"I tell you Charlie, you've got to discipline that gang! They didn't
show up on time, they didn't complete the route, they put on a
public ritual that wasn't scheduled, apparently stealing the entire
show--stupid crowd yelled themselves hoarse. Then they all reeled off
into a side street. They must have been drunk to a man--I understand
about half of them had to be carried! _And_ when I confronted Andy
Sharpe, he swore up and down that they weren't out of their hotel that
morning. All sleeping off that spree they had the night before. He
actually had the nerve to say, 'I don't know who those boys were that
you claim were a block behind the end of the parade, but they weren't
our boys.'"
Charlie Dils, new Commander of the Illinois chapter of the American
Legion, leaned back in his chair car seat and blew a cloud of cigar
smoke toward the ceiling. "Maybe they were men from Mars," he grinned.
Then, remembering his dignity, he sobered abruptly. "Anyway, one bunch
looks about the same as another, once they get their masks on--good
Lord, it was a hot day for masks--but it certainly made the parade
more impressive. People are still talking about it. We're even getting
credit for having a flying saucer. Some farmer out at the edge of town
claims he saw one take off after the parade last night. Says it was
going west like a bat out of hell.
"If we can get that kind of publicity, Frank, I wouldn't worry
about Andy and the boys. I'll write him a letter. It was a great
convention--let's let it go at that."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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