PERFECT HARMONY

President's been shot, he says and T.E. says what and G.S. says yeah that's what the radio just said and T.E. puts his cigar in the heavy glass ashtray and swivels in his chair and grabs the black and white set and hands it to G.S. over his desk. G.S. plugs the set in and there's Gilligans Island and he turns the station and there's Space Giants and he turns the station and there's a newscaster fumbling with a small microphone and he looks grave and says something about Reagan being shot and Press Secretary Brady being shot. They were shot while coming out of a Washington hotel, he says and he fumbles with his earpiece as more information comes to him. Apparently a .22 caliber handgun was used. The alleged assassin one John Hinckley fired off several rounds as President Reagan made it to his limousine.

T.E. opens a sleeve of peanuts and slides them down the mouth of a Coca-Cola bottle and shakes the bottle and it fizzes around the peanuts and he drinks from it and crunches the peanuts under his teeth and belches. The newscaster shows a stop motion shot of Hinckley and T.E. says the little cocksucker and the newscaster says the president has been taken to a nearby hospital but his wound appears non life threatening. The station shows footage from the shooting and its shows Reagan and his entourage coming out and there is a sound like firecrackers and Reagan is pushed into the limousine and there is a man down and there is a scrum of men and in the corner of the frame the .22 caliber handgun rests on the ground. T.E. belches and says the little cocksucker. He drags on his cigar and puffs smoke and exhales from his mouth and nose and drains the Coca-Cola and peanuts and throws the bottle in a red Coca-Cola crate and shakes his head and says the little cocksucker.

People walk by the office and the women are crying and a woman comes in to the office to get something notarized and she hands it to T.E. and says Can you beleive this and she points at the black and white set and says there are crazy people in this world and they want to do harm. Crazy people out amongst us living to give the devil his due. The man is going to burn in hell for what he did. T.E. nods and offers the woman a Coca-Cola and she says no thank you I am fine I am in such a way about this. The horror. I've lived through JFK and Bobby and now this... Are we going to stand here and watch another president killed... and for what? Have they said if the Russians are involved? I would not doubt it. Not at all. T.E. takes the rubber stamp and presses it hard in the ink and stamps the paper and hands it to the woman and she hands him bills and he writes her a receipt and tells her to take care. You too she says. God is great and I pray he is with our president she says.

A stray dog stops at the office window and pants and starts barking and snarling and begins to claw at the glass door and T.E. says get the hell outta here goddammit and the dog barks louder and claws faster and T.E. asks G.S. for the phonebook and he says I'm callin the goddamn pound and the dog tries to bite the glass and snarls at him, its paws clicking on the glass.