William Gaddis - J R

— Damn it Beaton haven’t got time to go through this mess, this the people we’re talking about?

— One of them yes sir, this appeared in an upstate newspaper during their takeover of an ailing textile firm called Eagle…

— Couple of blacks, are they?

— No I think not sir that, I believe that’s simply the poor quality of the photocopy, the one on the left there, a Mister…

— Yes Bast damn it I can read Beaton, what the devil’d you get all this trash together for, nickel and dime takeover of a broken down mill only damn thing it’s good for’s a tax umbrella.

— Yes sir they appear to have made immediate use of its pension fund to acquire a midwestern brewery with very favorable earnings and an attractive undistributed dividends situation, more recently they snapped up a producer of matchbooks whose financial position appears considerably less secure and any long-range plan in their expansion program is somewhat difficult to…

— Only damn plan sounds like grab whatever they can get their damn hands on, what else they picked up.

— These are the only completed acquisitions according to our sources sir although a new nursing home issue just rose considerably on rumors of a merger, and we understand they’re showing considerable interest in a company called Ray-X which manufactures a variety of battery driven and transistorized…

— Management a bunch of damn fools came into the bank last year got themselves tied up hand and foot with government fixed price contracts rising costs didn’t know where the devil their operating expenses were coming from should have stayed in toys, started in toys should have stayed in toys. Any damn fool acquires that outfit deserves it, anything else?

— Nothing tangible sir, they do appear to have conducted talks with a privately held chain of funeral homes and I understand are on the lookout for a large cash reservoir like Hartford Fire Insurance or one of the large savings and loan associations, in my most recent information they also appear to have just begun to hedge in commodity futures and…

— Keep that up they’ll go to jail where they belong, show me any damn corporate charter allows you to…

— No sir I meant the principals individually sir, the…

— Who this, this what’s his name Bast? Looks like he wouldn’t know an eight percent debenture (rom a pork belly damned amateurs don’t know the rules come in and ruin the whole damn game for everybody.

— Yes sir apparently they…

— Only damn reason they lined up this takeover of these damn mining claims and power company sites to hold up Stamper for anything they can question’s where the devil they’re getting their information, pipeline’s the best kept damn secret since the bomb want all this cleared up damn fast Beaton.

— Yes sir on the other hand it occurred to me they might be acting from some less aggressive motive, according to our sources some timber cutting seems to have begun in the region of these mining claims, with the acquisition of this matchbook producer they may simply have been seeking a dependable source of wood pulp or even cellulose, with the idea of converting their Eagle Mills facilities to the production of synthetic…

— Wish I thought they were that damn stupid market’s so glutted with imports hardly give the stuff away, damn it ever occur to you to get hold of Frank Wiles see what he knows about them?

— Yes I have sir, in fact he appears to have already handled a few limited transactions for them and apparently Mister Crawley is in sporadic contact with this Mister Bast, who would appear to serve the function of executive officer for operations…

— Well by God Beaton everybody in town knows them but you? ever occur to you to pick up the damn telephone get hold of them yourself find what the devil they’re up to?

— Yes sir I did approach one of their attorneys on the Alberta and Western matter, a man named Piscator who was hardly cooperative and sounded somewhat ah, unsavory, he said he would speak to his boss but apparently left immediately for Jamaica and…

— All you damn lawyers ever do is speak to each other, any damn reason you can’t speak to his boss? go straight to this Bast or whoever he’s…

— Yes sir I’ve called Mister Bast a number of times at a number given me by Mister Crawley but the secretary who answers sounds, frankly sir she sounds like she’d never got past fourth grade, Mister Bast always seems to have just stepped away from his desk and has never returned a call. Another number given me by this Piscator person for Mister Bast’s uptown headquarters office is evidently incorrect, a young lady who answered told me to ah, simply replied with an obscenity and hung up, the only other number I’ve been given proved to be a pay telephone somewhere on Long Island and…

— Say you think this Bast’s their executive officer who the devil’s running things.

— Yes sir that’s the number that proved to be the pay telephone, their organization seems to be so elusive that even the heads of their newly acquired divisions are of no help, in fact the president of X–L Lithography whose name I don’t recall sounded like he might have been drinking and the man who appears to be in charge of Eagle Mills seemed grateful to find someone to complain to, apparently some union trouble has risen over the removal of some looms and this brewery acquisition met prominent stockholder opposition, although his main concern seemed to be for a softbal! team which…

— Damn it Beaton stir things up a little up there bring the whole damn umbrella down around their ears.

— Yes sir that occurred to me but I learned that immediately after taking over Eagle they made a substantial management loan which would have to be called if they were deposed, since they represent the management to whom the loan was made, and of course Eagle Mills is in no position to…

— Got them by the short hair… The white handkerchief came unfurling from the breast pocket and burst as though caught on a sudden gust, — maybe not so damn stupid at that… and he blew, hard. — First thing I want cleaned up’s these damn mining claims Beaton get Frank Black’s office on it find out if they’re worth the damn paper they’re written on, this outfit’s in there on mineral exploration just to cut timber get hold of Monty, Interior serve them with an injunction maybe they’ll be ready to do business, when Broos calls get him onto that old sheep state what the devil’s his name, whole thing right out there in his neighborhood…

— Senator Milliken yes sir, in fact according to our sources they already appear to be in contact with him, it appears that certain sheep membranes play a part in brewery filtration processes which…

— Milliken by God that’s the one, nose up under the buffalo’s tail closer than that damn Indian’s smell a nickel a mile away, damn it Beaton trip on this nickel and dime outfit wherever we step I want the whole story on them hear me…? and the handkerchief spread open as though for contemplation of its contents crumpled abruptly, — report like this just a lot of damn newspaper clippings I want facts Beaton, facts.

— Yes sir as soon as we’ve established their telephones I’d intended asking your authorization to…

— Don’t ask my authorization damn it Beaton don’t tell me what you’re doing just do it, here give me that… hello? Broos…? Who…? No no wait a minute here Beaton take this, make it short.

— Yes sir. Hello…? Oh, oh yes go ahead… yes you mean this just happened? was the boy’s… Yes but was the boy’s mother aware of… No I’d better get in touch with her myself I think she may be quite upset, thank you for calling immediately…

— What the devil’s going on up there now.