Michael Malone - Weebly

"Family?"
"Fine." (Civilization is a lie.) "You?" There was no
"yours," for Barnum was, natch, a bachelor. At least
that's what Hayes thought.
In fact, the merchant had been divorced by his wife
just before he moved to Dingley Falls.
"Can't complain," said Limus, but found he could
for about ten minutes. Business was nothing to shake a
stick at. The editor knew no one who might want a
great deal on a Jap color TV that was slightly
scratched, or a turn-of-the-century brass spittoon in the
same condition. Nor did he know where all the damn
tourists were hiding.
"If you want to know what's going on, I'm the last
person you ought to come to," said Hayes. "Nobody
ever tells me a thing." He instantly regretted having
made this remark; it gave Barnum the opening he had
pushed his way through for the past ten years—that as
they were both outsiders they should stick together and
show the snotty locals what was what. Nothing irked
Hayes more than hearing Limus Barnum say things that
he himself had felt. He had never been able to decide