Page:Nigger Heaven (1926).pdf/125

 Good! That'll give me a chance to see you every day.

Mary laughed. You don't have to come here to see me. Besides I don't always sit at the distributing desk. Why don't you call on me at home?

Nobody asked me, miss, he said. I was hankering for an invitation.

You don't strike me, Mary went on, as the kind of person who ever waits for anything.

Get me right, he urged. I'm really very shy, just a kid from the country up here in your great big Harlem.

It's the City of Refuge.

He grinned. The Mecca of the New Negro! You see, I know all the passwords. Do you think I'm a New Negro?

Newest one I've seen.

Hope so. But I don't want to appear fresh.

Stand aside, young man, and let me give this girl her Zane Grey.

I'll get my card, he announced.

In a little while he was back. I had to mention a couple of property owners, he informed her. It seems they've got to inquire into my integrity and financial responsibility.

What's your rating in Bradstreet? she inquired.

Two bits.

Are you kind to animals?

If you want to know, ask me around to meet yours.