John le Carré - The Tailor of Panama

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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
The Tailor of
Panama.
John le Carré
Published 1996.
'Quel Panamá!'
Expression current in France in
the early years of this century.
Describes an insolube mess.
(See David McCullough's admirable
The Path Between the Seas)
CHAPTER ONE
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
It was a perfectly ordinary
Friday afternoon in tropical
Panama until Andrew Osnard barged
into Harry Pendel's shop, asking
to be measured for a suit. When
he barged in, Pendel was one
person. By the time he barged out
again Pendel was another. Total
time elapsed: seventy-seven
minutes according to the mahogany-
cased clock by Samuel Collier of
Eccles, one of the many historic
features of the house of Pendel &
Braithwaite Co., Limitada,
Tailors to Royalty, formerly of
Savile Row, London and presently
of the Vía España, Panama City.
Or just off it. As near to the
España as made no difference. And
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
P&B for short.
The day began prompt at six when
Pendel woke with a jolt to the
din of bandsaws and building work
and traffic in the valley and the
sturdy male voice of Armed Forces
Radio. 'I wasn't there, it was
two other blokes, she hit me
first and it was with her
consent, Your Honour,' he
informed the morning, because he
had a sense of impending
punishment but couldn't place it.
Then he remembered his eight-
thirty appointment with his bank
manager and sprang out of bed at
the same moment that his wife
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
Louisa howled 'No, no, no,' and
pulled the sheet over her head
because mornings were her worst
time.
'Why not "yes, yes, yes," for a
change?' he asked her in the
mirror while he waited for the
tap to run hot. 'Let's have a bit
of optimism round the place,
shall we, Lou?'
Louisa groaned but her corpse
under the sheet didn't stir so
Pendel amused himself with a game
of cocky repartee with the news
reader in order to lift his
spirits.
'The Commander in charge of US
Southern Command last night again
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
insisted that the United States
will honour its treaty
obligations to Panama, both in
the principle and in the deed,'
the news reader proclaimed with
male majesty.
'It's a con, darling,' Pendel
retorted lathering soap onto his
face. 'If it wasn't a con you
wouldn't go on saying it, would
you, General?'
'The Panamanian President has
today arrived in Hong Kong for
the start of his two-week tour of
South-East Asian capitals,' said
the news reader.
'Here we go, here's your boss!'
Pendel called, and held out a
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
soapy hand to command her
attention.
'He is accompanied by a team of
the country's economic and trade
experts, including his Forward
Planning advisor on the Panama
Canal, Dr Ernesto Delgado.'
'Well done, Ernie,' said Pendel
approvingly, with an eye to his
recumbent wife.
'On Monday the presidential party
will continue to Tokyo for
substantive talks aimed at
increasing Japanese investment in
Panama,' said the news reader.
'And those geishas aren't going
to know what hit them,' said
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
Pendel in a lower tone, as he
shaved his left cheek. 'Not with
our Ernie on the prowl.'
Louisa woke up with a crash.
'Harry, I do not wish you to
speak of Ernesto in those terms
even in jest, please.'
'No, dear. Very sorry, dear. It
shall not happen again. Ever,' he
promised while he navigated the
difficult bit just under the
nostrils.
But Louisa was not appeased.
'Why can't Panama invest in
Panama?' she complained, sweeping
aside the sheet and sitting bolt
upright in the white linen
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
nightdress she had inherited from
her mother. 'Why do we have to
have Asians do it? We're rich
enough. We've got one hundred and
seven banks in this town alone,
don't we? Why can't we use our
own drug money to build our own
factories and schools and
hospitals?'
The 'we' was not literal. Louisa
was a Zonian, raised in the Canal
Zone in the days when by
extortionate treaty it was United
States territory for ever, even
if the territory was only ten
miles wide and fifty miles long
and sur-rounded by despised
Panamanians. Her late father was
an Army engineer who, having been
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
seconded to the Canal, took early
retirement to become a servant of
the Canal Company. Her late
mother was a libertarian Bible
teacher in one of the Zone's
segregated schools.
'You know what they say, dear,'
Pendel replied, hold-ing up an
earlobe and shaving beneath it.
He shaved as others might paint,
loving his bottles and brushes.
'Panama's not a country, it's a
casino. And we know the boys who
run it. You work for one of them,
don't you?'
He had done it again. When his
conscience was bad he couldn't
help himself any more than Louisa
could help rising.
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The Tailor of Panama - John le Carré
'No, Harry, I do not. I work for
Ernesto Delgado and Ernesto is
not one of them. Ernesto is a
straight arrow, he has ideals, he
cherishes Panama's future as a
free and sovereign state in the
community of nations. Unlike them
he is not on the take, he is not
carpetbagging his country's
inheritance. That makes him very
special and very, very rare.'
Secretly ashamed of himself,
Pendel turned on the shower and
tested the water with his hand.
'Pressure's down again,' he said
brightly. 'Serves us right for
living on a hill.'
Louisa got out of bed and yanked
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摘要：

TheTailorofPanama-JohnleCarréTheTailorofPanama.JohnleCarréPublished1996.'QuelPanamá!'ExpressioncurrentinFranceintheearlyyearsofthiscentury.Describesaninsolubemess.(SeeDavidMcCullough'sadmirableThePathBetweentheSeas)CHAPTERONEfile:///D|/EBooks/Le%20Carre/(ebook)%20Le%2...%20-%20The%20Tailor%20of\%20P...

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