William Gaddis - J R

— No well see the deal is where these taxpayers have this here referendum wait I got this thing out of the paper, see they’re pissed off about all these school taxes so there’s this referendum where J R Foundation like takes over the school and J R Corp like buys the plant off it on this ninety-nine year leaseback deal where we pay these here operating expenses which they’re all deductible anyway see, so then we have like this here whole showcase of these new D and S subsiderary’s textbooks and these here other education enervations you know? What’s the matter…

— Just let me get my foot…

— I mean where school’s always this bunch of crap which it never has anything to do with anything real you know? So like when Whiteback quit we got this here Mister Stye which he’s like this branch manager, I mean he used to be this insurance man so he knows what everything’s worth, you know? Like there’s this neat idea where instead of getting these dumb marks you get paid see like a dollar is A, fifty cents is B C is a quarter D is like nothing see then instead of E you have to pay a nick wait what are you doing hey…

— Just move your knees I’m getting another seat, I just can’t listen to…

— No but wait a second! I mean what…

— You just told me it’s over didn’t you! The whole thing it’s all over can’t you stop…

— No but you didn’t let me finish where we get to countersue hey! I mean like they sue us so we sue them right back I mean that’s what you do! I mean for like antitrust and conspiracy and all where they fixed up this here whole voting trust thing just to screw me out of ev, hey? hey what’s the matter…

— I don’t, don’t feel very…

— You got all white hey wait get your knees wait let me get my, just hold this stuff a second sit back I mean just to get me by the short hair you know? Where they use these old loans to make us get these here new ones which we’re building these here assets where you’re like dribbling on your chin hey, I mean then they start yelling we’re overextended and fix up this here voting trust where I’m like this captive borrower which stop jiggling your knees I’m trying to find this here article, look…

— I, no…

— Okay wait I’ll read it listen. The small closely held company which rose almost overnight from the ruins of a failing upstate textile mill to become the multimillion dollar multiface, facet, faceted J R Corp appears threatened by a credit squeeze whose dramatic repercussions could be felt throughout the corporate and financial world it was reported here today, I mean that was like Tuesday. Attracted by the smell of here it is listen hey, smell of profits and the corporate daring which have characterized the company’s abrupt entry into such diverse areas as pap wait where does it tell about me down here someplace I thought I marked it, reputation both as a ruthless corporate manipulator with a shrewd see this is me hey, a shrewd eye for tax situations, and a man of vision whose almost clair, clair something see this is still me, clairsomething ability to cut through to the heart of a problem and post an answer in profits before the competition has understood the quest continued on where’s the rest of it wait, I even marked it where I have this here bulldog jaw and all might prove there’s more truth than why’d I mark that for it’s, wait no wait this is you hey listen. You listening?

— Just get this stuff off my…

— Okay just a second listen hey. Might prove there’s more truth than poetry in the bard’s words music hath charms to soothe the savage dot dot dot when intimates report funloving millionheiress Boody Selk shedding her swarthy sitar strumming playmate to slip on an eyecatching topless by daring new designer Harry Bosch for her latest teetateet with suave young business exec Edward Bast, seems Ed dabbles at the ivories between corporate mergers we hear his dad’s a prominent conductor on the Long Island Railroad who does a little tunesmithing on the side but with Ed’s head for figures these days he may be planning a merger of a diff… hey wait what do you…

— Think I, feel like I’m…

— No wait sit up I got this here picture too Davidoff sent me to show you from some magazine it’s right under here she is look hey, surfacing from a fun stay in the Greek islands boy that’s some pair of look out! you’re coughing right on…

— Feel like I’m going to…

— I mean you got spit on these holy, hey wait swallow real hard quick let me get this stuff away try to swallow real hard hey, let me get this handkerchief… and he huddled away, dabbing the wad down a rise of tawny buttocks against the sparkling Aegean, licked his lips — you okay now hey? hey Bast…?

The train shook abruptly to a halt and he held the heap close, wedged a toe deeper into the hinge of the seat ahead to bring his knees up under it — I mean you don’t need to get so mad at everything, I mean you even got spit on where it says about a man of vision and all… and the handkerchief wad wiped that, came up clutched tight for the back of his hand to wipe across his nose and he hunched deeper under the pile peeling up ragged ribbons of newspaper, magazine pages torn jagged — with his sure instinct for the pulse of the market in a companywide search for ways to serve the customer better see this is me too hey, but it is his outstanding talent as a manager’s manager which is held most in awe by his corporate peers see then it tells about this whole paper empire see that’s what it’s called here Paper Empire, I mean it starts off with this here surprise coop where we took over Eagle see then it tells where I thought up buying X–L for this here advertising on all these matchbooks to like fermiliarize everybody with this here rapidly expanding line of products where we went after these timber reserves when we went after Triangle and this here Duncan and hey? did I tell you hey? I mean where this here D and S subsiderary now they want me to write this whole book to publish? Like they said they want to name it How To Make a Million see only I think earn, like How To Earn a Million I mean it sounds more dignified you know? Like this biographical stuff which they fixed it up a little like where they stick in my golf game is in the eighties and all see they’d help me out with this book, I mean this Mister Davidoff said they’d like write it for me you know…? And his elbow, come to rest high on the seat’s back, left a hand dangling by his nose where the thumb promptly sought employment — like this here thing Virginia just wrote all about me in She where Mister Davidoff said it’s to like create this masculine image for this here feminine reader appeal which they wrote it for her see, I mean it’s like this intimate picture of her boss which she’s like been with me since the start up to this rise of success and all like I thought it would give the magazine this real success feeling about it if it was like tied onto my own success you know? I mean like where it said in the paper about leading this parade wait a second…

The train jolted, glided ahead, stopped, his free hand caught the heap against lock steps past his elbow, came up with a tattered streamer — listen hey. Men who have worked with him I mean that means me that him, with him for years say his chief characteristics are enormous powers of concentration and a dogged persistence in attacking a problem until he comes up with a completely satisfactory answer… the thumb dug deeper, emerged for brief examination — which gives the clear impression here it is hey, impression of a man who sees where the parade is beading long before the paraders themselves do, and calmly steps in and leads isn’t that neat? Qualities which u, uniquely fit him for the career in public life which has already created a groundswell I mean what’s a groundswell, which faces only one major ob wait, obstacle, see like some of these words I didn’t have them yet only I keep reading this stuff over again obstacle, an innate modesty that is evident in his words crediting his own success to a mysterious thing which is hard to identify, the vital creative force of the whole J R Family of Companies I mean see I never quite exactly said that you know? See but then it says when discussing the profit picture which has made his company’s stock a leading glamour issue overnight however, a gleam of quite pardonable pride appears in his hey? Bast…?