“What’s the idea?” I asked, and tried to fight free.
He said, “Come on, buddy. The manager wants talk with you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Do you want to come the easy way, or do you want to come the hard way?”
I tried to shake myself loose and couldn’t. I said, “I’m going to get these nickels on the floor. They’re mine.”
“ Just a minute,” he said.
His fingers slid up my sleeve, felt around my forearm.
I jerked one arm free and made a swing. He brushed the blow aside, stepped in and grabbed the lapels of my coat, pushed down so that my coat was halfway down my arms, holding them pinioned. For the moment, I was helpless. The weight of coins in the side pockets became swinging pendulums of weight which struck against me as I moved.
Back of me I could hear sounds coming from a machine, and a light tinkle as a shower of dimes hit the metal cup. A moment later, there was another clack, and this time twenty-five-tent pieces cascaded out.
The attendant twisted his fingers into my coat collar, and, getting his weight behind me, gave me a push which sent me over toward the other machine.