The owl on the plaque had eyebrows like a furious chicken.
Barnaby stopped on the machinery market’s crossbeam and stared at it. The artist had given him a broad chest, tiny wings, and the expression of a bird discovering an unpaid bill beneath its egg.
“Handsome, isn’t it?” the merchant called.
“That is a difficult question.”
“Coalition approved. Household tested.”
Barnaby looked beneath the picture.
Those words were indeed engraved there. They made a specific claim, below which the merchant had placed a specific price.
He descended onto the clear end of the counter.
