Joy held up a hand. "Just a moment. I don't like to appear stupid, but—"
"A moke wid a heater—a goon wid a gat."
"Oh—you mean a man with a gun."
"Sure—that's what I said. Anyhow, this droolie makes a crack about Tessie's beak—"
"An insult relative to her nose?"
"Sure—sure. And Tessie's hot to kiss him wid a bottle when he pulls the iron."
"Imagine that," Joy said, and I felt a slight shiver go through her body.
"Then Homer here, gets off his stool and says very polite-like, 'That remark, sir, was in bad taste and entirely uncalled-for. I believe an apology is in order.' And the monkey standing there with the gat in his mitt. What Homer meant was the jerk'd cracked out o' turn and to eat his words fast."
"I gathered that was what he meant."
"But the screwball raises the hardware and—wham—Homer hits him. What a sock! The goon back-pedals across the room and into a cardboard wall next to the door marked 'ladies'. He busts right through the wall and lands in a frail's lap inside who's—"