The Naked and the Dead - Norman Mailer [131]
Yeah, that's a good one. (Why didn't I think of it?) Your idea?
All mine, Mac was really tickled when I told him, he called up Nolan who's the saargeant for the two bulls in this poll, and they ain't gonna cause us no trouble.
Gallagher stands by the ketchup, and begins to talk as the first voters get in line for the polls. TAKE A LOOK, SEE WHAT HAPPENS. THIS IS BLOOD, THIS IS WHAT HAPPENS TO DECENT AMERICANS WHEN THEY TRY TO VOTE AGAINST A RED. THEY GET BEAT UP BY THE FOREIGNERS THAT ARE BEHIND M'GILLIS. THIS IS M'GILLIS'S WORK, BLOOD, HUMAN BLOOD.
During a lull he examines the ketchup, which seems too red. He sprinkles a little dirt on it. (Work and work and then some smart guy gets a bright idea and gets all the credit, those goddam Reds, they're causin' me all the trouble.)
HERE Y'ARE, TAKE A LOOK, he shouts as some voters approach.
Where you goin', Roy? Mary asks. Her voice has a whining nagging quality and he turns in the door, and shakes his head. I'm just goin' out. She cuts her boiled potato in half, and puts a big portion in her mouth. A few flakes of potato stick to her lip, which angers him. Don't ya ever eat anythin' but potatoes? he asks.
Roy, we have meat.
Yeah, I know. Questions tug at his mind. He wants to ask her why she never eats with him at night, but always serves him first; he wants to tell her that he doesn't like to be asked where he is going.
You're not going to be at a CU meeting, are ya? she asks.
What do you care? (Why don't you ever put a dress over that slip?)
Roy, you're going to get in trouble there, I don't like those men, you're only going to hurt yourself at the club, you know now the war's on they have nothing to do with them.
There's nothing wrong with the CU. Leave me alone, goddammit.
Roy, don't swear.
He slams the door, and walks into the night. It is snowing a little, and at the street corners his shoes crunch icily through the slush. He sneezes once or twice. A man's gotta get out and have some. . . some relaxation. Y'get some ideals to fight for in the organization and a woman wants to stop ya. I'm gonna be up there someday.
In the meeting hall, the air is hot and metallic from the heaters, and the smell of wet clothing is sour. He grits a cigarette butt into powder with his foot.
All right, we're in a war, men, the speaker says, we gotta fight for the country, but we don't want to be forgettin' our private enemies. He pounds the speaker's table over which a flag with a cross is spread. There's the foreign element we got to get rid of, that are conspiring to take over the country. There are cheers from the hundred men seated in camp chairs. We gotta stick together, or we'll be havin' our women raped, and the Red Hammer of Red Jew Fascist Russia WILL BE SMASHING YOUR DOOR DOWN.
That's tellin' him, the man next to Gallagher says.
Yeah, Wat's okay. Gallagher feels a pleasurable fury forming in him.
Who takes away your jobs, who tries to sneak up on your wives and your daughters and even your mothers 'cause they wouldn't stop at nothing, who's out to get YOU and YOU 'cause you ain't a Red and a Jew, and you don' wanta bow down before a filthy goddam no-good Communist who don't respect the Lord's name, and would stop at nothing.
Let's kill them! Gallagher shrieks. He is shaking with excitement.
That's it, men, we're gonna clean up on 'em, after the war we're really gonna have an organization, I got telegrams here from our com-pat-riots, patriots as well as friends, and they're all stickin' with us.
You're all in on the ground floor, men, and those of ya that are goin' into the Army gotta learn to use your weapons so that afterward. . . afterward. . . You get the idea, men. We ain't licked, we're gettin' bigger all the time.
When the meeting is over, Gallagher drifts into a bar. The dry throat, the painful tension in his chest. As he drinks, his rage diffuses and he grows sullen and bitter.
They're always cheatin' ya at the last minute, he says to the man beside him. They had come out of the meeting together. It's a plot.
That's all it is, it's a goddam mother-fuggin plot, and they ain't gonna break me, I'm gonna get out on top.