“Guy!” exclaimed Agnes, “really!” It was well known that Ginger Horton did write—wrote unceasingly—relentless torrents of a deeply introspective prose.
“Sorry,” muttered Grand, sitting back again, “get a bit carried away sometimes, I expect.”
“Feeling and passion!” agreed Ginger Horton in a shriek. “Of course most of the nasty little people around don’t feel a thing! Not a single thing!”
“Interesting you should bring that up,” said Guy, reaching in his coat pocket and withdrawing a small memo-book, which he thumbed through as he continued:
“Fellow I met on the train—I won’t mention his name if you don’t mind, because the thing is still pretty much on the drawing board, so to speak ... but I can tell you this: he’s one of the top-brass along ‘Publishers’ Row’—well, we got to talking, one thing and another, and he offered to let me in on a new scheme of his. How sound it is I don’t know, but he’s willing to let me in on the ground floor—at second-story prices, of course—” added Guy with a good-natured chuckle. “And there’s your old six-and-seven again, but, still and all, that’s to be expected in the investment game. Well, his scheme—and I’d like to put out a feeler on it—is to issue a series of Do-It-Yourself Portables ... the Do-It-Yourself Shakespeare, the D.H. Do-It-Yourself Lawrence, and so on.”
“What on earth—” Ginger began crossly.
“His idea,” said Guy, “—and I don’t pretend to know how sound it is—is to issue the regular texts of well-known works, with certain words, images, bits of dialogue, and what have you, left blank ... just spaces there, you see ... which the reader fills in.”
“Well, I never—” said Ginger irately.
“Oh yes, here we are,” said Grand, evidently finding the place he was looking for in the memo-book, “Yes, now here’s some of his promotional copy ... rough draft, mind you ... let’s see, yes, this is for Kafka’s Do-It-Yourself Trial. Goes like this:
‘Now you too can experience that same marvelous torment of ambiguity and haunting glimpse of eternal beauty which tore this strange artist’s soul apart and stalked him to his very grave! Complete with optional imagery selector, master word table and writer’s-special ball-point pen, thirty-five cents.’”