284
PAR.TISAN REVIEW
"As you see, I don't practice anonymity. I take responsibility for my lit–
tle demands and suggestions. They may be little, but they are important.
What depends on us must be corrected, improved. At least what depends
on us. I have already informed you of the wretched quality of the eleva–
tors bearing the sign ELEVATOR. Well, the day before yesterday ... "
He was sick and tired of it, he had to admit. And yet he could not
give up these beautifully handwritten messages by which he told the
world of his existence, perseverance, and failure.
He looked into the distance, no place, before again bending bitterly
over the words. "At the pound, dear comrades, they do something that
not only animal lovers consider impermissible. By law a period of three
days is allowed for owners to claim missing animals. The only way of
knowing whether an animal is in captivity is to visit that institution. But
entry is prohibited, and in vain do people stand at the gate waiting to
pay the fee to recover their missing creatures. Comrades, this defiant
trampling on the basic right to ... "
Tolea had learned from his friend and neighbor Gafton that redun–
dancies were likely in many enterprises. He shrugged his shoulders apa–
thetically. Then he heard that as much as forty percent of office staff
would be affected. He smiled and switched on the transistor lying on the
desk of his colleague Gina: Monte Carlo, his favorite station.
Then someone started the rumor that such-and-such a comrade di–
rector had already been replaced by another comrade director; that cer–
tain networks were being dismantled and new links and combinations es–
tablished. He looked on impassively at the hysterical reactions of his col–
leagues at the Hotel Tranzit: the bookkeeper, the barman, the switch–
board operator, the cleaning woman were all glued to telephones trying
to discover the ins and outs. He raised his eyebrows, in a superior kind of
way, when his four-eyed colleague told him the criteria that would be
used for layoffs. He merely lifted himself slightly on tiptoe, straightened
his colleague's loose tie beneath his made-in-China shirt collar, and went
to the window to contemplate the spring fever.
Gina tried to distract him by reading something from the morning
papers.
"Listen to this story that happened yesterday. 'On the pretext that in
privately owned apartment number ... on the ground £loor of the
building there was a dog ... or several dogs ... and a cat . .. or sev–
eral cats.' W ell, what do you say?"
Stretched out on the armchair, with his feet perched American-style
on another chair, his head on the ceiling, his eyes shut, Tolea did not
