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A Practice of Affection by extraneous_accessories
Fandoms: Call For The Dead, Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - John Le Carré
11 Aug 2017
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Summary
It had never been George Smiley's habit to nurture affection. In the long evenings in hospital, staring out at the London night, he had searched his mind for an explanation, a way to reconcile himself with the foreign desire to like Inspector Mendel. Collaboration was familiar to him, a sterile and professional form of interaction that he had long since perfected, carefully honing his skill in detaching himself from the realities of relationships. Though always a master of self effacement, his wife's flight to the arms of a Cuban lover had left him with the most concentrated part of himself, the deeply dispassionate core of his being that, when presented with the awkward hospitality of this thin, quietly competent Inspector, had completely and utterly betrayed him.