dago red, as usual, was in no mood for small talk. he brought his little truck to an abrupt stop. tossed the three bundles of newspapers at the feet of the three boys, jumped back in his seat and drove off.
a quick look at the ordinary sized headline - tensions mount - prez urges calm - showed that there would be no war, and no extra edition, at least until the afternoon.
gus the greek, the oldest and strongest of the three boys, grabbed his bundle and hoisted it on his shoulder.
“i’ll see you two kikes later.” he disappeared into the swirling snow.
benny was left alone with the professor.
benny would have liked to get going too, but he knew the professor always liked to talk for a while, and expound his views on the world situation, and benny, being naturally an easygoing sort, usually humored him.
the professor was a couple of years younger than benny, small for his age, wore the thickest glasses in the world, and had strong opinions on a lot of subjects. whether he developed these opinions himself or was repeating what he heard from older people, was not something benny had ever wondered about.
“well, prof, what do you think?” benny asked. “do you think we might get a war and some extras tomorrow?”
the professor pulled his scarf away from his face. “ i think we better get a move on if we want to sell any papers before we are buried under five feet of snow.”
“good thinking,” benny agreed readily. he headed uptown, to “his” spot in the sheltered entrance to the b train subway station.
the professor was left at his own spot, on the corner in the wind and snow.
but he did not have to wait long to sell his first paper.
a long black limousine pulled up in front of him. the rear passenger side window rolled down anda familiar face looked out.
“hello, kid.”
“hello, lugg. what can i do for you today?”
“mister w wants to see you. he is thirsting for your advice.”
“what about these papers?”
“i will give you the price of them all. “
“but - “
“i know, someone might complain to the paper if you ain’t here. we brought a ringer along, just like the last time.”
another car pulled up behind the limo, and a voice shouted -
“hey, kid, any time you want to sell a poor man a paper!”
“sure, mister!” the professor hurried down to the car, ran around to the driver’s side, handed the driver a paper and collected his nickel . “sorry to keep you waiting, mister!”
the professor backed off as the car roared away.
when he got back to the limo, the “ringer”, a dwarf named grundy, was waiting to take the bundle of papers from him.
the professor got in the back seat with lugg, and the limo moved smoothly away from the curb, turned around and headed bak out of town.
“mister w must want my advice awful bad, to go to all this trouble.” the professor said to lugg.
“maybe. who knows what he wants? just relax and enjoy the ride.
the snow began to fall heavily, and the limo’s new high-powered windshield wipers were put to the test as they headed into the wind.
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