Page 17 - Demo

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dickens of a time trying to trade it off or sell it.
He trudged glum ly along. He had half a notion to chuck it into the road and forget about it. Let somebody else take care of the package. The dime ·was in his pocket. It was silly to go any farther. The dime .. • •
"Girls don't play fair. They always lie," he mumbled.
cars, all five of them. It looked like a party.
Cars. Unwatched. His steps slowed. He remembered the time he had swiped a robe from a car on Center Street. And the purse he snatched from the seat be- side a lady who stopped for a traffic light. Cars. Loot. The clock suddenly became small in his eyes. At most he'd get a dimeforit. Butthelineofautos ....
Tick, Tock
15
The dime. She said she had already
been paid. That didn't me~n anythw~.
She was lying. It was her_dime ~obegm
with. She wanted to get nd of htm. She
was afraid he'd steal the clock and get
the money she was hoping for. Her
dime. He could take the clock .to the
man and the man would pay lum an- ets. No luck. The only thing he found
othe~ dime at least. That would make twenty cents.
He might as well take th~ package to where it was going. He might as well try to get there by seven. Things were different now.
was a yellow case half full of powder. Girl stuff. The case might be gold. He put' it in his pocket.
He took the package and slid out.
The radio in the house blared: "See the new Meridian watch at your jewel- er's, the gift of the century. All styles, all prices, beginning at only thirteen ninety-five. If it's Meridian it's standard,
He turned left at the corner of the
jeweler's shop. The window was full of
time-pieces-wrist watches and fob
watches and . clocks. Some of them the watch of the world. The time is weren't running. All of them show:d thirty seconds before seven o'clock, different hours. But a cuckoo clock m Meridian watch time. VI/e now bring the middle had a swinging P~ndulum. you a special bulletin from the Radio Its hands pointed to three mmutes of
seven. Two blocks to go. Tw_o ,short blocks. Shucks, he could make it 1I\ ~o time. The sooner the better, and hed have another dime to spend· The man would g-ivehim something if he got t~ere on time. The package i~sel_kf:pt remind- ing him to hurry, with its ms1stent sound
of:
Tick, tock. I k H He legged it for the next _boc · e
could see the house, now, ~nth a gray stone lion out in front. The hon squatted in the middle of the lawn. His back had a hollow place full of water, where the robins and sparrows took baths. -
There were lights in the house. Cars stood along the curb. As he drew neare_r, he heard quick, harsh blasts fro1? ~radio
News Service.... "
He hesitated. Thirty seconds to seven
He didn't see anyone around. He en- tered the second car. For a few moments he peered out the windows, ready to jump and run. But nobody had seen him. He was safe. It was a cinch. He opened the dashboard tray, looked at the back seat, and poked into the side pock-
He liked the stealth, the leisure, the casual way he had Worked. Phrases ran dial from station to station. He eyed the through his head, .bits of information
in the house. Someone was tw1rlmg the
o'clock. The third car looked black and shiny. The package under his arm was marking off the seconds:
Ti.ck, tock.
UD KERRUN watched his newspa- per-wrapped bundle go up in flames. The
red sweater made a s m e 11 of burning cloth. His wife didn't
know about it. She wouldn't even re- member it. He had told her months ago that he gave it away .