"You're crazy."
"Think I should open it up and check? It's been almost a month, you
know. I imagine he's pretty ripe by now."
I reached down to the neck-fastenings on the fishbowl, and McCann
finally moved. His arms jerked up, and he cried, "Don't! He's in there,
he's in there! For God's sake, don't open it up!"
I relaxed. Mission accomplished. "Crawl into your suit, little man," I
said. "We've got ourselves a trip to make, the three of us."
* * * * *
Henderson, as usual, was jovial but stern. "You did a fine job up there,
Ged," he said, with false familiarity. "Really brilliant work."
"Thank you very much," I said. I was holding the last piece of news for
a minute or two, relishing it.
"But you brought McCann in over a week ago. I don't see why you had to
stay up at Atronics City at all after that, much less ten days."
I sat back in the chair and negligently crossed my legs. "I just thought
I'd take a little vacation," I said carelessly, and lit a cigarette. I
flicked ashes in the general direction of the ashtray on Henderson's
desk. Some of them made it.
"A vacation?" he echoed, eyes widening. Henderson was a company man, a
_real_ company man. A vacation for him was purgatory, it was separation
from a loved one. "I don't believe you have a vacation coming," he said
frostily, "for at least six months."
"That's what you think, Henny," I said.
All he could do at that was blink.
I went on, enjoying myself hugely. "I don't like this company," I said.
"And I don't like this job. And I don't like you. And from now on, I've
decided, it's going to be vacation all the time."
"Ged," he said, his voice faint, "what's the matter with you? Don't you
feel well?"
"I feel well," I told him. "I feel fine. Now, I'll tell you why I spent
an extra ten days at Atronics City. McCann made and registered the big
strike, right?"
Henderson nodded blankly, apparently not trusting himself to speak.
"Wrong," I said cheerfully. "McCann went to Chemisant City and filled
out all the forms required for registering a claim. But every place he
was supposed to sign his name he wrote _Ab Karpin_ instead. Jafe McCann
_never did make a legal registration of his claim_."
Henderson just looked fish-eyed.
"So," I went on, "as soon as I turned McCann over to the law at Atronics
City, I went and registered that claim myself. And then I waited around
for ten days until the company finished the paperwork involved in buying
that claim from me. And then I came straight back here, just to say
goodbye to you. Wasn't that nice?"
He didn't move.
"Goodbye," I said.