When Miss Kerstenberg, his secretary, informed Sydney Blake over the interoffice communicator that two gentlemen had just entered and expressed a desire to rent space in the building, Blake’s “Well, show them in, Esther, show them right in,” was bland enough to have loosened the cap on a jar of Vaseline. It had been only two days since Wellington Jimm Sons, Inc., Real Estate, had appointed him resident agent in the McGowan Building, and the prospect of unloading an office or two in Old Unrentable this early in his assignment was mightily pleasing.
Once, however, he had seen the tenants-to-be, he felt much less certain. About practically everything.
They were exactly alike in every respect but one: size. The first was tall, very, very tall—close to seven feet, Blake estimated as he rose to welcome them. The man was bent in two places: forward at the hips and backward at the shoulders, giving the impression of being hinged instead of jointed. Behind him rolled a tiny button of a man, a midget’s midget, but except for that the tall man’s twin. They both wore starched, white shirts and black hats, black coats, black ties, black suits, black socks, and shoes of such incredible blackness as almost to drown the light waves that blundered into them.
They took seats and smiled at Blake—in unison.
“Uh, Miss Kerstenberg,” he said to his secretary, who still stood in the doorway.
“Yes, Mr. Blake?” she asked briskly.
“Uh, nothing, Miss Kerstenberg. Nothing at all.” Regretfully, he watched her shut the door and heard her swivel chair squeak as she went back to work in the outer office. It was distinctly unfortunate that, not being telepathic, she had been unable to receive his urgent thought message to stay and lend some useful moral support.
Oh, well. You couldn’t expect Dun Bradstreet’s best to be renting offices in the McGowan. He sat down and offered them cigarettes from his brand-new humidor. They declined.
“We would like,” the tall man said in a voice composed of many heavy breaths, “to rent a floor in your building.”
“The thirteenth floor,” said the tiny man in exactly the same voice.