[ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
he was working on it. I ll see you at five o clock, I
said to Miss Harrington, and started down that way
with Sig Freed to see what he was doing.
Just before I got there he straightened up, and I
saw he had a tin can in his hand. It looked to me like
he must have been draining some gasoline out of the
tank. He went on around the corner of the house, and
then I saw Uncle Sagamore coming up from the barn
carrying four jars.
I wondered what they was going to put gasoline in
fruit jars for, and why they needed four big ones like
that for just one little can full. I had to grab my nose
when I got down close to the tubs, but I went on and
looked around the corner of the house. It was funny
what they was doing.
There was a little table sitting in the back yard in
the shade of the chinaberry tree. Uncle Sagamore
had put the four glass jars on it, and Pop was dipping
a piece of white string in the can of gasoline. When it
was good and wet, he took it out fast and tied it
around the middle of one of the jars. Uncle Sagamore
struck a match and touched it to the string. It blazed
up and made a ring of fire around the jar for a minute
before it went out. Then they did the same thing to
the next one, with another piece of string. I watched.
There didn t seem to be any sense to it. They kept on
till they had done it to all four of them. Then they
took off the charred string and rubbed the jars clean
with a cloth, handling them real gentle.
The Diamond Bikini 92
I walked up behind them. Hey, Pop, I says, what
you doing?
They both whirled around, and looked at me and
then at each other. Doing? Pop says. Why, uh
we re testing these jars. Ain t that what it looks like?
Testing em? I says. Why?
Uncle Sagamore pursed up his lips and spit out
some tobacco juice. Well sir, he says, it s just like I
was telling you, Sam. A boy ain t never goin to learn
nothin less n he asks questions. Now, how would a
young boy know you don t never send nothin to the
Gov ment in jars you ain t sure of? He got any way of
knowin what would happen if one of them jars
busted along the way, or after it got there? He don t
know nothin about how the Gov ment operates.
He stopped and shifted his tobacco over into his
other cheek and wiped his mouth with the back of his
hand. Then he looks at me real solemn and goes on,
Now you take if one of them jars was to happen to
bust, you got the whole goddam Gov ment in a
uproar. Before you know it, they re faunchin around
like a pen full of hawgs after a rattlesnake, with
everybody millin around askin questions and trying
to figure out what happened. Then somebody gets a
burr under his crupper and starts a investigation, so
you got all them high-priced people tied up wastin
time just because some pore old ignorant boll weevil
that didn t know no better sent em something in a
rickety fruit jar that wouldn t hold together. And that
ain t all. Right in the middle of all this hulla-balloo,
somebody discovers the Gov ment ain t even got a
regular fruit-jar testing department. So two more
people start a investigation to find out how come
they ain t, and four others start a investigation to find
out how come the first two ain t investigated this
already, and in the meantime some janitor sweeps up
the busted fruit jar and throws it out, so everybody
drops everything and come chargin in to investigate
and the first thing you know the whole thing s like a
fire in a whorehouse.
And that makes taxes go up Pop says.
The Diamond Bikini 93
Yes, sir, Uncle Sagamore says, that s exactly
what it does.
Oh, I says. Are you going to send something to
the Gov ment?
That s right. Uncle Sagamore nodded his head.
Me an Sam got to thinkin about what you said
about all the time we d waste lettin this leather run
its course, so we figured maybe we ort to kind of
hurry the thing along a little by sendin some of the
juice now an letting em see if maybe they could tell
us what was wrong. We re goin to have some of her
analyzed by the Gov ment.
Well, I says, that seems to me like the right
thing to do. Then, if they say you didn t mix the juice
just right to begin with, you can start over with a new
batch without having to wait all that time. I felt real
proud of myself. They d seen I was right.
Uncle Sagamore nodded. That s just the way me
and Sam saw it. You got a good head on you.
