Bradbury, Ray - SSC 10 by The Anthem Sprinters (and Other Antics) (v2.1) Read Free Book Online

depressions, murderous impulses, bad livers, short breaths, unwanted children, and marriages
best kept running on whisky for fear of seeing the true aspect!
    Finn (enchanted) Say that again.
    The Salesman If
you don't mind, I'll let the echoes die.
    Finn
    Right!
That's a beautiful thing there, the little bit of porcelain and that single word. Already I feel a popping in
my ears, like I'm on a mountain! It's
amazing how full of thoughts I suddenly am.
    The Salesman
    Think
what it'll do for your customers, then, and the brand of talk they'll spray at one another! In one hour, in
this room, the humidity will rise ten
points!
    Finn All I do is leave it set right there, eh?
    The Salesman Right there. Nothing to wind, nothing to grease or oil, nothing to get out
of whack. A simple
machine it is, and'll make men's minds "GO"!
    Finn I'll take
one! Wait! You are selling them, aren't you?
    The Salesman Not exactly. You can rent this for just ten shillings a month!
    Finn That's
dear!
    The Salesman
    If
it raises your business twenty shillings a month, you're still ten ahead!
    Finn {amazed) Will it do that?
    The Salesman
    Who
can deny thinking men blow off steam, and what makes steam? Water! And what is beer and ale and stout
but mostly water?
    Finn You've gone
below the surface, I see.
    The Salesman
    Study
pays. Try it. If it don't work out after four weeks,
I'll buy the damn thing off you at half-price or— er —thereabouts;
you'll be little out of pocket!
    FINN is still grudging.
    Hold
on, let me sweeten the deal.
    He pulls forth three more objects and sets them up on the bar.
    Rent
one, you get them all!
    finn stares.
    Finn (reading) STOP! CONSIDER! THINK! DO!
    The Salesman Ain't that a fine quartet?
    Finn Explain
them to me!
    The Salesman
    Well,
before you can THINK, you got to CONSIDER what you want to think about, right?
    Finn (nods) The fog parts.
    The Salesman
    After you consider what to
think and think it, thinking's no good, is it, if you don't DO?
    Finn
    By
God, you're right. You might as well arrange a flower bouquet and throw it in the River Liffey as think and not do. But you've not
explained the first—
    The Salesman
    The
first is most important! You must STOP whatever else you're doing, scratching your ear and notching your belt
or whatever, mustn't you, in order to CONSIDER THINKING and DOING?
    Finn
    That's
it, bull's-eye on! I'll take the lot!
    finn gestures
frantically, for he is still "customer" outside the bar, while behind the bar is the salesman.
    Ring
up No Sale and take out ten shillings before I regain my sanity!
    the salesman is
to the register like a shot. Bang! A bell rings, the red NO SALE sign jumps up.
    The Salesman How
about another?
    Finn Don't mind
if I do!
    the salesman pours
for both. They hoist them.
    The Salesman To the Brave New World of this
afternoon!
    Finn So soon?
    The Salesman
    You'll
note the difference within hours. To thought-provocation, to the pub called Heeber Finn's, to the Oracle at Delphi in a way, to this cavern of philosophers—
    Finn Tavern of philosophers—that has a ring to it.
    The Salesman Cavern.
    Finn (nettled)
    Cavern's what I said! A cavern brimming over with philosophers, eh?
    The Wife (walking through) Philosophers? Is that the same as hoboes?
    She is gone.
    The Salesman Who
was that?
    Finn (eyes shut) 1 dread to
tell you.
    The Salesman (nods
understanding^) (Recovers briskly) To Finn's then, where people stop! consider ! think ! and do!
    Finn I'll drink
to those damn things, any day.
    They drink.
    The Salesman (walking) Well, I'll be off!
    Finn (worried) You won't sell any more of these in the village, now?
    The Salesman
    Nor in the next. I like to drop one stone in the pond and watch the lovely ripples— spread! (He illustrates)
    Finn (awed) Your father was a poet.
    The Salesman (eyebrows
up) Uncanny! You guessed it! Good
day!
    Finn
    And
a fine one to you, Hoolihan ! hoolihan exits.
    The Salesman (singing) "In life, in strife, With maid, or wife It's
the thinking,