"Yeah," she said. "I'm sure you are. Just like a man picking up a dollar bill is doing the street cleaners a favor."
"You don't understand my noble motives," I said, "so I will not talk about them anymore. Tomorrow we start rehearsing the new act."
ell, sir, it was absolutely amazing the way Horatio picked that act up. With his dexterous, invisible help Mystiffio performed like the paragon of all prestidigitators. Alice added a jolt of high-voltage eye-appeal to the ensemble, by smiling sweetly and wearing a black satin bathing suit that had been designed by some patriotic person who believed in saving material to the point of cutting down on essentials.
I was sure, for the first time in my stretch in this loony business, that I had an option on a nice private little gold mine.
And I wasn't going to let anything upset my cartful of golden apples.
"Okay," I said. They were rehearsing on the stage of an empty theater which was owned by a guy I'd done some favors for. "You look pretty good, but don't let it go to your head. The act needs a lot of work. Keep at it. I'm going out to get a sandwich."
Alice put her hands on her hips and looked down at me.
"Everything is fifty-fifty with you, isn't it?" she said. "We do the work, you get the money. Nice even split."