JR (62 page)

—Yes by tapping, I couldn't really feel anything but by tapping along the baseboard I could hear where the studs were and then I measured between them last night, they were twenty-four inches apart but maybe the …

—Yes well of course your house is ahm, is your home that is to say but your wife ahm, I think you were going to feel her out in terms of her position activationwise in the ongoing strike situation and the ahm,

with the idea that she might be a little less active activationwise that is to say if she had the opportunity to expand her, to use her ahm, utilize her talents in more constructive school programs in terms of her own interests that is to say, her ahm, yes I think you mentioned B'hai and some artistic Kashmiri ahm, India I think that is, yes, things they do in

…

—Well she, she she has been working on that yes but she, but I thought Mister Vogel was going to …

—Yes well of course Coach Vogel is ahm, we don't want to improach on his preserve even though I understand she just took a group of youngsters to a basketball game but of course if she enjoys basketball I'm sure that Coach wouldn't ahm, that no one would object to her taking over as curriculum specialist and implementing the program to ahm, to help actualize the cultural aspects of the arts in depth for our, if we can find a place for our Spring Arts Festival in our ahm…

—Yes well no he what did he say? Twenty-five… ?

—Meant to ask you about that Senator, when you start looking around for a site to put up this Cultural Center of yours there's a nice location out there past the Dunkin Donuts, right there on the border with District thirteen. Nothing but some scrub pine and a couple of new little ranch houses would have to go and we had some blockbusting out there so the acreage ought to come cheap if you can get your condemnation proceedings…

—What do we want that, we already got condemnation proceedings, you don't read the legal notices? right in the paper? Plenty of parking, they just blacktopped it up there right across the street for the new shopping center fourteen acres, Sundays the Catholic church, nights the Cultural Center parks, plenty of people you need plenty of parking.

—Yes well of course I didn't mean a place to ahm, I meant a place in the budget that is to say without a continuing grant from the State Arts Committee the Festival can hardly ahm, when the Committee learns that our composer in residence is no longer in ahm, in residence, the grant that's been helping with our little Ring presentation would ahm, could…

—Look Whiteback what do you want to rip your knickers on him again for. If nobody can find him there goes their excuse for a strike, am I right?

—Yes well the pressures to fire anyone of course are ahm, of course if someone as active activationwise as Dan's wife here was busy with ahm, Dan?

—Yes but I think she thinks Mrs, Mister Pecci's wife is interested in doing it.

—Doing it?

—Yes well of course I believe Janice Pecci was in the original production Senator? of this Rhinegold that is to say this Ring, yes, but it probably doesn't really matter exactly whose Ring we see because

there can't be that much difference, we've all seen Miss Flesch's that is to say and if Dan's wife wanted to do it for us I thought ahm, I thought that was probably why you stopped in, Dan?

—No it was, I wanted to ask about the equipment, all the teaching equipment that I …

—Yes well those were major budget items of course and in terms of ahm, of resubmitting the budget to the voters some of them-may have to ahm, that paper the Citizens Union people sent around in an effort to embarrass the ahm, we just had it here somewhere and I think some of your equipment is ahm, your talking typewriter yes I think they found thirty-five thousand dollars for the Edsel Responsive Environment a little, what did he say there?

—Wait that can't still be the …

—Yes well no, no I think he's finished and ahm, he must be calling roll yes you can turn that sound off but leave it on to see what's happened to our scheduling, is that it right there Dan? Of course some of the equipment they question is ahm, the burglar alarm at two thousand six hundred dollars for example but of course at the rate typewriters and adding machines are disappearing it probably comes out to about the same ahm, they've even put the telephone booth down there I suppose one of their ahm, their spy saw the new one down near the boys' lockers but of course the telephone company itself is ahm, yes what's this coming on now?

—Arithmetic, all the little pluses and minus.

