Read Now and on Earth for Free Online

what could I do?
    I don't think I'm actually afraid of Gross. I've had my ears batted down so many times that I know there's nothing to be less fearful of than physical pain. I am only afraid of him in that he can worry me, and I do not know how I can stand much more. I've got to pull myself together.
    The next morning, right after I had crossed Pacific and started down the dirt road, a car began to honk behind me. To hear a car horn in San Diego is an unusual thing; I think there's an ordinance against it. I looked around; it was Moon. He was driving a late model Buick, and the front door was swinging open. I hopped in.
    When we reached the plant, he parked in a reserved space. And I thanked him and started to get out.
    "Wait a minute, Dillon-Dilly. It's only six-thirty."
    We lighted cigarettes, and he looked at me appraisingly. He is about thirty, I think.
    "We're about the same size, Dilly."
    I said yes, we were, wondering what was coming next. I don't think Moon is screwy, as Gross puts it. I think he simply says and does whatever is on his mind.
    "I've got the edge on you for weight, though," I said. "I can't put on any weight," he said. "I can't stop sleeping with my wife."
    I laughed.
    "Every time I think I'm going to," he said, "she fixes me a big batch of egg sandwiches. I told her last night that that was going to have to last a while, and this morning she fixed me six egg sandwiches for my lunch. You'd think she'd been living in China instead of me."
    "You were in China?"
    "Eighteen months in the interior. Petty officer. The last of my hitch in the navy… Ever do any clerical work, Dilly?"
    "Yes. It's not in my line, but I've done it."
    "The trouble with keeping records in a place like this," he said, "is that you've got to know parts. Just being a bookkeeper and a typist and so on isn't enough. Now Gross had four months' experience in another plant before he came here, so he knows parts pretty well. At least he should know them pretty well."
    "I certainly don't know much about them," I said. "I'll have to show you around a little," he said. "I've been pretty busy before or I'd've already done it. You remind me of it some time today."
    I went into the plant feeling, somehow, better than I had felt in a long time. Of course, I should know, by now, that no one is going to do anything for me unless there is a catch to it. But I keep right on getting caught with my guard down.
    The boys in Purchased Parts had received several kegs of bolts and washers, and we had got in very few parts; so I was delegated to help them put their parts in the bins. Thus I witnessed another example of the humor of Busken and Vail.
    All these small parts are magnafluxed; that is, they are dipped in a blue-dye bath. Partly to prevent corrosion, I believe; partly to show up any flaws which they may have. Of course, the dye rubs off easily. By the time I had worked five minutes, my hands were dripping with the stuff.
    Well, a youth in a white shirt came up to the counter. One of the stock-chasers. Vail quickly slipped on a pair of gloves. Busken darted around behind the racks and went through the gate.
    "Why, if it isn't my old pal, Jack!" said Vail heartily, striding forward with his right hand extended and tugging at the glove thereon. "Where you been keeping yourself, Jack?"
    "Now, none of your jokes," said Jack, extending his hand nonetheless. "I'm in a-"
    Vail immediately shed his gloves and seized the outthrust hand, massaging it vigorously.
    "How are you, Jack, ol' boy, ol' boy?" he demanded, rubbing in the dye. "I say, ol' boy, do you think it'll rain? Do you think-"
    "You son-of-a-bitch!" snarled Jack. "Leggo, goddammit! I told you I was in a-"
    Busken stepped up behind him, and slapped him on the back, clamped two blue palms against the white shirt-sleeves, giggling.
    "Why, what's the matter with Jack, he, he?" he inquired. "He, he, he-did 'oo get '00 'ittle hands dirty?"
    "Yes, I did!" snapped Jack. "This crazy son-of-a-bitch -"