She'd brought something in a sack with her, and she was half lying on it, and I had to squeeze and tug to get it. It was a piece of jelly roll and a hamburger, all squashed together, and I hogged it down. After that I felt through her pockets until I found the crisp green pieces of paper she always brought me; and I hid them in the bureau drawer with the others.
Then it was morning, and she was gone again. I filled my tin cup with cornflakes and canned milk, and ate it. And I played with the green pieces of paper and looked out the window; and I ate a little more of the cornflakes and milk.
The big hand of the clock pointed to twelve and the little one to six. It pointed to them, and passed them. I laughed about it, holding my hand over my mouth so no one would hear me.
I was still laughing when I went to sleep.
She was gone in the morning, but she was always gone in the morning. I ate some of the cornflakes and milk, and played with the green pieces of paper and looked out the window. And the big hand of the clock pointed to twelve and the little one to six, and -and-
It was like a dream inside of a dream. I was chewing the wrapper inside the cornflakes box, and the tip of my tongue was cut where I'd tried to stick it through the little hole in the milk can, and the water pitcher was red from my licking. I wasn't looking out the window any more. I was on the bed. I had been on the bed for a very long time, and the green pieces of paper were scattered all around me.
Then, and then, it was another room, and a big fat woman with crossed eyes, was holding me in her arms and rocking me.
"Mommy? Sure, now, an' we'll get you a whole raft of 'em! I'll be your mommy meself."
"My money! I got to have my money!"
"An 'am 't I the one to know it, now? Bring his bundle in, Mike- That mess of whisky labels…"
The alarm clock went off, and I woke up. I went into the men's lavatory and washed and headed for the city.
25
Sol Panzer didn't make nearly as much fuss as you might have thought he would. He was on the spot and we both knew it, and he wasn't the kind to cry.
I was in his office at nine. By eleven, it was all over and I was on my way home.
I got into Stoneville about dusk, stopped at the show, and ran up to the booth. Hap wasn't there. Jimmie Nedry was running the machines.
"How's it going, Jimmie?" I said. "Giving Mr. Chance a relief?"
"I guess so," he said, not looking at me.
"How soon will he be back, do you know?"
"He ain't coming back," Jimmie said. "He's taking the night off."
"Oh," I said. "Well, I appreciate your working for him, Jimmie."
"Don't mention it."
He got kind of red in the face and moved over between the projectors. I could understand his being embarrassed. Unless he was a lot dumber than I thought he was, he probably knew that I knew what he'd been up to.
I told him good night, just like we were the best pals in the world, and drove over to Hap's hotel. He wasn't there, either. I went on home.
There was a big new black coupй standing in the yard. Hap's, of course. I was plenty glad I'd swung that deal with Panzer. Hap had finished waiting.
He was flopped down on the living-room lounge, a glass and a bottle of whisky at his side; and he had his shoes up on one of Elizabeth's crocheted pillows. The ash tray was full and running over. There was a big circle of ashes and butts on the carpet.
I looked at the mess, and then looked at him. He sat up slowly, grinning.
"Well, laddie," he said. "I get the impression that you've pulled a plum from the pudding-or, shall we say, a phoenix from the fire? Have a drink and tell me about it."
I forced a smile. "Sure, Hap. Where's Carol?"
"In her chambers, I believe. She doesn't seem to be frightfully keen for my company."
"I wonder why?" I said.
I went into the kitchen and brought back a glass and an old newspaper. I spread the paper under the ash tray and set the bottle on it after I'd poured our drinks.
"Clever," Hap nodded. "Too bad you're not married. But give me the news, laddie, I'm all ears."
"You want it right from the beginning?"
"Oh, absolutely."
"Well, right from the start," I said, "I heard that Sol wanted my lot. As soon as I learned that he was moving in, I heard that he was going to take me over. At the exchanges. From you. Everywhere I went. Then, yesterday, just to clinch matters, he drove out here to see me and offered five grand for the lot. He told me he'd give me five to clear out at the end of the season, or I could be stubborn and he'd run me out."
I paused to sip my drink. Hap began to frown.
"He can do it, laddie. Little Sol can take your shirt and charge you interest for wearing it."
"Sure he could."
"So this is the old build-up, eh? The easy letdown. All you've got is a measly five grand."
"Nothing like it," I said. "I didn't sell. Sol doesn't want my lot."
"You said he offered you five yards for it?"
"That's right."
"But he doesn't want it?"
"Of course, he doesn't."
Chance leaned back on the lounge again. He tapped his forehead. "Feeble, laddie. Humor me."
"What would Panzer want with my lot?"
"What would he want with it? Well, fantastic as the idea seems I suppose he'd erect a house on it. There's nothing like the site of an old show for a new one. People are used to the location, and-"
"And," I said, "it's one hundred and three feet from the sidewalk to the alley. No matter how you work it, you can't get much more than a ninety-foot shot from the projection booth to the screen."
Hap blinked. "Lord lummie!" he whispered. "Comes the dawn- But wait a minute! Maybe he intends to pitch his floor in reverse and put the projectors below the screen."
"That still wouldn't give him enough room. Not for a million bucks' worth of house. A million that's got to look like two million."
"But, laddie"-Hap waved his hands-"it's fantastic!"
"Call it anything you want, that's the way it is. There's width and to spare, but not depth. You see how it was, Hap? Sol was using the old magician's trick of misdirection. When I was told that he wanted my lot, over and over, I and everyone else assumed that he did. It never occurred to me to question the fact. Or if I had any idea that it was a little screwy, I brushed it aside. Sol knew what he was doing. He had to know.
"But he got a little too anxious. Too anxious in one way and not enough in another. When he thought that I was convinced, when he believed I was ready to take the five grand, he agreed to let the deal hang fire. I knew, then, that he didn't want my lot. He was misdirecting me. He was doing it because he didn't have the lot sewed up that he did want."
"Careless. I can't believe it of Sol."
"Careless, nothing. Where would he be most likely to tip his hand that he was coming into Stoneville? Why, when he bought his lot. So he was saving that until the last, until he was ready to jump."
"I still say it was careless. Suppose someone jumped in ahead of him-like, I gather, you've done?"
"No one could. What he wanted was the Bower lot, and I had the place leased. I was playing shutout with it. As soon as I went broke, of course, I'd give up my lease and Sol could buy."
Hap shook his head. "Marvelous, laddie. Positively brilliant. And that's the only place in town that Sol could move in on?"
"The only one. That's the only block without an alley; the lots run straight on through. The Bower lot is kind of bottle-shaped. It squares off and spreads out after a few feet."
"And there's no other lot in that block?"
"Two-but the bank and the hotel are sitting on them."
"Terrific! One more question, old bean. How did you happen to acquire this juicy bit of real estate?"