Multifaceted Situations

“Liza?” Dordo said, with a quizzical look on his face. If he was attempting to impress on me that he had no idea who owned the name he had no chance of succeeding. The odds of me believing him in his show of forced-performance were nil.

“Your Liza,” I said, “to be precise, your woman friend under Madam Jade’s care.” The way I said it was like declaring a victory statement to a vanquished foe which gave me a feeling of exhilaration.

“She told you what—her life story?” Dordo said. It was a sarcastic attempt to disparage whatever information he knew I was keeping.

“Why don’t you tell the truth on what I wanted to know? If it will help you avoid the word “truth” because of your aversion to it then let’s just call it a reality fiction, your reality fiction.” I detected from his face a trace of a smirk followed by a snort revealing a feeling of contempt.