"You?"
"Howdy, Pinky," Tesno said tonelessly.
"I'll serve you liquor like anybody else," Pinky Bronklin said. "I don't have to say howdy to you."
"Whisky," Tesno said.
Pinky set a bottle and a glass on the bar. His bloodshot little eyes combed Tesno with a look of pure malice.
"This your place?" Tesno asked.
Pinky nodded. "I own a share of it."
"Quite a come-up from the tent saloon you had over in the basin."
Pinky laid a hand on the bar, a hand that was missing the three fingers between the little one and the thumb. The bloodshot eyes were fixed on Tesno's face. "You'd like to bust me down to nothin' again, wouldn't you, Mr. Tesno?"
"Depends," Tesno said.