14 Stories Read Online Free PDF Page A

best.”
    â€œAnd the best?”
    â€œWhy tell you? Information like that’s worth money and I’m grooming my own man. Somewhere in the forties off Broadway, but you’d never find exactly where in twenty years. You’ll sign now so I can be on my way?”
    â€œOne condition. You tell me what month it is and let me borrow your pen.”
    He gives me a slip of paper on top of a cardboard the same size and his pen. Then he grabs them out of my hands before I can sign when he sees two women entering the restaurant. “Lisa Galivanti,” he says.
    â€œYes. I know you?”
    â€œI know of you, Miss Galivanti. Could you sign your name for me please? I’m Henry Wax.”
    â€œI don’t give my autograph to anyone, Mr. Wax.”
    â€œI’m all right. Presidents have signed for me.”
    â€œI wouldn’t even sign it for a president once.”
    â€œYou and this guy ought to get together.”
    â€œI know him and we have got together. Hello, John.”
    â€œI’m sorry, I don’t shake hands with strangers.”
    â€œGod, you’re so stupid sometimes. How have you been?”
    â€œI’m sorry, I don’t speak to strangers either.”
    â€œWho’s your friend?” the woman she’s with says.
    â€œLike to come in and have a bite with us?” Lisa says.
    â€œI’m not properly dressed. No tie.”
    â€œI’ll get them to let you in without one.”
    â€œI’ve no shirt under the coat.”
    â€œYou can wear a busboy’s jacket.”
    â€œI always looked very bad in a busboy’s jacket without a tie.”
    â€œWill you please sign this, Miss Galivanti? Your signature’s very important to me.”
    â€œSign it for him, Miss Galivanti,” I say.
    â€œYou know I never sign. I hate the word autograph. I think it demeans the person who asks me to sign.”
    â€œThis is a signature, not an autograph,” Henry says. “Your signature. I’ve thousands. It’s my business and pastime. I sell the famous and save the to-be’s and you’re famous.”
    â€œHe just got Mark Wilson’s,” I say.
    â€œMark’s? Well if Mark can sign and John says I should sign, I’ll do it this one time.”
    â€œYou’re a good one to stick around with,” Henry says, patting my back.
    â€œWill you join us, John?” Lisa says.
    â€œNo.”
    â€œPill.”
    â€œThank you, Miss Galivanti,” Henry says. “Thanks very much. This one makes my day.”
    They go in.
    â€œYou turned down something like that?” Henry says. “If you can then I shouldn’t feel so bad about your turning me down before. She’s one of the hottest. If I could get her name a dozen times today I’d get it and tomorrow and the next day too.”
    â€œI’ll give you her old letters to me if you want.”
    â€œThey have her signatures on them?”
    â€œSeveral with her first name. Mostly with her nick and pet names. Lots of O’s and X’s though and sometimes very spicy stuff. Highly commercial. She’s a good writer too.”
    â€œI’ll just take the parts where her signatures are. I’ve my reputation also and don’t feel like branching out. Have any of those? First and last names both?”
    â€œWith dates. Canceled checks. Duplicates of old income-tax forms. Legal documents with both our names, I’m afraid. Marriage license. Divorce decree. They ought to be worth a bundle to you.”
    â€œSend them to me and I’ll give you fifty cents apiece for them and I’ll pay the postage.”
    â€œI told you I’d give them away.”
    â€œCome on, you could use the money. And this will inspire you to dig up them all. Been with any other famous people where you have their signatures with dates?”
    â€œFew.”
    â€œAnything you got. Same fee goes all around. For the blurred ones I can only