And you re going to ship her in those four jars? I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]
zanotowane.pl doc.pisz.pl pdf.pisz.pl freetocraft.keep.pl
he was working on it. I ll see you at five o clock, I
said to Miss Harrington, and started down that way
with Sig Freed to see what he was doing.
Just before I got there he straightened up, and I
saw he had a tin can in his hand. It looked to me like
he must have been draining some gasoline out of the
tank. He went on around the corner of the house, and
then I saw Uncle Sagamore coming up from the barn
carrying four jars.
I wondered what they was going to put gasoline in
fruit jars for, and why they needed four big ones like
that for just one little can full. I had to grab my nose
when I got down close to the tubs, but I went on and
looked around the corner of the house. It was funny
what they was doing.
There was a little table sitting in the back yard in
the shade of the chinaberry tree. Uncle Sagamore
had put the four glass jars on it, and Pop was dipping
a piece of white string in the can of gasoline. When it
was good and wet, he took it out fast and tied it
around the middle of one of the jars. Uncle Sagamore
struck a match and touched it to the string. It blazed
up and made a ring of fire around the jar for a minute
before it went out. Then they did the same thing to
the next one, with another piece of string. I watched.
There didn t seem to be any sense to it. They kept on
till they had done it to all four of them. Then they
took off the charred string and rubbed the jars clean
with a cloth, handling them real gentle.
The Diamond Bikini 92
I walked up behind them. Hey, Pop, I says, what
you doing?
They both whirled around, and looked at me and
then at each other. Doing? Pop says. Why, uh
we re testing these jars. Ain t that what it looks like?
Testing em? I says. Why?
Uncle Sagamore pursed up his lips and spit out
some tobacco juice. Well sir, he says, it s just like I
was telling you, Sam. A boy ain t never goin to learn
nothin less n he asks questions. Now, how would a
young boy know you don t never send nothin to the
Gov ment in jars you ain t sure of? He got any way of
knowin what would happen if one of them jars
busted along the way, or after it got there? He don t
know nothin about how the Gov ment operates.
He stopped and shifted his tobacco over into his
other cheek and wiped his mouth with the back of his
hand. Then he looks at me real solemn and goes on,
Now you take if one of them jars was to happen to
bust, you got the whole goddam Gov ment in a
uproar. Before you know it, they re faunchin around
like a pen full of hawgs after a rattlesnake, with
everybody millin around askin questions and trying
to figure out what happened. Then somebody gets a
burr under his crupper and starts a investigation, so
you got all them high-priced people tied up wastin
time just because some pore old ignorant boll weevil
that didn t know no better sent em something in a
rickety fruit jar that wouldn t hold together. And that
ain t all. Right in the middle of all this hulla-balloo,
somebody discovers the Gov ment ain t even got a
regular fruit-jar testing department. So two more
people start a investigation to find out how come
they ain t, and four others start a investigation to find
out how come the first two ain t investigated this
already, and in the meantime some janitor sweeps up
the busted fruit jar and throws it out, so everybody
drops everything and come chargin in to investigate
and the first thing you know the whole thing s like a
fire in a whorehouse.
And that makes taxes go up Pop says.
The Diamond Bikini 93
Yes, sir, Uncle Sagamore says, that s exactly
what it does.
Oh, I says. Are you going to send something to
the Gov ment?
That s right. Uncle Sagamore nodded his head.
Me an Sam got to thinkin about what you said
about all the time we d waste lettin this leather run
its course, so we figured maybe we ort to kind of
hurry the thing along a little by sendin some of the
juice now an letting em see if maybe they could tell
us what was wrong. We re goin to have some of her
analyzed by the Gov ment.
Well, I says, that seems to me like the right
thing to do. Then, if they say you didn t mix the juice
just right to begin with, you can start over with a new
batch without having to wait all that time. I felt real
proud of myself. They d seen I was right.
Uncle Sagamore nodded. That s just the way me
and Sam saw it. You got a good head on you.
And you re going to ship her in those four jars? I [ Pobierz całość w formacie PDF ]