238
PARTISAN REVIEW
The secretary shook his head, impressed. He pointed to the visitor:
"You ought to ask him," he said, addressing the president, "if they have
problems with floors over there."
He explained to Tonski: "Here, whenever there are more than sixty
people, there's good chance the floor'll collapse."
The president raised his head; now he was interes ted and pressed for
an answer:
"Tonski, in Canada, do your shuls have good floors?"
"How would I know?" answered Tonski, impatiently.
"I'm asking, like that, to say something," the president went on. "Don't
get angry. And how's life treating you?"
"All right! I wanted the board of this shul where I was a young
chazan..."
He was about to launch into a speech; the president interrupted him
to agree:
"Where you were a very young chazan. You remember? You even
tried to play the fool in a theater. .."
Annoyed, Tonski started over again:
"I wanted to say that, thank heaven, I've made a success and in mem–
ory of those days I am going to make a donation-a donation like nothing
you'll ever get again! Look!"
He took out an envelope and threw it on the table.
Neither the secretary nor the president touched the envelope which
remained right there among the building plans. The president sighed:
"Take all that back. You'll see about it later with the treasurer. He isn't
here this morning. You can find
him
maybe in his shop next door. You
know, the fish store where they sell herring, to your right as you leave.
He's the one who gives out receipts."
Once more the president bent over the letters cluttering the table,
grabbed hold of a bill and showed it to the secretary:
"Now we've got to figure out if we should pay the painter who paint–
ed the door, or if we answer that he can go get his bill paid by the cleaner
who couldn't remove the spots on the rabbi's coat. Paint that never dries,
is it paint or a declaration of war?"
Tonski tried to interrupt but the president didn't give
him
time. He
raised his head again and said kindly but firmly:
"Go see the treasurer. It'll make him happy. Take a herring for your
wife, that'll make her happy too. Excuse us, but we have
important
matters
to settle here."
Tonski shook his head.
He had an urge to bang on the table, to scream, to howl. He had an
enormous black limousine with a chauffeur waiting in the street, he was a
