“Tell him? I told him one grand.”
“One what?”
“That’s bootlegger’s slang. I gave him five hundred dollars, and said, ‘Ben, go and see the man that’s got that old kike in jail and tell him to turn him loose, and then come back to me and I’ll give you another five hundred!’ ”
“My God!” said Bunny.
And Dad took a couple of puffs at his big cigar. “Now you see why we oil men have to be in politics!”
XI
Besides completing Bunny’s political education, this incident was important to him in another way; it was the cause of Vee Tracy’s taking over the management of his life. Ross senior got the moving picture lady on the telephone that very evening, and he said, “Look here, Vee, you’re laying down on your job!”
“How do you mean, Mr. Ross?”
“My name is Dad,” said the voice, “and what I mean is that you’re not taking care of my son like I wanted you to do. He’s been a-gettin’ into trouble with these Bolshevikis again, and it’s all because you don’t see enough of him.”
“But Mr.—Dad—I’ve been trying to make him study—I thought that was what you wanted.”