William Gaddis - J R

— of our share in America, it says this is to certify that class six J is the owner of one share of no par common stock of…

— Sixth grade Mister Stye, they…

— Look. Look what they’re holding up, look. A stock certificate, see? Diamond Cable, that’s my parent company Stye, youngsters pitched in and bought a share of Diamond Cable as a share in America that’s my boy there, the one back there by the flag want to turn that sound down a little Dan? As I was saying, this man Pecci is a good man to know, he’s a good friend of this district what part of the district is Mister Stye in, Whiteback?

— Right there on the border with district thirteen, out past the Dunkin Donuts location…

— A smart move Stye, really smart. That’s where they’re talking about locating the new Cultural Center, right out in that area, a new shopping center ready to go up right there where the highways cross nothing there now but a couple of empty old houses and woods, I drove by there this morning, have you seen that new sign Coming Soon, Mister Custard? That highway’s next on the list to be widened when they clean up Burgoyne Street here, you can see why it’s a natural for a Cultural Center.

— This is Gottlieb’s daughter, remind me to call him.

— America. Mongst the giants of money and finance gainst the sky so high, kneels the little church so shy, it whispers I am…

— You want to turn that sound down a little Dan? He knows what we’re talking about, Whiteback, somebody connected with wait, turn that sound up a little Dan?

— We had a trip which was very interesting for our share of America to a man which mainly collects animals he having killed them his gun is manlicker the noted sports rifle, muzzle velocity two thousand eight hundred feet a second this noted sports rifle can kill up to the elephant, the hearty beast having killed his dogs all animals looking very lifelike which he stuffed having killed them…

— Sixth grade Mister Stye, orientationwise…

— Yes, well, gets right to the facts and that visual, nothing pansy about that, the, want to turn that sound down just a little now Dan? The ah, as I was saying…

— I am the song the Brahmin sings and when he flies man, I am the…

— Yes that ahm, visual might be misinterpreted…

— As I was saying Stye, this whole Cultural Center project, we’re thinking of tying it right in with the school Spring Arts Festival in the spring, expanding it a little with a few remote specials on the itv that will get across the remote capabilities of microwave transmission with a good dependable cable system, get the patriotic theme in there. Whiteback?

— Yes the ahm, this boy who turned in all the train tickets where are they yes, something about a lost child…

— the thing of our company share in America is not just to own but to use, that is the thing of a share as investment capital money works for you all the time by other people do the work of the company you are not even there you just own, how you own is that you…

— As Whiteback was saying, he’s suggested doing a remote special on my shelter, tying it right in with the whole theme, what America’s all about, wall thickness, food storage, waste, what we have to protect. I guess you know what I’m talking about in your business, right Stye? That empty chair at the head of the dinner table, protect what you have, am I right? And you can get your cameras right in there now Whiteback, that pile of dirt out in front of it is gone. I don’t know where the hell it went but it’s gone. Arms cradled, he sank back on the desk’s litter, staring at the screen. — This project seems to have sparked real interest in these youngsters, turn that down a little more Dan?

— Our trip our trip was to buy this share of America it is this company that makes things they are baskets. Why nobody buys this baskets is there is this law the law of supply and decline passed by Congress consisting of three branches judicial executory and legislature which…

A telephone rang. — What? Whiteback cupped a hand over the mouthpiece. — Ganganelli.

— Who?

— Of Ganganelli, Pecci and Peretti, they’re handling the, hello?

— baskets, so instead of you’re trying to get everybody to buy them, if you could get it where you don’t have to be trying to sell all these baskets in the first place…

A telephone rang. Hyde shifted a hampacked web of creases and got hold of it. — Parentucelli…

— Tell him, just a minute…

— He just wants to know if you want the French doors in the dining room to open out or in.

— Tell him, tell him out. Wait, in.

— Hello? In.

— No wait, tell him…

— He says he’s got to raise his quote for blacktopping from thirty cents a square foot, he says the Flo-Jan Corp wants twenty cents for every yard of asphalt landed over the town dock with a seven fifty a month minimum, he wants to offer them fifteen with a five hundred minimum.

— Tell him to tell them, wait… hello? Parentucelli’s on the other phone here, he’s offering fifteen cents a yard on the Flo-Jan contract with… what?

— They’re on the other phone here with, here you talk to them. Loud. Give me your phone there Whiteback, get them together and let them straighten it out.

— Did you tell him out or in?

— little girl who read us the charming poem about Trinity Church kneeling among the world’s financial giants, that shy little church of yours could probably buy and sell Wall Street without turning a…

— Who the, who’s that, that Gibbs? I thought this class was supposed to be Mrs, Mrs…

— Joubert, yes, Mrs Joubert… Whiteback’s hands clasped over the nested telephones ranting at each other in the small under his tented sleeves, — she’s taking a few days’ sick leave she…

— Do you hear what he’s saying? Like putting the fox to guard the henhouse, right? Sounds like every crazy radical in town got in on that field trip.

— that shy little church squatting on millions of tax-free dollars’ worth of real estate from a land grant made by…

— Mister Gibbs usually teaches physics Mister Stye, he’s ahm, just filling in here that is to say…

— Squatting, what’s he want to do, offend the religious sensibilities of every parent in the district? He shifted, waved off by a flurry intent over the telephones nested mouth- to ear-piece in the desk. — A church, squatting…?

— to go piss in her hat, that car she was in pulled out right in front of one of my trucks, she wants to sue me for losing her laugh you can tell her for me I’d rather hear a fat boy fart…

Uncoupling the phones, Whiteback raised one to his ear reflecting its vacancy in a rimless gaze. — Hung up, he said finally, restoring it to its cradle as the other continued to rant into his sleeve. — Apparently Miss Flesch is suing the Catania Paving Company too I, I happened to overhear Mister Parentucelli discussing it with his attorneys here he ahm, seems rather upset…

— Why shouldn’t he be? Creases intact, the herringbone massed to standing — thinks she can sue the school and anybody else for getting her smile knocked sideways and ruining a promising career in television, she was employed here as a teacher she wasn’t hired as an entertainer, the only people who thought she was a star were all your jobless, old, retired, shut-in, welfare, Stye here sees plenty of it in his…

— As a matter of fact he, that’s why Mister Stye is here yes, the insurance aspect of the ahm, insurance that is to say…

— This ah, yes he shouldn’t have any trouble smoothing this over, probably sees little lawsuits like this all the time at his level Whiteback, suing the school because she was on school property, is that about it?