Mary and the Giant by Philip K. Dick

Author:Philip K. Dick
Language: eng
Format: mobi, epub, pdf
Tags: Science Fiction, General, Fiction
ISBN: 9781473206724
Publisher: Orion
Published: 1987-04-15T07:00:00+00:00

Having loaded the young man up with records, Schilling steered him into a booth.

At the counter Mary Anne was busily opening the cash register.

"Friend of yours?" Schilling asked, amused that, in her world, introductions did not exist.

"Paul plays over at the Wren," she answered, starting to count the one-dollar bills.

As soon as she had left the store she had gone home to her apartment, changed, and then hurried to the Wren to pay Paul back his ten dollars.. . money that had kept her going since she cashed her final check from the telephone company.

"That place?" Nitz had said. "That record shop? That's the fellow they said I should talk to."

"Come along," Mary Anne had urged him, timid at the idea of returning to the store alone. "Please, Paul. As a favor to me."

He had raised an eyebrow. "What's the matter?"

"Nothing."

"You scared?"

"Sure I'm scared. It's a new job; it's the first day."

"What do you know about this character?"

Evasively, she had said; "I met him once. He's an older man."

Tossing down his paperbacked Western, Paul Nitz had climbed to his feet. "Okay, I'll go along and chaperone you." He clapped her warmly on the back. "I'll even challenge him to a duel-just give me the nod."

"What are you doing?" Schilling asked, watching her fingers fly as she counted the bills.

"Seeing what we need from the bank."

When she had completed her list, Schilling showed her the miniature safe by the night-light. "I go to the bank once a week. Otherwise I draw from this."

"You should have told me." Finishing with the money, she went to get the broom.

"I'm going to clean up this place," she informed him. "It really needs it ... how long has it been since you swept out?"

Disconcerted, Schilling went on sorting records. Later he stepped into the back office and plugged in his Silex coffeemaker. In the first listening booth Mary's friend had barricaded himself behind his records; he stared blankly out.

Here was a girl, Schilling reflected, who, on her first day at work, had borrowed money from her employer, had set her own moment of appearance, and, when she finally appeared, had brought along a friend prepared to spend all day listening to the store's records. And now, instead of waiting dutifully for instructions, she was announcing her own tasks.

"Why don't you move the counter back?" Mary Anne said as he appeared with the coffee.

"Why?" He began filling two cups.

"So you can get directly to the window." She gave the counter a fretful swat. "It blocks the way."

"Miss Reynolds," Schilling said, realizing that he was entering a pattern that must have included all her employers, "put down your broom and come over here. I want to talk to you."She smiled at him, a quick flash of her very small lips. "Wait until I'm finished," she said, and disappeared out the front door with the dustpan. When she returned she found a dust cloth and began going over the surface of the counter.

Nettled, Schilling sipped his afternoon coffee. "I think you should learn how my inventory is handled and what I expect in customer relationships.

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