Lehal Library

But they were careful about relaying important gossip because, as they said, doing so was dangerous not only to reputations but in extreme cases to life and limb. They were interested in my "work," but a little paranoid because of the close governmental connections to the developmental project at Stanford Research Institute. What this meant was that the duo would gossip only to a certain degree about the conspiracies of the world, but were careful NOT to say too much. I, of course, wanted the whole package, for Karagula was not simply one of those off-the-wall conspiracy buffs dwelling in notable confusions characteristic of at least some conspiracy enthusiasts. In her earlier days in the Middle East she had actually worked for a number of official intelligence agencies, and in truth she WAS familiar with the internal workings of the vast international sub rosa organizations. In order to get deeper into the whole conspiracy package trembling within the duo, I had found that if I plied them with a little good wine, their reticence lost its edge and they talked more freely. While staying at Conrad's place, I planned another liquid safari into their reticence. Conrad was also a conspiracy addict as was I, and so I asked him if we could have the duo to dinner at his place. Since gourmet cooking was a passion with me and with Conrad, and since I had explained the full purpose of the meal, we had to plan a superlative menu and lay in supplies for it. The supplies, of course, included reasonably good wines. Conrad drove us to very large Hollywood supermarket filled with, among other things, the lush produce of the San Fernando Valley farms and orchards. I had decided to start the meal with artichokes stuffed with crab and breadcrumbs, topped with cheese melted with a fine brandy. In order to reduce shopping time, I gave Conrad a list of other comestibles. He went in the direction of meats, and I went in the direction of the vegies. The supermarket had huge tables loaded with artichokes-At one of the artichoke tables was standing a ravishing woman. She was notable not so much for her excessive female physical endowments, but by the fact that they were barely covered. She was dressed in the briefest of halters of pink with big yellow polka dots. Beneath that were short-shorts so short they barely existed. Far beneath that she wore a pair of platform high-heels about eight inches high.