A.P. sighed patiently. "I imagined you'd take some such prosaic attitude," he murmured. "However, you'll get used to it in time. Besides, I might point out that you're in no position to object. I can get you on a child abandonment charge any time I want to." He smiled significantly. "And now that you're here, it's just as well. I need a little ready security to balance out a deal I'm putting through. I'd be much obliged if you'd just sign over a deed to me for the house and the car. It won't come to much, I know, but it'll see me through."
"What!" Lester cried.
"Of course you'll have to sign them into the name of my business manager since I'm under age," A.P. explained, "but it will all be in good order."
"Now, look here, you!" Lester said. "Your mother and I have scrimped and saved for these things, and...."
"Oh, don't worry," A.P. broke in. "You'll get yours. In fact I mean to retire you and mother within the next few days with a very tidy little allowance. I'm picking up a farm in Connecticut on a foreclosure, and you and mother can move up there—rent free—where you won't worry so much. So you see...."
The young man with the glasses stepped forward, a legal document extended in his hand.
Lester backed away. "I won't do it!" he said. "I won't sign anything!"
A shocked silence fell over the room. It was as though a comrade had stepped up to Malenkov and politely explained that he refused to share his potato crop with the proletariat. A.P. narrowed his eyes thoughtfully.
"In that case," he said slowly, "I suppose I will have to report you to the authorities for child neglect. You realize, of course, there will be unprecedented publicity. By noon tomorrow I expect to have world-wide coverage. You will be social lepers wherever you go."