“You’re right there,” said Bervick. “Some people got just one and not the other. Some people that I could name are just like that.”
“Some people,” said Duval, beginning to enjoy himself, “haven’t got nothing to offer. I pity those people, don’t you, Lieutenant?”
Hodges, somewhat puzzled, agreed that he pitied those people.
“Of course,” said Bervick, “there are some guys who sneak around and get other people’s girls and give them a lot of money when they get too old to give anything else.”
This stung Duval but he did not show it. “Sure, sure, then there’re the big snow artists. They talk all the time, that’s all they do is talk. That’s what Olga said someone we know used to do all the time, talk.”
“You must’ve made that up. Maybe she meant you. Yes, that’s who she meant, she meant you.”
“I don’t think so. She knows better. This guy was a squarehead, the guy she was talking about.”
“I think,” said Hodges, worried by the familiar pattern of the argument, “I think maybe you better take care of that ventilator, like you said.”
“That’s right,” said Bervick, “we can’t let the spray get on the Chief Engineer. That’s getting him too near the water.”
“I been on boats before you was born.”