— Yes well let’s ahm ahm let’s all ahm, these tickets yes here Mister Gibbs if you’d turn them in on your way to the train yes ten forty, not the train no the ten forty that is to say you’ve missed that of course yes the ten dollars and forty cents we reimbursed the boy who turned them in from a field trip of Mrs ahm ahm, Bast yes I was told Mister Bast helped out but no one’s been able to ahm, seen hide nor ahm…
— Can’t waste any more company time like this Whiteback, I’m due over at…
— Of course yes after you Major ahm, hair that is to say hair nor hide you were going to see Sister Agnes cut up a frog I think you said we all have somewhere to go, Dan? Let’s ahm, have somewhere to go I think Coach wanted to discuss your wife’s ahm of course he can’t discuss anything like that now he has a gym period yes I have to get to the nurse’s office, the fourth graders there they seem to be conducting a sitdown or ahm, in is it…
— Mister Gibbs you, are you all right?
— What? oh Dan, fine yes I…
— You look white your, here…
— Fine I said! I just, just mad as hell at myself losing my temper at that God damned…
— Yes well you shouldn’t have tried to pull his…
— First God damned rule never hit somebody you don’t like, you coming out?
— Yes, yes I… he stood there tugging at the glass door that never yet had opened in, and then stepped through the one held wide beside it — I could ride you to the station…
— Thanks no I’ll walk, I have to stop at the Post Office…
— That’s yes that’s where I’m going I’m expecting something from an executive placement ah, place I hoped I could talk to you about this sometime, I thought I saw you in the station in New York I thought I could ride out with you but you were meeting a, a young lady I guess you were going to ride her someplace so I didn’t want to wait where’s my car… he sought down the row of stares leveled in chromed grimaces for the familiar ptosis left from a jump up a curb into a fire hydrant, — down there yes where those boys, where are they going…
— Choir practice, that’s Hyde’s share in America the urchin with the head like a toothbrush, nothing pansy about him is there looks like something from a God damned German vintage orphanage…
— But they shouldn’t be going off the, boys…! Oh but wait aren’t you…
— Thanks no I’m in a hurry Dan, I’ll walk…
— Yes but, but, well, boys…! Where are you going…!
— Come on don’t stop hey, this way… they made for the reek of asphalt clouding Burgoyne Street, — so then what happened…
— Nothing he just said if they catch me in there again using the telephone they’ll have to resort to these here disciplinary measures, I mean what am I sup…
— Okay but if you do what you said boy are you going to get in trouble, I mean that’s forgery boy.
— What do you mean forgery I just scribbled this here name which it’s nobody’s down at the bottom where it says arthurized by, I mean you think the telephone company goes around asking everybody is this here your signature? All they care it says requisition order right across the top so they come stick in this here telephone booth.
— You’ll find out boy you think Whiteback won’t be pissed off when the school gets this bill for…
— That’s how much you know they don’t pay them they pay the school, the telephone company pays the school like this here commission to have this phone booth in there so I’m like helping the school out, I mean like the more calls…
— How do you know, I mean boy what a bunch of…
— I called them up what do you think, I mean what am I suppose to do run over to the candy store all the time? Or like home I mean suppose I get some deal going where they call me up so they get some lady that says yes this is J R’s mother could I help you? I mean what kind of…
— Look out you want to break the door? That’s U S government property boy…
— So what they got plenty of money.
— You’ll find out boy look, didn’t you ever see this little sign? Penalty for theft is five hundred dollars fine or one year in prison that’s for stealing this shitty little ballpoint pen boy you bust a door and they’ll…
— That’s a bunch of crap they’re like nineteen cents, I mean who wants to steal it anyway move your elbow, I just want to use it… he bent to the minuscule effort of lettering Investors Fullfilment Corp on a money order blank.
— You’ll find out boy, what did you get let’s see hey, I mean where’s this big check you been yelling about.
— That’s my business, come on you’re dropping all the…
— Inventors Information Kit boy what a, record of invention look. Be it known that I residing at state of have invented certain new and useful I mean you couldn’t invent shit, you want to trade it hey?
— For what, move will you? I’m trying to…
— I mean what a bunch of, look. To the individual inventor the world is his oyster, what good is that I mean somebody already invented one. You want to trade it?
