Page 15 - Contrast1977Aprilv20n2

Obligingly he turned and \Vent to a desk stencilled
"SPECIALS," dressed a ticket, and returned r.... ith his
bored expression intact. The yellow ticket lay on the sill,
and I saw I had him, this proud dung. He would have to
open that curried mug of his, and tell me the price. (Even
though I kne·...e.xactly ;·:hatit ",,'0.5, a dollar sixty

dollarsi~ty dollarsixtydollarsixtydollarsixty -- I knew

that price as I knew my name, hated it as I had come to

hate my name.) But clearly I would'have to ask the

question -- L~at is, speak first, concede.

"v7e11?" I inquired elaborately.

"Dollar sixty," was the spurted retort. At least he
had teeth. But they we re the teeth of his breed. No,
better to have no teeth at all, like that liquorice-
tongued lady, than have teeth like this, all set inside a
head like his! I opened my hand at once over the sill,
even as he spoke, and dumped precisely the ordered eunount.
His face cracked into its raw angles with mysterious
alacrity. Stupid as he doubtless was, he had managed to
grasp the "trick" I had played on him-- and wa s giving
me a dirty look!

I was glad to spite that bastard.

Leslie came over from the Community Billboard. vie
started to look for two empty chairs in which to wait for
the coming of that ridiculous Snyde's Bus. There were
plenty of vacant chairs, of course, in a bus station
planned to handle mobs of the grim future. But the empty
chairs alternated neatly with filled ones, or else groups
sat cr~med together, and one empty chair separated them
from the next group or isolate. This was how people dis-
tribu·tec.themselves. -- Hy frustration was relieved when
I again realized that it didn't matter anymore, that it
was truly be si de the point: whether we sat together or
not. Naturally, Leslie didn't think SOi went dizzy making
visual rounds of L~e floor.

I was about to sit between two isolates (and give

Leslie a painful tickle) when two huge black peasants
divested themselves of their seats across the way.

Leslie cried "There!" and hurried over on those stylish
legs to take possession. In time (I took my