fLoOd--Part Three

Don't Be Cruel

tHrEe

   While the five of them were looking down at Peterson's feet, the water slowly started covering his shoes. Murphy walked around the boat and came to stand by his side.

   "Truly, there's nothin' on this earth as gratifyin' as ownin' a little piece of it."

   Peterson lifted one foot out of the water, examined the bottom of it, replaced it and then repeated the exercise with the other one. When he put it back down, the water was covering his ankles.

   "By temperance, are we gonna sit here all day? Get in, ya couple o' mudturtles, or are ya gonna start buildin' a nest?"

   Murphy climbed into the boat and sat down next to Smith, who slid as far from him as the seat would permit, because Murphy was streaming water from his drenched clothes.

   "Well, la-dee-dah!" said Murphy, taking Smith's retreat as a personal affront to himself. "I'll not be botherin' ya more." So saying, he got up and stepped across Jones so he could sit down next to Brown. But Brown deliberately placed his urn on the seat and spread out as much as he could.

   "No room, no room," he expostulated. "You already got that other seat all wet so you'd better stick there."

   "I'll not sit where I'm not wanted and Mr. Brick has made it clear as crystal that my presence is unwelcome in his..."

   "Well, you're not coming over here and moldering up my father whom I've kept dry and safe for the last seventeen years."

   "You can sit here," said Smith. "I was just trying to keep dry."

   "Are ye sure I won't be trespassin' into yer special little world and ruinin' yer atmosphere..."

   "By temperance, just sit down and stop rainin' all over me," said Jones.

   So Murphy reseated himself in the spot he had recently vacated. And by and by they all ended up looking at Peterson, whose kneecaps could no longer be seen.

   Peterson was looking down, trying to keep an eye on his inheritance, as the water covering it got deeper and deeper.

 

Reviews

[TLK]

The dialogue in this is insufferable.