U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [516]
"They sure are a pretty sight. . . . I envy you," said Dick.
"I'm glad I brought you out . . . I'd have been lonely without you . . . I must entertain more," said J. W. They settled back into their chairs by the fire and started to go over the layout to be presented to Bingham Products. When the clock struck ten J. W. began to yawn. Dick got to his feet. "J. W., do you want my honest opinion?"
"Go ahead, boy, you know you can say anything you like to me."
"Wel , here it is." Dick tossed off the last warm weak remnant of his scotch. "I think we can't see the woods for the trees . . . we're bal ed up in a mass of petty detail. You say the old gentleman's pretty pigheaded . . . one
-492-of these from newsboy to president characters. . . . Wel , I don't think that this stuff real y sets in high enough re-lief the campaign you outlined to us a month ago. . . ."
"I'm not very wel satisfied with it, to tel the truth."
"Is there a typewriter in the house?"
"I guess Thompson or Morton can scrape one up some-where."
"Wel , I think that I might be able to bring your funda-mental idea out a little more. To my mind it's one of the biggest ideas ever presented in the business world."
"Of course it's the work of the whole office."
"Let me see if I can take this to pieces and put it to-gether again over the weekend. After al there'l be noth-ing lost. . . . We've got to blow that old gent clean out of the water or else Halsey'l get him."
"They're around him every minute like a pack of wolves," said J. W., getting up yawning.
"Wel , I leave it in your hands." When he got to the door J. W. paused and turned. "Of course those Russian aristocrats are so-cial y the top. It's a big thing for Eleanor that way. . . . But I wish she wouldn't do it. . . . You know, Dick, Eleanor and I have had a very beautiful relationship. . . . That little woman's advice and sympathy have meant a great deal to me. . . . I wish she wasn't going to do it.
. . . Wel , I'm going to bed."
Dick went up to the big bedroom hung with English
huntingscenes. Thompson brought him up a new noiseless typewriter and the bottle of whiskey. Dick sat there work-ing al night in his pyjamas and bathrobe smoking and drinking the whiskey. He was stil at it when the windows began to get blue with day and he began to make out be-tween the heavy curtains black lacy masses of sleetladen trees grouped round a sodden lawn. His mouth was sour from too many cigarettes. He went into the bathroom frescoed with dolphins and began to whistle as he let the
-493-hot water pour into the tub. He felt bleary and dizzy but he had a new layout. Next day at noon when J. W. came back from church
with the children Dick was dressed and shaved and walk-ing up and down the flagged terrace in the raw air. Dick's eyes felt hol ow and his head throbbed but J. W. was delighted with the work. "Of course selfservice, independ-ence, individualism is the word I gave the boys in the be-ginning. This is going to be more than a publicity cam-paign, it's going to be a campaign for Americanism. . . . After lunch I'l send the car over for Miss Wil iams and get her to take some dictation. There's more meat in this yet, Dick." "Of course," said Dick, reddening. "Al I've done is restore your original conception, J. W." At lunch the children sat up at the table and Dick had a good time with them, making them talk to him and tel -ing them stories about the bunnies he'd raised when he was a little boy in Jersey. J. W. was beaming. After lunch Dick played pingpong in the bil iardroom in the basement with Miss Simpson and Staple and little Gertrude while Johnny picked up the bal s for them. J. W. retired to his den to take a nap.
Later they arranged the prospectus for Miss Wil iams to type. The three of them were working there happily in front of the fire when Thompson appeared in the door and asked reverently if Mr. Moorehouse cared to take a
phonecal from Mr. Griscolm. "Al right, give it to me on this phone here," said J. W. Dick froze in his chair. He could hear the voice at the other end of the line twanging excitedly. "Ed, don't you worry," J. W. was drawling. "You take a good rest, my boy, and be fresh as a daisy in the morning so that you can pick holes in the final draft that Miss Wil iams and I were working over al last night. A few changes occurred to me in the night. . . . You know sleep brings council.