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Seated in the spare bedroom of their apartment, which Fred used as a study, he was trying to run down a column of figures on his adding machine. He was moonlighting, which consisted of running monthly audits for several small, independent businesses, a couple of service stations, a neighborhood grocery store, a dentist and a pet shop. He worked damned hard at his regular job then spent two or three nights every week doing more of the same thing for these small outfits.
He made a stupid mistake, transposing some numbers, and he cleared the machine, corrected the error and leaned back away from his desk in his swivel chair, listening to his portable radio, turned up to drown out the sounds of the television set in the living room. Evelyn was there listening and watching while some insipid singer-comedian went through his studiedly relaxed routines. He couldn’t stand to watch that particular program, and he was glad that he could sequester himself in his office on the evenings when that one was aired. What he would like to do was get a little portable set; then he could watch what he liked, such as some of the detective series or a talk show or two. There were some other things he liked to watch, too, but they weren’t broadcast on T.V.
Fictional reading for entertainment purposes only.