— Yes well we’ve ahm, they’ve run into some problems shifting adult ed because the gym’s being cleared for the hobby show so the classes in prenatal care had to be ahm, I had it right here somewhere yes driver training was ahm…
— Just a little space problem Vern, over in east seven trying to fit the retreads into the space the Great Books were…
— I don’t want to hear about it.
— Yes well I think what Vern means is ahm…
— I just said what I mean Whiteback. Don’t tell me things I don’t want to know and I won’t bother you. If I can stand two more years of this I’ll be able to retire, and if you can keep me looking good that long I won’t bother you.
— Yes well of course we ahm, Dan that is to say, Dan here has been ahm…
— It’s your job to make me look good and it’s Dan’s job to make you look good, if he’s just going to sit here making faces I don’t know who can make him look good but…
— Yes well of course his wife is ahm, if we ask her to come in as curriculum specialist of course we hoped she might be a little less active activationwise in terms of this ongoing strike threat yes is that what you stopped in for Dan? You were going to ahm, feel…
— No I can come back later, it’s not really school bus…
— I don’t want to hear about it.
— You’ll hear about it Vern they’re just looking for an excuse, trying to make an issue over firing that young music what was his name, bastard probably cost us half our tv budget with the show he put on for that Foundation team. Had any calls from them on him yet Whiteback?
— Yes on ahm, Bast you said Mister Bast yes not from the Foundation no the Senior Citizens of course have ahm, are quite put out but…
— What did you expect with this open-circuit setup, you’ll see them down at that referendum in wheelchairs they…
— Yes well apparently they were looking forward to a lesson on Edward MacDowell in connection with their therapy cutting ahm, he seems to have mentioned cutting out paper dolls and of course a music union called threatening legal action against us because he played a note on the piano and he’s not ahm, not a member that is to say of course he has a right to ahm, in fact I believe some civil liberties union is preparing to defend his right to free speech but…
— If he dares to show his face after that performance I’d just like to get hold of him and…
— I’ve been trying to yes, get hold of him that is to say call his home again to tell him we’re preparing a new check, I understand he stopped by for it late yesterday but the computer had misplaced the decimal and made it out for fifteen dollars and ahm, fif…
— Fifteen dollars more than he’s worth but if you don’t get that straightened out Whiteback the whole community’s going to blow up, this trouble Dan’s been having with his holes Vern…
— That’s really something I don’t want to hear about.
— Yes well of course if that’s what you stopped in to talk about Dan maybe some other ahm, of course I thought you might have some word for us about this strike threat in terms of your wife’s ahm, I think you were going to feel your wife’s ahm…
— He doesn’t have to feel her anything, if they want to strike let them strike.
— Yes well I think what Vern means is ahm, in terms of the ongoing situation at the curricular level Dan’s wife is…
— I just finished telling you what I mean Whiteback, it has nothing to do with curricular anything. The function of this school is custodial. It’s here to keep these kids off the streets until the girls are big enough to get pregnant and the boys are old enough to go out and hold up a gas station, it’s strictly custodial and the rest is plumbing. If these teachers of yours strike just sit still and keep the doors open, by the time these kids have been lying around the house for a week their parents will march the teachers back in at gunpoint.
— Yes well of course I don’t think the police would excuse me, hello…? Oh, yes send him down to my office in fact you better have someone bring him down yes he… yes thank you. One of our drug ahm, our pupils that is to say I understand his older brother was severely wounded in the ahm, that he’s a veteran yes so this boy seems to have access to a variety of ahm, in fact I think he was sent down in this condition yesterday but of course since he’s ahm ahm, in terms of the enrollment integrationwise that is to say we’ve made every effort to encourage his attendance of course his record is somewhat ahm, Dan? That’s not what you, you had some school business you said yes is that letter something you, something we…
— No no it’s my, it’s not school business no it’s just my mortgage, my application to refinance my mortgage, I didn’t mean to take school time just for…
— Yes well I don’t think Vern would…
— No go ahead Dan, go ahead. You sit here picking your nose on school time why shouldn’t you talk about your mortgage on school time.
— Yes well of course Dan the ahm, let me see the letter yes I think in terms of the ahm, nothing personal in this of course Dan but down to the bank that is to say we operate under certain regulations ahm, restrictions on mortgage outlays dictated by what you might call the actual construction of the house and the ahm, standards, the standard spacing of the wall studs of course is sixteen inches and yours appear to be ahm, twenty-four, inches apart that is to say…
— But I didn’t know…
— Yes no nobody’s blaming you Dan, we know you didn’t build it yourself it was, of course it was the builder who ahm, who built it of course but the, since the term of a mortgage is related to, dictated by the number of years the house is reasonably expected to stand depending on its, directly related to the way it’s built, constructed you might say, the wall studs having a direct bearing on the part, you might even say actually part of the structure so that of course the farther apart they are in a given space the fewer there are of them because the fewer there are of them the farther apart they have to be placed so that under certain conditions such as a, even the passage of time which is directly related to the term of the mortgage and the reasonable life of the dwelling, if the wall studs were closer together of course there would be more of them which in turn could be reasonably expected to provide a more substantial structure timewise over the time period the, the period of time the mortgage is being amortized and the bank of course, banks that is to say, in order to protect their borrowers in granting these mortgage applications because you understand there’s nothing personal in this Dan, the same thing comes up with other applicants, the banks usel, utilize the safeguards set forth in the building code stating the safe legal minimums for materials and construction in terms of course that’s what building codes are for such specifications as the spacing of wall studs in the ahm, the Hyde house yes I think you have your mortgage with us Major but of course it was built back in ahm, a Cape Cod ranch type split when they were still building those fine old homes back in the fifties yes the sort of home you pass on to your ahm, to his children that is to say his son when he grows up of course if he, if you see what I mean Dan?
— Yes that’s why I was surprised he was moving, the…
— Who was moving Dan, what…
— No I thought you were, aren’t you? That moving van at your house right after lunch I…
— Probably just parked on the street there, nobody around us moving that I know of.
— No, no it was backed up to your house they were carrying things out, a stereo…
— Now wait a minute Dan let’s yes let’s just get this clear you saw a moving van at my look, those houses aren’t all that different even the streets they, probably the same house a street or two over mine has the…