JERRY [_counting_].--thirteen--fourteen--let’s see. I can borrow the ice-man’s money if I can find where--Just wait a minute, Mr. Snooks. _He goes out to the pantry. Almost immediately there are steps upon the stairs, and in a moment Dada, resplendent in a flowing white nightshirt, trembles into Mr. Snooks’s vision. For a moment Mr. Snooks is startled._ DADA [_blinking_]. I thought I smelled something burning. SNOOKS. I ain’t smelled nothin’, pop. DADA. How do you do, sir. You’ll excuse my costume. I was awake and it occurred to me that the house was on fire. I am Mr. Frost’s father. SNOOKS. I’m his bootlegger. DADA. The----? SNOOKS. His bootlegger. DADA [_enthusiastically_]. You’re my son’s employer? _They shake hands._ DADA. Excuse my costume. I was awake, and I thought I smelled something burning. SNOOKS [_decisively_]. You’re kiddin’ yourself. DADA. Perhaps I was wrong. My sense of smell is not as exact as it was. My son Jerry is a fine boy. He’s my only son by my second wife, Mr.--? The----? [_He is evidently under the impression that Snooks has supplied the name and that he has missed it._] I’m glad to meet his employer. I always say I’m a descendant of Jack Frost. We used to have a joke when I was young. We used to say that the first Frosts came to this state in the beginning of winter. Ha-ha-ha! [_He is convinced that he is giving Jerry a boost with his employer._] SNOOKS [_bored_]. Ain’t it past your bedtime, pop? DADA. Do you see? “Frosts” and “frosts.” We used to laugh at that joke a great deal. SNOOKS. Anybody would. DADA. “Frosts,” you see. We’re not rich, but I always say that it’s easier for a camel to get through a needle’s eye than for a rich man to get to heaven. SNOOKS. That’s the way I always felt. DADA. Well, I think I’ll turn in. My sense of smell deceived me. No harm done. [_He laughs._] Good night, Mr.----? SNOOKS [_humorously_]. Good night, pop. Sleep tight. Don’t let the bedbugs bite. DADA [_starting away_]. I hope you’ll excuse my costume. [_He goes up-stairs. Jerry returns from the pantry just in time to hear his voice._] JERRY. Who was that? Dada? SNOOKS. He thought he was on fire. JERRY [_unaware of the nightshirt_]. That’s my father. He’s a great authority on--oh, on the Bible and a whole lot of other things. He’s been doing nothing for twenty years but thinking out a lot of things--here’s the money. [_Jerry gives him sixteen bucks._] SNOOKS. Thanks. Well, I guess you’re all fixed. Drink a couple of these and then you’ll know what to say to your wife when she gets fresh. CHARLOTTE [_from up-stairs_]. Shut the door! I can smell that way up here! _Jerry hastily shuts the door leading up-stairs._ SNOOKS. Like any whiskey? JERRY. I don’t believe so. SNOOKS. Or some cream de menthy? JERRY. No, I don’t believe so. SNOOKS. How about some French vermuth? JERRY. I don’t think I’ll take anything else now. SNOOKS. Just try a drink of this. JERRY. I did.