—No it's, I think it's electricity, it must be Coach…

—Vogel's new ahm, yes but of course if they started the tape at homeroom bell without knowing Mister Gibbs was ahm, yes well then the youngsters will have missed most of the lesson Dan so your testing might not be ahm…

—He said he put an outline on your desk, maybe I can find the place where it …

—Yes well in those papers you picked up it might ahm, that yellow sheet there might…

—Micro Farad yes that's, farad's an electrical unit, his resistance at a minimum and his field fully excited, laid Millie Amp on the ground potential, raised her frequency and lowered her capacitance, pulled out his high voltage probe and inserted it into her socket connecting them in parallel, and short circuited her shunt…

—Yes well that's ahm, he said circuitry didn't he and that sounds ahm, excuse me… hello?

—bar magnet had lost all its field strength, Millie Amp tried self induction and damaged her solenoid…

—No Leroy, he's been trying to find out what happened to a shipment from the government in connection with the cafeteria lunch program subsidy, the… picnic forks yes, they seem to have ahm… well tell him to call me back, yes…

—fully discharged, was unable to excite his generator, so they reversed polarity and blew each other's fuses…

—Yes well I think you'll just have to take a look at the whole tape yourself Dan, all that electrical language is a little bit ahm, here just let me initial it and send it back to him we don't want to take any more of the Senator's time and we can clear up your ahm, look into your equipment requests later in terms of ahm, of budgetary terms that is to

…

—No but it wasn't that equipment that I, I meant the equipment we already have that was stored in north seven, I came in that way this morning and…

—I think I can straighten Dan out on this Whiteback, with the equipment coming in for this home ec center in east seven you were going to set your little retreads up in business over in north seven, am I right? And then all Dan's equipment here would be …

—Yes well no we ahm, when the home ec equipment came into north seven we had Dan's moved over to east seven where we were going to set up the retard ahm…

—Set them up in business in east seven, that's what I just…

—Yes well we've ahm, put them out of business that is to say, in terms of the ongoing situation spacewise the skill builders and the ahm, the reading accelerators ran over two thousand dollars I think didn't they Dan, in budgetary terms of course damage to equipment like that if we put it in the ahm, out in the cold that is to say the taxpayers would probably ahm…

—You say this new home ec equipment's in north seven? I'd like to take a look at it Whiteback, matter of fact I thought I might take a couple of pieces, a couple of the appliances maybe, take them off your hands at cost, might help you out a little on your space problem.

—Yes well at cost of course I ahm, I thought they were gift from your subsiderary, a subsiderary of your ahm…

—Matter of fact that's what I meant yes, after the way they cleaned us out in that robbery…

—If you're going to look at it now I'll go with you, we can make sure the …

—You go ahead Dan, one of us going around bandaged up with an arm in a sling is one thing but the two of us these kids would think was a comedy team. Anyhow I want to talk to the Senator here for a minute about your proposition thirteen, Senator? Your bill to get the schools out of the entertainment business, make closed-circuit systems…

—That bill, we tabled that bill.

—What do you, what do you mean you tabled it, you …
\

—When the Foundation announced it's dropping support for the school televisions we tabled it, too much…

—The Foun, what? Whal do you, what the hell do you, what's he talking about Whiteback?

—Yes well the ahm, of course I forgot you'd been in the ahm, out of circulation that is to say Major but the Foundation has apparently decided to put its support into educational broadcasting ahm, community stations as opposed to school, educational television as opposed to instructional television that is to …

—But what do they think they, they stick you with a million dollar setup like this and then pull out? Put us in the entertainment business where every brokendown jobless retired radical welfare freeloading Tom Dick and, and, and that writer they sent out here, you remember him? Messy looking kind of a, I gave him a whole armload of research material he never returned, what kind of a write-up do you think he gave the whole thing after that lesson by that, that Bast, that, that's what did it, that, owww… !

—Yes be careful Major that desk corner is ahm, no I'll pick up the papers Dan why don't you just go ahead and check on your ahm, excuse me… hello? Oh, oh yes Mister Parentu… yes he's right ahm … A flash of nails and the blue stone intervened. —Right, right yes well of course he just said you're right but he just ahm, unfortunately Mister Pecci just left, he … yes well of course I can give him your message about the story in the… yes, yes go ahead, yes… the phone dangled.

