dismayed not by the passive-aggressive move of ishmails which almost made him flounder , but by the close proximity and hence unavoidable inhalation of the big mans putrid breath ( which , he noted for his play , was like that of a diseased and dying buzzard , coursing across un-brushed , decaying crocodile teeth ) , arden regained his footing , turned and looked for somewhere in the shelf-less hovel upon which to deposit the sad , yellow flowers .