A Mongolian Lament: Excerpt Chapter 7

Chapter 7: The Meat-Biting Tooth

Mongolian Proverb: The meat-biting tooth is in the mouth; the person-biting tooth is in the soul.

Jorja focused first on his fine lips, then on his elegant, long fingers. She was fascinated by his prominent gold ring embellished with a Mongolian design, much like the Celtic designs of Ireland, of never-ending interlocking square lines.

He was a slender man, finely and neatly dressed in dark, tailored trousers and a pale blue shirt. His dark hair showed intermittent gray streaks. Even without smiling, it wasn’t a brutal face. There was, no doubt, determination and stubbornness with a hint of pride and perfection in his counternance, but there was also intelligence, assuredness, and an innate sense of devotion to his work. It was not that he exuded a lack of compassion; it was more that he projected a serene belief in justice and integrity through hard work and the punctual and frugal completion of projects.

Behind his shrewd hazel eyes, it seemed improbable that he had such a fierce reputation. Jorja closed her eyes and visualized Brik the sheepdog in the construction site and Bruce the naked man in the sunroom. She decided that Dr. Noyonbaatar was an amalgamation of Brik and Bruce. He resembled a sheepdog in a hairy coat—a wolf in sheep’s clothing—outwardly still but inwardly explosive, yet also like Bruce, remarkable in the amount of work he accomplished, whether by direct or indirect action.

MARTINA NICOLLS is the author of:- The Shortness of Life: A Mongolian Lament (2015), Liberia’s Deadest Ends (2012), Bardot’s Comet (2011), Kashmir on a Knife-Edge (2010) and The Sudan Curse (2009).

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