The Big Clock

“Earl was asking about you a moment ago,” Orlin told me. “Wanted you to meet somebody.” 

“I was delayed. As a matter of fact, I’ve just finished a twenty-minute conversation with President McKinley.” 

Miss Delos looked mildly interested. “Who did you say?” she asked. 

“William McKinley. Our twenty-fourth President.” 

“I know,” she said, and smiled. A little. “You probably heard a lot of complaints.” 

A man I recognized as Emory Mafferson, a tiny little dark fellow who haunted one of the lower floors, Futureways also I think, spoke up. 

“There’s a guy with an iron Face like McKinley‘s in the auditing department. If that’s who you mean, you bet there were complaints.” 

“No. I was truly and literally detained in a conversation With Mr. McKinley. At the bar of the Silver Lining.“ 

“He was,” said Georgette. “I was, too.” 

“Yes. And there were no complaints at all. Quite the contrary. He’s making out quite well, it seems.” I had myself another Manhattan from a passing tray. “He’s not under a contract, of course. But working steadily. In addition to he: a McKinley he‘s sometimes Justice Holmes, Thomas Edison, Andrew Carnegie, Henry Ward Beecher, or anyone important but dignified. He's been Washington, Lincoln, and Christopher Columbus more times than he can remember.” 

“I call him a very convenient friend to have,” said Delos “Who is he?” ' 

“His earthly alias is Clyde Norbert Polhemus. For business purposes. I’ve known him for years, and he’s promised to [let me be his understudy.” 

“What’s he done?” Orlin asked, with reluctance. “Sound; like he materialized a bunch of ghosts, and can’t put them back.” 

“Radio,” I said. “And he can put anyone anywhere.” 

And that was about all, the first time I met Pauline Delos. The rest of the late afternoon and early evening passed as always in this comfortable little palace, surrounded as it was by the big and little palaces of greater and lesser kingdoms than Janoth Enterprises. Old conversation in new faces. Georgette and I met and talked to the niece of a department store. Of course the niece wanted to conquer new territory. She would inherit several acres of the old territory, anyway. I met a titan in the world of mathematics; he had connected a number of adding machines into a single unit, and this super-calculator was the biggest in the world. It could solve equations unknown to and beyond the grasp of its inventor. I said: “That makes you better than Einstein. When you have your equipment with you.” 

He looked at me uneasily, and it occurred to me I was a little drunk. 

“I’m afraid not. It was a purely mechanical problem, developed For special purposes only.” 

I told him he might not be the best mathematician on earth but he was certainly the fastest.