Read Online You Play the Black & the Red Comes Up Up by Richard Hallas - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Richard Hallas
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one?"
"Because," I said, "I've got some chance to wi n at rou lette, but I wouldn't have one chance in a million of win ning on your idea."
"Nonsense," Patsy said, "it's only everyone who says that who stops it from going into operation. If everyone joins, and everyone votes for it, we will elect all our party to office in the state, and then we've got to have the wealth shared just as we outline. It's sure to win, anyhow. Noth ing can stop us.
When she said that she got a sort of holy look in her eyes—gazing way out into space as if she was seeing things we couldn't see.
"All right," I laughed. "If it's so sure to go through, I'll sign up, and you can take my membership fee out of the first two weeks' payoff when you're elected."
"You shouldn't kid like that," Mamie said.
"This is a big thing Patsy's on. It's a mission in life, and you ought to be glad she's asked you in person. Why, if she asked most people who had your money, they'd be glad to put up a thousand dollars to help."
"So that's it," I said. "That's what you're after. You want me to cough up a thousand bucks just to puke away on your silly idea?"
"It isn't silly," Mamie said.
Patsy stood up like she was the archangel Gabriel. "Silly?" she said. "Silly? Are all the followers of mine silly and you sane?"
"What followers?" I came back.
She stared through me, and then threw on the table a bunch of blanks. They were all signed. There must have been at least a hundred of them. I kept thinking that the goofier the plan the more quickly people seem to fall for it in California.
"Well, if all these people have paid ten bucks, what do you want my money for?" I asked.
"To spread the seed," Patsy said. She was talking loud, now, as if she were a minister, and a lot of people stopped drinking and listened to her. She started saying real loud that corruption and mismanagement and crooked politicians had all plowed the ground.
"The time is ripe for our plan," she said. "Discontent and depression have been but a fertilizer on the soil. All the people wait for is the seed—to be scattered far and wide. By mail, by radio, by public address, we must sow the seed of the Ecanaanomic Party; and then, when the crop is grown, what a harvest three will be! Ah, what a harvest! But before the harvest, there must always be the seed."
"Yeah, and before the tree there must always be the sap," I said.
Some of the people started grinning to each other in the beer parlor. Patsy sat down. She didn't seem to mind.
"She means, she's got to have money to print up books and things like that, telling about the plan," Mamie explained.
"Well, she's not going to get it from me," I said. "And that's final."
I wouldn't have given in, either, not if they'd kept chinning at me for forty-eight hours, except that I got a new slant on it.
That night, when we got home, and Mamie stopped chinning and went to sleep, I lay awake thinking. I thought again about how I wished I was out of this town and back into gear with Lois and seeing Dickie. Then, all of a sudden, I saw it clear. The money was the real jinx at the bottom, of it all. It was on account of the money that Gottstein was dead. It was on account of the money that F elice got pinched for that stat utory offense. Well, the money had got them. But it wasn't going to get me. It had been holding me in this town. As long as I had the money I had to stick by Mamie. But once it was gone, I would have some peace and then I'd be able to go on my way and get going again and find Dickie.
You chump, I thought. All you've got to do is get that money off your hands and you'll stop seeing pink elephants. Why not let Patsy have a thousand? You've got to get rid of it one way or another, and then you'll come out from behind the eight-ball and be square with the world.
I thought about that, but then I got to thinking that in the morning I would change my mind.
"Because," I said, "I've got some chance to wi n at rou lette, but I wouldn't have one chance in a million of win ning on your idea."
"Nonsense," Patsy said, "it's only everyone who says that who stops it from going into operation. If everyone joins, and everyone votes for it, we will elect all our party to office in the state, and then we've got to have the wealth shared just as we outline. It's sure to win, anyhow. Noth ing can stop us.
When she said that she got a sort of holy look in her eyes—gazing way out into space as if she was seeing things we couldn't see.
"All right," I laughed. "If it's so sure to go through, I'll sign up, and you can take my membership fee out of the first two weeks' payoff when you're elected."
"You shouldn't kid like that," Mamie said.
"This is a big thing Patsy's on. It's a mission in life, and you ought to be glad she's asked you in person. Why, if she asked most people who had your money, they'd be glad to put up a thousand dollars to help."
"So that's it," I said. "That's what you're after. You want me to cough up a thousand bucks just to puke away on your silly idea?"
"It isn't silly," Mamie said.
Patsy stood up like she was the archangel Gabriel. "Silly?" she said. "Silly? Are all the followers of mine silly and you sane?"
"What followers?" I came back.
She stared through me, and then threw on the table a bunch of blanks. They were all signed. There must have been at least a hundred of them. I kept thinking that the goofier the plan the more quickly people seem to fall for it in California.
"Well, if all these people have paid ten bucks, what do you want my money for?" I asked.
"To spread the seed," Patsy said. She was talking loud, now, as if she were a minister, and a lot of people stopped drinking and listened to her. She started saying real loud that corruption and mismanagement and crooked politicians had all plowed the ground.
"The time is ripe for our plan," she said. "Discontent and depression have been but a fertilizer on the soil. All the people wait for is the seed—to be scattered far and wide. By mail, by radio, by public address, we must sow the seed of the Ecanaanomic Party; and then, when the crop is grown, what a harvest three will be! Ah, what a harvest! But before the harvest, there must always be the seed."
"Yeah, and before the tree there must always be the sap," I said.
Some of the people started grinning to each other in the beer parlor. Patsy sat down. She didn't seem to mind.
"She means, she's got to have money to print up books and things like that, telling about the plan," Mamie explained.
"Well, she's not going to get it from me," I said. "And that's final."
I wouldn't have given in, either, not if they'd kept chinning at me for forty-eight hours, except that I got a new slant on it.
That night, when we got home, and Mamie stopped chinning and went to sleep, I lay awake thinking. I thought again about how I wished I was out of this town and back into gear with Lois and seeing Dickie. Then, all of a sudden, I saw it clear. The money was the real jinx at the bottom, of it all. It was on account of the money that Gottstein was dead. It was on account of the money that F elice got pinched for that stat utory offense. Well, the money had got them. But it wasn't going to get me. It had been holding me in this town. As long as I had the money I had to stick by Mamie. But once it was gone, I would have some peace and then I'd be able to go on my way and get going again and find Dickie.
You chump, I thought. All you've got to do is get that money off your hands and you'll stop seeing pink elephants. Why not let Patsy have a thousand? You've got to get rid of it one way or another, and then you'll come out from behind the eight-ball and be square with the world.
I thought about that, but then I got to thinking that in the morning I would change my mind.
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