(Untitled)

[mynameismarlowe]

It was about four o'clock in the afternoon, mid June, with the sun shining and the ocean nothing more than a brilliant blue glare in the distance. I was wearing an offensively orange Aloha shirt, khaki Bermuda shorts and a pair of worn leather sandals. I looked like I belonged in the same travel brochure that I imagined once featured the Hub

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[gonnajumpnomore]

George Luz was doing an admirable job of resisting the urge to openly salivate at the sight of the unlit cigarette. However, just how long he could keep it up was a completely different matter. He casually shoved his hands in his pockets and strolled up to the other guy. He looked kinda home-y in a weird sorta way. Like he wouldn't have been too out of place with the guys Luz had known back home if he only had some decent clothes. It was certainly enough to merit striking up a conversation with him.

"Hey hey whaddyasay? You gonna smoke that or are you just gonna tease the rest of us poor saps with it?" Not exactly Shakespeare, but whether or not the man looked at George like he was an idiot would prove if they were from around the same time.

[mynameismarlowe]

I looked up to see the cause of the noise. It belonged to a young guy, average in build and height. He had dark hair and dark eyes and there was an air about him that made me wonder if he was a distant relation of Loki.

I plucked the cigarette out of my mouth and held it at about eye level and I stared at it hard. Then I pushed it back between my lips and I tipped my head back and offered the guy a wide grin. The cigarette dangled dangerously.

I said: "Maybe I have a sense of humor on me."

[gonnajumpnomore]

Luz laughed and shoved one hand deeper into his pocket to keep it from reaching out to just snatch the cigarette from the other guy. He wasn't that desperate. Yet. Besides, he still had a fresh batch of Triple B's as he was starting to call them. Burgess' Bible-rolled Butts. Luz thought it was catchy enough to merit a radio jingle at least.

"You're a sick sonovvabitch, even if you have a sense of humor, man. Some of us haven't seen a real smoke in months."

[mynameismarlowe]

I shrugged and the grin stayed plastered on my face. His words were like water off of a duck's back. I once again plucked the cigarette from my mouth and I once again held it loosely between forefinger and thumb.

I said: "If it's of any consolation, this is my last one. I'm saving it for a special occasion. I'll give you a hint. This isn't it."

[gonnajumpnomore]

"Well, I'd better be invited to the big day when it comes." Luz unhooked one of his own cigarettes from behind his ear and lit it, taking a long drag to calm himself after that test of self-control.

"George Luz, 1944," he finally said, extending the hand that wasn't holding the cigarette.

[mynameismarlowe]

"Philip Marlowe, 1939."

Without standing, I leaned forward and I took his hand in my own, shaking it firmly before I let go and I leaned back. I nodded towards the cigarette in his hand and my eyes narrowed.

"What do you call that, huh? A phony smoke?"

[gonnajumpnomore]

"No shit." George smiled. It could've been the name or the year he was smiling about. After all, he'd been an avid reader of detective stories back home, but the island (and dating a dead dame from 1989) had given him a bit of tact. He looked down at his own cigarette and grimaced. "Says the man with the fine tobacco he's not sharing. This," George waved it dramatically in the air, "is a Triple B. I got a Limey friend who makes 'em. Shitty tobacco the island grows rolled up in a Bible page. Exodus I think."

[mynameismarlowe]

"You don't say. Gives new meaning to Moses' burning bush, doesn't it?"

I wondered if Revelations wouldn't have been the more appropriate book. Then I shook the thought away. I'm a sleuth not a theology scholar.

"I don't suppose you could arrange an introduction? I think some phony smokes would go nicely with my phony liquor. Hell, we could have a whole damn phony party."

[gonnajumpnomore]

"Sure thing. I could hook you up with Burgess. I think he's from '37 and the buzz is he's working on alcohol too. A man of many talents."

Luz grinned and dug in his pocket until he found another one of the hand rolled cigarettes, offering it to Marlowe. He'd slipped into his Guy Burgess voice without really realizing it. It was one of his new favorites. "In case the temptation to smoke the other one gets too bad."

[mynameismarlowe]

As a sleuth, I'm well-accustomed to denying temptation. It's the only way to keep honest in my line of work. I'm over a month into my forced retirement. I wondered if maybe it wouldn't hurt to indulge myself in this particular temptation.

I pocketed my preferred Camel cigarette before I took the hand rolled cigarette and I looked up at Luz, tilting my head to the side as I laughed.

"I think I missed that last part there," I said, putting the Triple B between my lips. "Mind going over that again?"

[gonnajumpnomore]

"Hmm?" Luz looked up from getting out his lighter, then laughed. "Oh. That was the Burgess voice. Good, huh? You'd never know since you haven't met the guy, but that's exactly how he talks. It's what I do. Voices."

He lit the other man's cigarette and grinned. He had a good voice too and Luz was slowly but surely memorizing and going over it in his head.

[mynameismarlowe]

"Yeah?" I said, exhaling a lungful of smoke.

The Triple B was unlike anything I had ever experienced. I would leave it at that until I stumbled across the appropriate adjective. Awful would be deemed too polite.

With my free hand, I gestured towards the dog tags that hung around his neck.

"Looks like you're a man of many talents."

[gonnajumpnomore]

"What? These?" Luz looked down at the dog tags like he'd almost forgotten they were hanging around his neck. He hadn't of course, he never would, but he didn't feel like making a big deal out of it. Marlowe would know it all in a few years. Shit. 1939 had seemed so... innocent. There was a great big fucked up world out there, but they hadn't really cared.

"Just doing my bit like any good American."

[mynameismarlowe]

DiNozzo had let it slip upon my arrival that the twentieth century was to be anything but peaceful after the Great War. Here was standing proof. By the time I had left, Hitler and his boys had just invaded Poland. If Luz was from 1944, I was willing to bet that Hitler had since moved on to something bigger and better.

I took a long drag from the Triple B and I said: "What about now? You a part of that task force?"

[gonnajumpnomore]

"Yeah. I'm the radio man." Luz laughed slightly and rubbed the back of his neck. It wasn't really a 'haha, isn't this funny' sort of laugh, instead it was more along the lines of 'haha, geez this is fucked up'. "We got dragged into all the stuff happening in Europe and Asia, just in case you hadn't guessed. I was jumping into a battle when I came here. Landed in a tree with all of my gear still tied to me including the frickin' big radio."

[mynameismarlowe]

I had guessed but it was through no fault of my own. The beauty of Tabula Rasa was that everyone was so keen on doing all of the detective work for you. Compared to Hollywood, it was a bastion of honesty.

I said: "Tough break."