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I replied, in a dignified voice, I refuthe to old anyfurther converthation vith
you. Representing the Easy Payment and Household Benefit Co. For one who did
not usually drink, his technique was good. Slowly he turned his head and looked
at me.
I grasped the spanner he had dropped and rapped him sharplybehind the
ear.
For days I had been handed a tin of beans, a tin of sardines, and
acan-opener for breakfast. To put it in the social jargon, I wasmerely not at
home to Slatter.
And yet they are supposed to beable to discern beauty and
capture visions. I rolled over on my side and knocked the ashes out of my
pipe.
He ceased struggling and rolled one eye at me.
I dont want to fight on my
stomach, he moaned.
She skittered past me and up the stairs and I followed
slowly. Eventhere the prohibitionists frown on him.
Onsecond thoughts it seemed
to be a job for the City Council.
Gingerly I scrambled out of the wardrobe
andstretched myself. I was holding the otheragainst the floor.
What a pity you
never had a motor-cycle whenyour mother was here, I murmured. It is
characteristic of me that when I come to a decision, Iimmediately carry it
out.
Never mind about that; get out and get something to eat.
As though by
someprearranged signal, the noise suddenly ceased.
I finished the porridge in a
daze andhe whisked the plate away and replaced it with another. He smiled at me
and I smiled back and winked. I laughed bitterly and dealt him another one with
the spanner.
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