Because he read on slowly, cautiously, and artfully, because of his devotion, his passion, his love, because-it was really impossible, Fender thought, to be absolutely certain why, the effect so dwarfed the causes-still, whatever the reason, he remembered everything: births, deaths, divorces, auctions, wills, proceedings of the city council and the courts, all the endless activities of the fraternal orders whose officers and properties he knew (they were the Masons, Moose, Odd Fellows, Elks, Knights Templar, Pythias and Columbus, the Eagles and the Eastern Star), as well as the countless civic programs and charitable resolves of the Chamber of Commerce and the service clubs which he sometimes read aloud in solemn priestly tones while circling the office (these were the Optimists, Rotary, Lions, Kiwanis and Golden Rule), nor did he overlook the movements of the VFW, DAR, AmVets and Legion ether, or the apparently infinite interests of every church and synagogue (indeed he had a quip about that), and he seemed to have overcome whatever handicap in age and sex he might have had to keep warmly on the trail of the women's groups, the young people's fellowships too, the children's even (the Future Farmers, for example, the Sunshine Girls, Boy Scouts, Brownies, Rainbows, HiYs and 4-H), also he greedily received the news of the sporting leagues (kittyball, softball, hardball, basketball, bowling, darts, handball, tennis, ping-pong, volleyball, golf), as well as those dreary items from the clubs of the lonely (fish, stamps, chess, photography, birds) for which his memory was complete, just as it seemed to be for everything... for everything... for all the advertisements... particularly those.. while at the same time he was passionately interested in political side-taking, the choice of queens, awards of trophies, conventions of salemen and dentists, all testimonials, fund luncheons, gift announcements, threats of epidemic sickness, sales, transfers, removals, celebrations, weddings, accidents, elections, thefts, and with the let of bids, permits for new construction, licenses and notes of condolence, mergers, promotions, bankruptcies, foreclosures, hearings, fires, suits, settlements, raids, arrests: if there is an address - anywhere - it caught his eye, for an address was a name of a property, and it was important (it was everything!) to know properties - how they fared - because properties were like people, they had characters; they suffered from vicissitudes, as he'd told Fender often, and fell upon evil times like the best of us did, only to rise up again and be renewed as it also happened sometimes; and the consequences of all this continuous, close, and fanatical concern was that Pearson could, when he drove a street, pass judgement on it, read its future, as he'd done so many times in those early days, in the lawns and the porches of its houses, in their lamps or curtans or their paint and chimneys, but largely in the lines from the papers that sprung into hs mind at the site of their numbers: three fifty-two, for instance, has diabetes, Fender, he'd say - serious - I wouldn't give her long ... then three sixty-four is eighty seven, very feeble, needs a cane to breathe... and there was a golden wedding across the street not long ago... ah, here - three more in a row - not a one under seventy, living in these great big houses all alone, in these worn old trees, can't even crawl the stairs - the same as empty: say! what would you hear if you were a mouse in the basement or a wasp in the attic? not a noise, eh? not a sound, nothing - just the whole house running - running down... well, well, we're being watched, someone wonders why I've stopped, she's peeping between her curtains, see her? - suppose she knew, Fener, hah! suppose she knew... this street is about to move, that's the fact to remember, it's a street of old ladies - now are we going to take command or not? ... you've got to be creative, