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turning to page one
turning to page one
Chas’ room looks like a businessman’s office, except it is very small and has bunk beds. There is a desk with an Apple II computer and an electric coffee pot on it. There is a water cooler in the corner, with a paper cup dispenser.
Chas stands talking on the telephone while Etheline brings in his lunch on a tray.
NARRATOR (V.O.)
Chas Tenenbaum had, since elementary
school, taken most of his meals in his
room, standing up at his desk with a cup
of coffee, to save time.
On a shelf in an alcove there are ten cages connected together by plastic tubes. White mice with tiny black spots all over them race around outside the cages. Chas feeds one of them a drop of blue liquid from a test tube.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
In the sixth grade, he went into
business, breeding dalmation mice, which
he sold to a pet shop in Little Tokyo.
There are twenty-five pinstriped suits in boys’ size twelve and an electric tie rack hanging in the closet. Chas pushes a button on the tie rack and the ties glide along a track.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
He started buying real estate in his
early teens and seemed to have an almost
preternatural understanding of
international finance.
There are a small weightlifting bench and punchbag in the corner. There is a set of exercise charts neatly drawn with felt-tip pen tacked on the wall. Chas bench-presses about fifty pounds on a small barbell.
NARRATOR (CONT’D)
He negotiated the purchase of his
father’s summer house on Eagle’s Island.