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Show page 153 Washington scene, in fact considered himself as living and operating on an e n t i r e l y different plane than a l l other c i t i z e n s. "Go down and take care of P r u i t t , " he said to Rathburn. "Our business i s n ' t a three-ring circus like this government act. P r u i t t edged in by marrying Louder* s widow. He has defects of character. We'll do b e t t e r than t h i s administration; we'll clean our own house. Here's his background, such as i t i s : he f i r s t saw l i f e in a shack on a s t r i p of beach near Kill Devil H i l l , moved with his parents to Norfolk at age of six. His parents separated when he was seven, parked him with an uncle on a farm near Camden, North Carolina, where he stayed u n t il age f i f t e e n . His schooling was a four-room country school. He l a t e r talked his uncle out of a year at business college. Eventually he took a job as timekeeper with a construction company, was in time promoted to bookkeeper. He stayed with this outfit four years, u n t i l auditors discovered fourteen hundred dollars missing. I peg P r u i t t as a weak character; he wouldn't be loyal down t h e road." "$hat has he done to us besides finger Louder?" Rathburn asked. " I t ' s what he might do. That's part of my job, Rath, to keep down t h e smell." Rathburn went down the next day. He found Pruitt at a club on Shore Drive. "I'm from the Washington o u t f i t , " Rathburn said. "We're thinking of expanding, putting you in two or three more places to handle our stuff." |
