"Well, cheer up," I said sympathetically and with an eye on the large
potato perhaps. "He isn't always looking, and we can fix it. You mash up
your big potato and put butter and salt on it, and I'll do the same with
my little one. Then when he's not looking we'll shift."
"Oh, that's all right," he commented, "but we'd better look out. If he
sees us he'll be as sore as the devil."
This system worked well enough for a time, and for days I was getting
all the potato I wanted and congratulating myself on my skill, when one
day as I was slyly forking potatoes out of his dish, moved helpfully in
my direction, I saw Culhane approaching and feared that our trick had
been discovered. It had. Perhaps some snaky waitress has told on us, or
he had seen us, even from his table.
"Now I know what's going on here at this table," he growled savagely,
"and I want you two to cut it out. This big boob here" (he was referring
to my esteemed self) "who hasn't strength of will or character enough to
keep himself in good health and has to be brought up here by his
brother, hasn't brains enough to see that when I plan a thing for his
benefit it is for his benefit, and not mine. Like most of the other
damned fools that come up here and waste their money and my time, he
thinks I'm playing some cute game with him--tag or something that will
let him show how much cuter he is than I am. And he's supposed to be a
writer and have a little horse-sense! His brother claims it, anyhow. And
as for this other simp here," and now he was addressing the assembled
diners while nodding toward my friend, "it hasn't been three weeks since
he was begging to know what I could do for him. And now look at
him--entering into a petty little game of potato-cheating!
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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