Humorous stories; New York (N.Y.) -- Fiction; Private secretaries -- Fiction
I expect Waddy ain't been jumped around so rapid before in his whole
career. I allows him only time enough to lay in a fresh supply of
cigarettes on the way to the ferry and before he's caught his breath we
are sittin' in the dinin' car zoomin' through the north end of New
Jersey. I tried to get him interested in the scenery as we pounded
through the Poconos and galloped past the Water Gap, but it couldn't be
done. When he gets real set on anything it seems Waddy has a single
track mind.
"I trust he still has that ring," he remarks.
"That'll ride until we've found your ex-top sergeant," says I. "What was
his line before he went in the army--plumber, truck driver, or what?"
Waddy hadn't the least idea. Not having been mixed up in industry
himself, he hadn't been curious. Now that I mentioned it he supposed
Joe had done something for a living. Yes, he was almost sure. He had
noticed that Joe's hands were rather rough and calloused.
"What would that indicate?" asks Waddy.
"Most anything," says I, "from the high cost of gloves to a strike of
lady manicures. Don't strain your intellect over it, though. If he's
still in Coffee Creek there shouldn't be much trouble findin' him."
Which was where I took a lot for granted. When we piled off the express
at Wilkes-Barre I charters a flivver taxi, and after a half hour's drive
with a speed maniac who must have thought he was pilotin' a DeHaviland
through the clouds we're landed in the middle of this forsaken, one
horse dump, consistin' of a double row of punk tenement blocks and a
sprinklin' of near-beer joints that was givin' their last gasp. I tried
out three prominent citizens before I found one who savvied English.
"Sure!" says he. "Joe Bruzinski? He must be the mine boss by Judson's
yet. First right hand turn you take and keep on the hill up."
"Until what?" says I.
"Why, Judson's operation--the mine," says he. "Can't miss. Road ends at
Judson's."
Uh-huh. It did. High time, too. A road like that never should be allowed
to start anywhere. But the flivver negotiated it and by luck we found
the mine superintendent in the office--a grizzled, chunky little
Welshman with a pair of shrewd eyes. Yes, he says Bruzinski is around
somewhere. He thinks he's down on C level plotting out some new
contracts for the night shift.
"What luck!" says Waddy. "I say, will you call him right up?"
"That I will, sir," says the superintendent, "if you'll tell me how."
"Why," says Waddy, "couldn't you--er--telephone to him, or send a
messenger?"
It seems that can't be done. "You might try shouting down, the shaft
though," says the Welshman, with a twinkle in his eyes.
Waddy would have gone hoarse doin' it, too, if I hadn't given him the
nudge. "Wake up," says I. "You're being kidded."
"But see here, my man----" Waddy begins.
"Mr. Llanders is the name," says the superintendent a bit crisp.
"Ah, yes. Thanks," says Waddy. "It is quite important, Mr. Llanders,
that I find Bruzinski at once."
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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