(lxi)


A secretary. She stops me as I am passing her office. A question, something about the air conditioning.

Addressing her with ironic gravity. “I do not know what Abyssinian idiot may have wired this building, madam; I was not responsible. I am afraid, therefore, that there is nothing I can do about it.”

She smiles. She lights a cigarette as I am leaving. I suppose she always smokes afterwards.