William Gaddis - J R

— No no no this, this red thing as you call it. What do you want to know.

— Well I just wanted, I mean I think my associate wants…

— Looks perfectly clear to me, bond issue that defaulted ten, let’s see there, thirteen years ago, company still losing money faster than they can write the figures. Wallpaper Mister Bast, wallpaper. Know what wallpaper is?

— Well I thought I…

— Good goat country, happened to know a little about this Eagle Mills myself, used to go up there for goat. Nobody else ever heard of them, they went to sleep up there before you were born and nobody woke them up. Did they get out of woollens and into synthetics after the war, no. Did they move south to a cheap labor pool where some red union wouldn’t run them down? No, they sat up at Union Falls and put out a million dollar bond issue.

— But if they haven’t got any money how do they…

— Didn’t say they didn’t have any money did I? Net worth’s probably around a million, most of it probably in their net property account, may even be sitting on a fat pension fund they’ve forgotten exists… he came forward again to paw at the heap. — Pick these up a few cents on the dollar, this the only one you, your associate has, is it?

— Well no, no he said he’s getting a whole bunch, he…

— A what?

— A lot. He says he…

— One lot? Nothing to cry about, client of mine got stuck with twenty lots of Boston and Maine interest been due on it for ten or fifteen years, pick one up for you for ten any time you like.

— Dollars?

— When we say ten we mean hundred, Mister Bast… and he sank back from the heap before him, eyes taking on the glassine vacancy of the rest of the audience.

— Yes well there was just one more thing here I, that I think you might…

— That? My God, haven’t seen one in years.

— No this isn’t what I… what is it.

— Russian Imperial Bond.

— You mean it isn’t worth any, worth very…

— Mister Bast, anything is worth whatever some damn fool will pay for it, only reason somebody can make a market in Russian Imperials is because some damn, somebody like your associate will buy them. Happen to know how he, how this associate of yours got into all this?

— By, well buying and selling at first I think and then he had some stock in a company and was going to bring some kind of legal suit for, for his class, I mean he…

— A class action? What was the company, another Ace Development outfit?

— No it was a, Diamond, the Diamond Cable Company he, well maybe I should just tell you the whole story, you see he’s only…

— No please Mister Bast, for the love of God please! You don’t mind if I give you both a bit of advice?

— No, no well of course that’s why I came in to…

— Stay in music Mister Bast. Stay in music and advise your, your associate here to stay in whatever in the name of God he’s in, where neither of you will ever have to know the value of anything.

— Well but, well yes thank you then but if I could just ask you why this company of, this Eagle Mills, if they have a million dollars why they don’t…

— Mister Bast I, I didn’t say they had a million dollars, I said their net worth…

— Yes but what does net…

— Mister Bast… he loomed slowly forward toward the heap on the blotter, — Mister Bast I, I’ve just had a thought.

— Yes what does net…

— I take it a composer’s life is no easier than it ever was, Mister Bast.

— Yes well that’s true of course but I, that’s the reason I…

— Suppose I was able to throw something your way Mister Bast, something a little more in your line.

— In, do you mean in music?

— Commissioning you to write a bit of music, what would you say to that sir?

— Oh well that of course yes, yes that’s what I…

— Think you could write me some zebra music, Mister Bast?

— Yes I, some, some what?

— Zebra music Mister Bast, zebra music. Just take a minute to fill you in here, friend of mine and I have gone to no damned little expense to put together a little film, fellows you see up here mainly… and he herded the stares of the wall gallery indiscriminately together with a sweep of his arm, — and zebras, damned lot of zebras in fact, whole idea is to wake up some people down in Washington to the idea of stocking our public lands with something more suitable than a lot of trailers and beer cans.

— With, with zebras…?

— For a start, for a start yes, and all these fellows of course, all antelopes, don’t look related do they but they’re all antelopes. Now the whole…

— It sounds very, yes it sounds very interesting but first could I ask one question about…

— Him over by the door yes, didn’t mean him of course, certainly no antelope is he but we’d want to bring him along pretty quickly too. Nothing like wild pig to liven things up a little, and then of course you begin to bring in your beasts of prey…

— No I meant what would happen…

— What do you think would happen, can’t just throw your balance of nature off and leave it off now, can you.

— No I just meant about these bonds, I mean what’s going to happen to…

— What, this Eagle outfit? Don’t ask me sir, why their creditors haven’t thrown them into bankruptcy and picked up whatever they could on the dollar before this, now as I say we’ve got this whole…

— Yes but what would happen then, would they…

— To this Eagle outfit? Courts would probably just wash out their whole common and preferred equity and hand it over to a receiver to reorganize, as I say we’ve got this whole film put together now, not quite the finished thing of course but pretty close to it, a jump cut I think they call it, runs about two hours and twenty minutes and we think a little…

— Of, of zebras?

— Plenty of movement yes, last trip over Stamper found a nigger boy right there in Malindi who knew how to run a camera and we packed him up country with us, couldn’t get him near lion though, brought down a nice Cape Buffalo but we couldn’t get him near that either so we’re pretty heavy on the zebra side, beautiful things, great sense of freedom and dignity you see in all these fellows… and, as he gestured again, the entire mass of tweed and chair rolled back and a drawer came open. — Give you an idea have a look at him, yes hold it up to the light there, of course you don’t get the sense of movement you get in the film and that’s where Stamper and I think a little music would make it look a little more professional but that gives you an idea. Fine looking fellow isn’t he?

— Yes he’s, is this Mister Stamper?

— No no on the left there, the zebra, that’s just one of our nigger boys with it, the zebra there, hole hardly shows does it. Got him right behind the head there at four hundred yards, gives you some idea of this grace and dignity you’d want to capture in your music… his fingers were drumming on the teak, — plenty of movement…

— Well two hours and, it might get a little repetitive if…

— Good point Bast, good point… and the contents of the box of slide transparencies cascaded between them, — got some film we haven’t even used in this, we just had a few shots from it printed up here to keep track of things, give you an idea, antelope mainly, kudu over there and hartebeest, fellow right behind me here. We didn’t use this film though because this nigger boy forgot to turn something on the camera and we got some damned odd colors but a little of it here and there might give it all a little more artistic feeling, use your music to tie it in and it would look like we’d done it on purpose, all these damned colors, what do you think.