Scissors: Book Three of Rope Paper Scissors (Joe Torio Mystery)

WHEN THE KNIGHTS ARE THE DRAGONS, the conclusion to Rope Paper Scissors --There was a black painted stick about half an inch thick, about four feet long, with one end wound with electrical tape and drilled to enable a leather loop from which the instrument was hanging from a hook opposite the cell door windows. --Bolin saw me staring at the stick. "We don't use that much. It's only for real hard cases, you know? Sometimes ya just got to. They don't understand nothin' else." --"I see," said I. "Mr. Bolin, I once read a poem in which a very important question was asked." And then I quoted: "When the knights are the dragons, who do we summon when the dragons call?" --He frowned at me, then a big smirk spread across his face. "Dragons ain't real. A dreamer wrote that, Mr. Torio. There ain't no knights. Not no more." --"I am afraid you may be right," I whispered.