"Lot of faces still to fill in," said the orderly. He meant that the faces of many of the figures in the mural were still blank. All blanks were to be filled with portraits of important people on either the hospital staff or from the Chicago Office of the Federal Bureau of Termination.
"Must be nice to be able to make pictures that look like something," said the orderly.
The painter's face curdled1 with scorn. "You think I'm proud of this daub?" he said. "You think this is my idea of what life really looks like?"
"What's your idea of what life looks like?" said the orderly.
The painter gestured at a foul2 dropcloth. "There's a good picture of it," he said. "Frame that, and you'll have a picture a damn sight more honest than this one."
"You're a gloomy old duck, aren't you?" said the orderly.
"Is that a crime?" said the painter.
The orderly shrugged3. "If you don't like it here, Grandpa—" he said, and he finished the thought with the trick telephone number that people who didn't want to live any more were supposed to call. The zero in the telephone number he pronounced "naught4."
The number was: "2 B R 0 2 B."
It was the telephone number of an institution whose fanciful sobriquets5 included: "Automat," "Birdland," "Cannery," "Catbox," "De-louser," "Easy-go," "Good-by, Mother," "Happy Hooligan," "Kiss-me-quick," "Lucky Pierre," "Sheepdip," "Waring Blendor," "Weep-no-more" and "Why Worry?"
"To be or not to be" was the telephone number of the municipal gas chambers6 of the Federal Bureau of Termination.
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1 curdled | |
v.(使)凝结( curdle的过去式和过去分词 ) | |
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2 foul | |
adj.污秽的;邪恶的;v.弄脏;妨害;犯规;n.犯规 | |
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3 shrugged | |
vt.耸肩(shrug的过去式与过去分词形式) | |
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4 naught | |
n.无,零 [=nought] | |
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5 sobriquets | |
n.绰号,诨名( sobriquet的名词复数 ) | |
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6 chambers | |
n.房间( chamber的名词复数 );(议会的)议院;卧室;会议厅 | |
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