The Streetbird Read Online Free PDF

will bust them all and kick them down the stairs," shouted Karate.
    "We'll pound them into the floor of our worst cell," shouted Ketchup, "and never feed their remains."
    "That's about how I would like to see it," said Jurriaans, wiping the sweat off his forehead. "With due regard for proportions and decency. We must try to remember that we have no skulls and bones on our caps and that even Gustav and Lennie belong to the shadow created by our own light. They have to be cut to slivers, of course, by the sword of justice, but with just a wee touch of love and kindness, as is our wont."
    De Gier got up. "I'm going home, my cat has to be fed. I'll be back."
    "In uniform," Grijpstra said, "and wait for me. I have to go home too."
    "Please, adjutant."
    "You object to my company?"
    "If you insist on my uniform."
    "I don't insist on anything," Grijpstra said, pushing himself out of his chair. "The commissaris insisted. Uniform, he said; uniform, it will be."
    "Take your time," Jurriaans said. "This is a reasonable station and it doesn't only accept the needs of its staff, it understands them too. Feed your cat, put on your uniform, and come back at once. There is work to do."
    "Got to pack a bag," Grijpstra said. "We are expected to work from the quarter itself. We even have to live here."
    "One apartment," said Jurriaans, "for our appreciated colleagues."
    Adjutant Adèle had left the table but turned. "It's available. A suspect, now in one of our cells, a burglar by the name of Kavel, resides on the Seadike but he won't be able to go home for a while. The owner of the property has asked if we'll keep an eye on the apartment because even burglars' homes are burglarized these days. I'll fetch the keys."
    "Ha," Cardozo said. "The three of us together, that'll be nice."
    "That'll be terrible," de Gier said, forcing the Volkswagen through thick traffic. "That'll be sickening. Why do we allow ourselves to be part of idiotic situations?"
    "Why shouldn't it be nice?" Grijpstra asked. "We'll do the best we can and keep at it until it's behind us so that we can get into the next situation, which'11 undoubtedly be better."
    De Gier drummed impatiently n the steering wheel. "And you won't even be allowed to smoke cigars during meetings."
    "Adjutant Adèle," Grijpstra murmured. "A handsome woman. I like working with handsome women."
    "And the number of suspects has been reduced to two. We can't even reason for ourselves."
    "We'll catch the two first and the others later."
    De Gier stamped on the gas pedal. "That Obrian must have been a most exceptional specimen. Imagine that prostitute on the bridge. I wouldn't have minded seeing that, although it's despicable. Revolting." He braked and swerved around a bus. "Amazing."
    "Whoa," Grijpstra said. "Park over there and let me go. I'll go home from here, and you don't have to fetch me either. I'll walk back to the station, once I have my bag."
    "But do you understand what happened there?"
    "I understand it in detail," Grijpstra said, "but I have learned to live with evil, which doesn't mean that I'm without a taste for battle. Now, will you park or won't you?"
    De Gier chopped liver for his cat and dissolved plant food for his geraniums. "Tabriz," the sergeant said, "Grijpstra doesn't realize the misery we got ourselves into. The quarter provides nothing but smut. Slimy muck up to our ears. We have been misplaced."
    Tabriz studied the contents of her dish and swept the floor with her short striped tail. She folded her chubby front legs and grunted while she ate.
    "Remember your manners."
    Tabriz looked up. "Maybe you're somewhat fat and ugly," the sergeant said, "but that's no reason to behave like a piglet."
    Tabriz slobbered on. The sergeant waited until the cat was done, picked her up, and carried her to his balcony. He sat down on a wicker chair and put his feet on the railing. The cat burped on his lap. De Gier opened his eyes. "Burp the other way."
    The cat purred and put a paw on each side of