On the Trail of Pat Hobby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Author:F. Scott Fitzgerald
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: BoD E-Short

III

Feeling the effects of his day outside the law, and of a tumbler full of Berners' brandy, Pat sat in Bee McIlvaine's office.

'We've got to get a title,' said Bee gloomily.

She handed Pat the mimeograph offering fifty dollars reward and put a pencil in his hand. Pat stared at the paper unseeingly.

'How about it?' she asked. 'Who's got a title?'

There was a long silence.

'Test Pilot's been used, hasn't it?' he said with a vague tone.

'Wake up! This isn't about aviation.'

'Well, I was just thinking it was a good title.'

'So's The Birth of a Nation.'

'But not for this picture,' Pat muttered. 'Birth of a Nation wouldn't suit this picture.'

'But not for this picture,' Pat muttered. 'Birth of a Nation wouldn't suit this picture.'

'Are you ribbing me?' demanded Bee. 'Or are you losing your mind? This is serious.'

'Sure--I know.' Feebly he scrawled words at the bottom of the page. 'I've had a couple of drinks that's all. My head'll clear up in a minute. I'm trying to think what have been the most successful titles. The trouble is they've all been used, like It Happened One Night.'

Bee looked at him uneasily. He was having trouble keeping his eyes open and she did not want him to pass out in her office. After a minute she called Jack Berners.

'Could you possibly come up? I've got some title ideas.'

Jack arrived with a sheaf of suggestions sent in from here and there in the studio, but digging through them yielded no ore.

'How about it, Pat? Got anything?'

Pat braced himself to an effort.

'I like It Happened One Morning,' he said--then looked desperately at his scrawl on the mimeograph paper, 'or else--Grand Motel.'

Berners smiled.

'Grand Motel,' he repeated. 'By God! I think you've got something. Grand Motel.'

'I said Grand Hotel,' said Pat.

'No, you didn't. You said Grand Motel--and for my money it wins the fifty.'

'I've got to go lie down,' announced Pat. 'I feel sick.'

'There's an empty office across the way. That's a funny idea Pat, Grand Motel--or else Motel Clerk. How do you like that?'

As the fugitive quickened his step out the door Bee pressed the hat into his hands.

'Good work, old timer,' she said.

Pat seized Mr Marcus' hat, and stood holding it there like a bowl of soup.

'Feel--better--now,' he mumbled after a moment. 'Be back for the money.'

And carrying his burden he shambled toward the lavatory.

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