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For Ahmed Savi it is an in-between day: waiting for things to happen. And of course, when you wait, things don’t happen. As he keeps telling himself, the proverbial waiting drum doesn’t beat (not even a kettle-drum). But there is disquiet amongst the customers at Moudi’s Emporium. Loretta Garsten-Manir, is explaining Predictive Ptolomaic Astrology to the sceptical Colin. What begins to convince him is the detail with which she describes the fate of each individual that enters the Emporium. He orders another glass of Ahmed’s Tantric Iftic tisane, and gazes at Loretta, in veiled anticipation. When Mandible Winkworth enters, the spirited astrologer turns pale. ‘What does this foretell?’ asks Colin. ‘It is perhaps the beginning of the end,’ she replies.