The subs themselves made Jonstone possible by obeying his impossible orders. I couldn’t see how a man of such obvious cruelty could be allowed to have his position. The regulars didn’t care, the union man was worthless, so I filled out a thirty page report on one of my days off, mailed one copy to Jonstone and took the other down to the Federal Building. The clerk told me to wait. I waited and waited and waited. I waited an hour and thirty minutes, then was taken in to see a little grey-haired man with eyes like cigarette ash. He didn’t even ask me to sit down. He began screaming at me as I entered the door.
“You’re a wise son of a bitch, aren’t you?”
“I’d rather you didn’t curse me, sir!”
“Wise son of a bitch, you’re one of those sons of bitches with a vocabulary and you like to lay it around!”
He waved my papers at me. And screamed: “MR. JONSTONE IS A FINE MAN!”
“Don’t be silly. He’s an obvious sadist,” I said.
“How long have you been in the Post Office?”
“3 weeks.”
“MR. JONSTONE HAS BEEN WITH THE POST OFFICE FOR 30 YEARS!”
“What does that have to do with it?”
“I said, MR. JONSTONE IS A FINE MAN I”
I believe the poor fellow actually wanted to kill me. He and Jonstone must have slept together.
“All right,” I said, “Jonstone is a fine man. Forget the whole fucking thing.” Then I walked out and took the next day off. Without pay, of course.
Other works by Charles Bukowski...
