‘ “I got trunks full of ‘em.” ’
‘Very good,’ he said quietly. I looked at him carefully. I knew then he was the kind of guy who laughs way down deep when he laughs at all.
He said,’ I’ll use that in a book of case histories some time. But it won’t include yours. What made you throw that in?” When I didn’t answer, he got up and moved to a chair behind me where I couldn’t see him. ‘You can quit testing, Sonny. I’m good enough for your purposes.’
I clenched my jaw so hard, my back teeth hurt. Then I relaxed; I relaxed all over. It was wonderful. ‘All right,’ I said, ‘I’m sorry.’ He didn’t say anything, but I had that feeling again that he was laughing. Not at me, though.
‘How old are you?’ he asked me suddenly.
‘Uh-fifteen.’
‘Uh—fifteen,’ he repeated. ‘What does the „uh” mean?’
‘Nothing. I’m fifteen.’
‘When I asked your age, you hesitated because some other number popped up. You discarded that and substituted „fifteen.”‘
‘The hell I did! I am fifteen!’