The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued by Edward Drobinski - HTML preview

The Bureau of Dreams to be Continued

Page 255

Sam was so sparked, but carried no purse. He crossed to the south, non-Paramount side of the street, where the retail stores were of the more “affordable” variety. “John’s Bargain Store” stood out, literally so, as John had so much merchandise that the bargains spilled into bins which occupied the concrete sidewalk. “ALL SALES FINAL; NO RETURNS,” peeped its message in rather fine print above the cash register, just as it did on customer sales receipts. Seconds and/or irregulars were not marked as such. “John” Merrill Garfinkel purchased them at manufacturer’s closeouts for next to nothing, and if he sold one quarter of what he purchased he was in the chump change already. He made no differentiation between goods, and he purchased whatever he could get cheap, the items ranging from leaky garden hoses to tape recorders which used a tape size which no longer was made to underwear with stretched out elastic. The store really belonged in a dinge area, but even after a bad experience, people would come back, expecting next time to be different at an affordable price.

Sam re-crossed Broadway in the middle of the street and almost got hit by a Tucker Torpedo, which he had to dodge at the last second.