexander dragged you into keeping an eye on me because I don’t like someone snooping inside my skull?”
“It’s not that,” Blalok said. “It’s just—”