The Ghost of a Model T and Other Stories by Clifford D. Simak Read Free Book Online

he’d noticed, and he didn’t get so tired; he used to take a nap in the afternoon and now he never did. He worked as much as ever, actually more than ever, and he was, except for the widow and the broth, a very happy man. Yes, a very happy man.
    He would continue to be happy, he told himself, as long as Tony left him to his stamps. Let the little whippersnapper carry the load of Efficiency, Inc.; he was, after all, the one who had insisted on it. Although, to give him credit, he had done well with it. A lot of industries had signed up and a whole raft of insurance companies and a bunch of bond houses and a good scattering of other lines of business. Before long, Tony said, there wouldn’t be a business anywhere that would dare to try to get along without the services of Efficiency, Inc.
    The doorbell chimed and he went to answer it. It would be the Widow Foshay, and she would have her hands full with the broth.
    But it was not the widow.
    â€œAre you Mr. Clyde Packer?” asked the man who stood in the hall.
    â€œYes, sir,” Packer said. “Will you please step in?”
    â€œMy name is John Griffin,” said the man, after he was seated. “I represent Geneva.”
    â€œGeneva? You mean the Government?”
    The man showed him credentials.
    â€œOkay,” said Packer a bit frostily, being no great admirer of the government. “What can I do for you?”
    â€œYou are senior partner in Efficiency, Inc., I believe.”
    â€œI guess that’s what I am.”
    â€œMr. Packer, don’t you know?”
    â€œWell, I’m not positive. I’m a partner, but I don’t know about this senior business. Tony runs the show and I let him have his head.”
    â€œYou and your nephew are sole owners of the firm?”
    â€œYou bet your boots we are. We kept it for ourselves. We took no one in with us.”
    â€œMr. Packer, for some time the Government has been attempting to negotiate with Mr. Camper. He’s told you nothing of it?”
    â€œNot a thing,” said Packer. “I’m busy with my stamps. He doesn’t bother me.”
    â€œWe have been interested in your service,” Griffin said. “We have tried to buy it.”
    â€œIt’s for sale,” said Packer. “You just pay the price and –”
    â€œBut you don’t understand. Mr. Camper insists on a separate contract for every single office that we operate. That would run to a terrific figure –”
    â€œWorth it,” Packer assured him. “Every cent of it.”
    â€œIt’s unfair,” said Griffin firmly. “We are willing to buy it on a departmental basis and we feel that even in that case we would be making some concession. By rights the government should be allowed to come in under a single covering arrangement.”
    â€œLook,” protested Packer, “what are you talking to me for? I don’t run the business; Tony does. You’ll have to deal with him. I have faith in the boy. He has a good hard business head. I’m not even interested in Efficiency. All I’m interested in is stamps.”
    â€œThat’s just the point,” said Griffin heartily. “You’ve hit the situation exactly on the head.”
    â€œCome again?” asked Packer.
    â€œWell, it’s like this,” Griffin told him in confidential tones. “The government gets a lot of stamps in its daily correspondence. I forget the figure, but it runs to several tons of philatelic material every day. And from every planet in the galaxy. We have in the past been disposing of it to several stamp concerns, but there’s a disposition in certain quarters to offer the whole lot as a package deal at a most attractive price.”
    â€œThat is fine,” said Packer, “but what would I do with several tons a day?”
    â€œI wouldn’t know,” declared Griffin, “but since you are so interested in stamps, it would give