— Okay wait I’ll read it listen. The small closely held company which rose almost overnight from the ruins of a failing upstate textile mill to become the multimillion dollar multiface, facet, faceted J R Corp appears threatened by a credit squeeze whose dramatic repercussions could be felt throughout the corporate and financial world it was reported here today, I mean that was like Tuesday. Attracted by the smell of here it is listen hey, smell of profits and the corporate daring which have characterized the company’s abrupt entry into such diverse areas as pap wait where does it tell about me down here someplace I thought I marked it, reputation both as a ruthless corporate manipulator with a shrewd see this is me hey, a shrewd eye for tax situations, and a man of vision whose almost clair, clair something see this is still me, clairsomething ability to cut through to the heart of a problem and post an answer in profits before the competition has understood the quest continued on where’s the rest of it wait, I even marked it where I have this here bulldog jaw and all might prove there’s more truth than why’d I mark that for it’s, wait no wait this is you hey listen. You listening?
— Just get this stuff off my…
— Okay just a second listen hey. Might prove there’s more truth than poetry in the bard’s words music hath charms to soothe the savage dot dot dot when intimates report funloving millionheiress Boody Selk shedding her swarthy sitar strumming playmate to slip on an eyecatching topless by daring new designer Harry Bosch for her latest teetateet with suave young business exec Edward Bast, seems Ed dabbles at the ivories between corporate mergers we hear his dad’s a prominent conductor on the Long Island Railroad who does a little tunesmithing on the side but with Ed’s head for figures these days he may be planning a merger of a diff… hey wait what do you…
— Think I, feel like I’m…
— No wait sit up I got this here picture too Davidoff sent me to show you from some magazine it’s right under here she is look hey, surfacing from a fun stay in the Greek islands boy that’s some pair of look out! you’re coughing right on…
— Feel like I’m going to…
— I mean you got spit on these holy, hey wait swallow real hard quick let me get this stuff away try to swallow real hard hey, let me get this handkerchief… and he huddled away, dabbing the wad down a rise of tawny buttocks against the sparkling Aegean, licked his lips — you okay now hey? hey Bast…?
The train shook abruptly to a halt and he held the heap close, wedged a toe deeper into the hinge of the seat ahead to bring his knees up under it — I mean you don’t need to get so mad at everything, I mean you even got spit on where it says about a man of vision and all… and the handkerchief wad wiped that, came up clutched tight for the back of his hand to wipe across his nose and he hunched deeper under the pile peeling up ragged ribbons of newspaper, magazine pages torn jagged — with his sure instinct for the pulse of the market in a companywide search for ways to serve the customer better see this is me too hey, but it is his outstanding talent as a manager’s manager which is held most in awe by his corporate peers see then it tells about this whole paper empire see that’s what it’s called here Paper Empire, I mean it starts off with this here surprise coop where we took over Eagle see then it tells where I thought up buying X–L for this here advertising on all these matchbooks to like fermiliarize everybody with this here rapidly expanding line of products where we went after these timber reserves when we went after Triangle and this here Duncan and hey? did I tell you hey? I mean where this here D and S subsiderary now they want me to write this whole book to publish? Like they said they want to name it How To Make a Million see only I think earn, like How To Earn a Million I mean it sounds more dignified you know? Like this biographical stuff which they fixed it up a little like where they stick in my golf game is in the eighties and all see they’d help me out with this book, I mean this Mister Davidoff said they’d like write it for me you know…? And his elbow, come to rest high on the seat’s back, left a hand dangling by his nose where the thumb promptly sought employment — like this here thing Virginia just wrote all about me in She where Mister Davidoff said it’s to like create this masculine image for this here feminine reader appeal which they wrote it for her see, I mean it’s like this intimate picture of her boss which she’s like been with me since the start up to this rise of success and all like I thought it would give the magazine this real success feeling about it if it was like tied onto my own success you know? I mean like where it said in the paper about leading this parade wait a second…
