[…] clad in a featherless hat and somber black garments, which set off the dark pallor of his forbidding face.

At a single table a couple of Chinese drinkers looked up incuriously.

I'll fetch thee a nope.

Does resisting the avalanche of advertising take a slannish mind? No, just an intelligent one, and you know the advertisers are counting on the less intelligent minds so they can make a living