—And that Gibbs that, that what do they expect when you've got somebody like that up there representing the school to every jobless old retired welfare watch your, your pants there Dan, looks like they're going to …

—Listen, at the door there somebody? listening… ?

On the screen was Smokey Bear.

—Here, what are you doing there!

—What, me… ? The door opened far enough to admit a torn sneaker toe.

—You, yes, there's no one else there is there? What are you doing at the door there.

—Nothing. I got sent.

—For what was it now, typewriters again?

—No it was, I was using this here adding machine up in the…

—Using it? You didn't happen to ahm, take it home with you?

—What? What like, steal it?

—Three typewriters and one adding machine disappeared over the weekend, do you know anything about it?

—Me? No I mean holy, I mean if I stole one why would I get caught using this here one up in the …

—What makes you think you have a right to play with expensive school equipment like typewriters and adding machines? Do you know how much one of them…

—No but I was real careful Mister Whiteback but see I had all these here big numbers to add up which I had to be sure it came out right see so I …

—This is the last time, do you understand? This is the last time I want to see you sent to my office for something like this, do you understand?

—Me too but I, yes sir but I just wondered, see this list of all these numbers I was adding up in this here adding machine I wondered if I could just get it back because like I thought maybe then Mister Glancy could…

—Mister Glancy's not in today and you can do your homework the way everyone else does it, with a pencil, now get to class or wherever you're supposed to be and, and look out there, you're dropping that whole pile of ahm, Dan if you're going you might ahm, if you see

Mister Gibbs in the halls anywhere you might tell him I'd like to see him as soon as he ahm, he can…

And out under the benign reproof in the fixed gaze from the wall they moved at home through crowd and noise, the one pursued by admiring gasps toward east seven, the other abruptly submerged half down the range of lockers to tuck a shoelace and surface to a stride that brought the coins bulging one pocket to a heavy clank each step toward the telephone booth as a clock beyond disposed of the hour with a click and the doors clattered closed on him with the second ring.

—Hullo… ? chin sunk deep as though seeking cords down toward the spleen somewhere, hand mounting handkerchief wad, pencil stub, tugging the torn zipper on the portfolio balanced as a lap desk —this is him speaking… handkerchief wad firmly in the mouthpiece, —is this here Mister Wiles… ? Yes how much could you get me … at what? Holy

… no that's okay go ahead and get it, I just wondered why this Eagle stock is so … no just the common I already got rid of the other, hey I wanted to ask you about this stuff you sent me on these here nursing homes, this… what? No, no I can hear you fine, wait… he loosened the handkerchief wad, —now can you hear me better? We're always having trouble on these lines, I know, listen I … what? What paper, today's? No I … No just these Series B and Series C debentures, they already… what? What… ? No but what do you mean the whole thing, the whole thing? But holy … no but holy… What? No but wait a second you just said Alberta and … no I know it but what's Ace Development got to do with Al… What do you mean, the both of them? But holy … No but holy … No but this here Mister Decker which

was the underwriter, he… What, like when the interest was due on this here Series B he put out the Series C and used that money to pay off the … No but like the price of the Ace stock just went up so how come he wanted to merge it with Alberta and Western if they were like already losing ten thousand dollars a … oh you mean that's why it

went up? No but first I have to talk to this here lawyer, I … what? No I know it's a bad connection, I said I have to talk to our attorney first but see if you could look up this company called X-L Lithography at Ohio or someplace, find what their … No I said Ohio, find their book value and their dividends and all, I've got somebody waiting to see me… and the

door cracked with the cropped head pressed against the outside glass,

—the what? Oh that nursing home thing, is that how you pronounce it? No I said I got the stuff you sent me that is to say but I'll call you later … and the door clattered as far open as the lap desk allowed.