Read Summer Moonshine for Free Online Page A

comment. However, let it go. Yes, the old masterpiece opened last night and smacked London right in the eyeball. Extraordinary scenes. Fair women and brave men tied up in convulsions. Even the stage hands laughing, while thousands cheered. A big, vital production. Shall I read you the notices?'
    A sudden suspicion came to Mr Busby.
    'When did you write this play?'
    'Out of office hours, I assure you. Abandon all hope, my Busby, that by claiming that it was written in your time, you can ease yourself in on the proceeds. And I wouldn't have put it past you,' said Joe with frank admiration. 'I've always maintained, and I always shall maintain, that you stand alone. Those contracts of yours! I always picture the author, having signed on the dotted line, leaping back as a couple of sub-clauses in black masks suddenly jump out of a jungle of "whereases" and "hereinafters" and start ganging on him with knuckledusters. But this time, as I say, no hope, buzzard.'
    Mr Busby said that he did not want any of Joe's impertinence, and criticized in particular his mode of address. Joe explained that in calling Mr Busby 'buzzard' he had merely been endeavouring to create a pleasant, genial, informal atmosphere.
    'For this morning,' he said, 'I am the little friend of all the world. I have had no sleep, but I love everybody. I am walking on air with my hat on the side of my head, and a child could play with me. Do let me read you the notices.'
    Mr Busby betrayed no interest in the notices. The compassionate look in Joe's eyes deepened.
    'They affect you,' he said. 'They affect you vitally. That is why I wanted the smelling salts. You see, owing to the stupendous success of this colossal play, unhappy Busby, I have decided to leave you. . . . Brace up, man! Put your head between your legs, and the faint feeling will pass off. . . . Yes, Busby, my poor dear old chap, we are about to part. I have been happy here. I shall be sorry to tear myself away, but we must part. I am too rich to work.'
    Mr Busby grunted. Oddly enough, considering that the latter had never seen him, he did rather resemble the picture Tubby had drawn of him. He was noticeably porcine, and grunting came easily to him.
    'If you leave now, you forfeit half a month's salary.'
    'Tchah! Feed it to the birds.'
    Mr Busby grunted again.
    'It's a success, is it?'
    'Haven't you been listening?'
    'You can't go by a first night.'
    'You can by one like that.'
    'Notices don't mean a thing.'
    'These do.'
    'The heat'll kill it,' said Mr Busby, struggling to be optimistic. 'Crazy, opening in August.'
    'Not at all. An August opening gives you a flying start. And the heat won't kill it, because the libraries have made a ten weeks' deal.'
    Mr Busby gave up. Optimism cannot live in conditions like these. He made the only possible point left to him.
    'Your next one will be a flop, and a year from now you'll be running back here with your tail between your legs. And you'll find your place filled.'
    'If the place of a man like me can ever be filled. I wouldn't count on it,' said Joe dubiously. 'But you haven't heard the notices yet. I think I had better just skim through them for you. Let me see. "Sparkling satire." – Daily Mail. "Mordant and satirical." – Daily Telegraph. "Trenchant satire." – Morning Post. "Somewhat—" Oh, no, that's The Times. You won't want to hear that one. Well, you see what I mean about leaving you.
A man who can elicit eulogies like those can hardly be expected to go on working for a crook publisher.'
    'A what?' said Mr Busby, starting.
    'Book publisher. Fellow who publishes books. He owes a duty to his public. But I mustn't stand here talking to you all the morning. I've got to go and see that lurking female of yours. The last little service I shall be able to do for you. My swan song. And then I must go and buy the evening papers. I suppose they will all strike much the same note. One grows a little weary of this incessant praise. It makes one feel like some Oriental