Bolly Manga was worried. He wasn't worried because some unlicensed thieves had tried to steal some of his finest boots. He wasn't worried because he'd caught a punch to his face when he fought back against them. He was worried because a Watchman had stopped the fight and arrested the thieves. This was not how Watchmen were supposed to behave. On the other hand, in Bolly Manga's book, most Watchmen were men.
The woman in Watch uniform had broken up the fight, silver locket swinging around her neck, and brought him in to calm down. She kept on smiling and trying to cheer him up.
"That's all sorted then," she said brightly.
He returned her smile a little uncertainly. "They've been stealing from my shop for weeks."
"Why didn't you call the City Watch sooner?"
He grimaced. There was the question he'd been dreading. "I thought it would be…too much trouble, and…well…I'd heard the rumours…"
She looked at him, encouraging him to continue.
"Well…everyone says the Watch are…that they're…that when you call them, they just blunder in and…you know…try to shoot everyone."
The Watchman looked around meaningfully.
"Not that it's true, of course," he said hurriedly.
"Of course. You know, the Watch isn't like that anymore. I don't recall a single occasion when-"
There was a loud crash as the door was kicked off its hinges and landed on the floor of the office. When the dust had almost settled, Bolly Manga saw the shape of a large troll in Watch uniform barge in and heard it shout a command.
"Nobody move or I'll shoot!" it said in a thunderous voice.
Bolly Manga looked pointedly at the female Watchman and she shrugged.
"He's not actually carrying a weapon," she pointed out.
Then she turned to the troll and saluted. As Bolly watched, another Watchman climbed over the wreckage, coughing. He fanned away some dust with his hand.
Then he spoke. "Yes, thank-you, Sergeant. I'll take it from here." It was clear to Bolly that this man was in command.
Although it looked impossible, the woman stood even more to attention as the man addressed her.
"What's the situation?"
"All sorted now, sir. Some unliscenced thieving, a bit of a street fight. Nothing more, sir. Just these two to take care of." She motioned to the two thieves, now grumbling at each other in the corner of the room where they sat, handcuffed.
"Who screamed?"
Bolly looked at his feet, his face turning a deep shade of red.
"That would be me," he admitted.
"Good work," the commander told the girl. "Angua can deal with them when we get back to Pseudopolis Yard. I take it that it was you who sent the clacks to Carrot and Detritus?"
The corner of her mouth turned up slightly in a smile. "Yessir. I would have contacted you but I couldn't pick you up on the clacks anywhere. Er, where is Captain Carrot, sir?"
"He's through there. I got him to guard the door in case of…well, in case."
"Sir."
Bolly Manga didn't follow the rest of the conversation, so instead he arranged the premium leather soft-soled boots on their shelf until one of the Watchmen remembered him. The stolen items were returned, the door was glued carefully back into its frame by a somewhat embarrassed troll* , and the scars he had received in the fight were fixed up perfectly by an Igor**.
Afterwards, Bolly was alone in his shop. If he had been the sort to contemplate things he would have wondered about the day's events. But he wasn't, so he got back to work making boots. Footwear was much simpler than people.
*Although it is not evident when trolls are embarrassed due to their lack of sympathetic nervous systems, (or, to put it simply, because they can't blush).
**Bolly had assumed it was an Igor, because of the way it limped, lisped and had a jar of eyeballs slung over one shoulder. But then again, he could be wrong.