THE SCAB
43
hands and wrists and a long, drawn face. His chin hangs down
like a pump that has sucked his cheeks dry and tightened the
skin on his forehead, so that his hair almost stands up, separated.
Brandt unbuttons his coat. "You're new here, ain't you?"
The man is silent.
"What I mean is, this ain't your line,-this ain't your regu–
lar trade is it?"
The man looks at him and then down at the bed. He isn't
clear about these fellows yet.
It
looks kind of fishy.
"Well, listen now, why don't you wanna talk? Look,–
l'm telling you straight, we're from the union. Not putting
anything over on you-we just wanna talk to you and win you
over to our side, that's all."
The man's hand fumbles with the blanket, but he remains
silent.
"Now when you hit this town-before you hit this town–
didn't you know there was a strike?"
The fellow looks up finally. "Sure" he says. "I knew
there was a strike" His voice is hoarse. "What do you want
anyway?"
"All right, you knew there was a strike," Brandt shifts on
the bed. "Now why are you scabbing on us?"
The man rouses himself, a little annoyed by all this soft–
ness. "Look here, I'm working an honest living. I got nothing
to do with the unions-but I work honest. I work for my
bread."
Brandt glances up at McHugh standing beside him. They've
got a fool this time, a stupid fellow.
"Well," Brandt says, "don't you know what you're doing?"
(They'll have to explain the whole business to him.) "Don't
you know what scabbing means?" He looks intensely at the
fellow. McHugh grabs a chair and sits down beside them.
The man glances from one to the other as they settle
down. What's the matter with these two guys? Are they
union men?
Are these two soft mushy guys union men? He
feels he can answer them-because why are they doing it so
quietly, talking so easy to him? They're soft!
"Listen," he says to them, "I heard this business about
scabbing maybe a million times already. Only I got a job now
and l'm holding on to it ... and I don't need any of that union
stuff anyway. I don't go for it."
Brandt suddenly looks at the man again. He begins to
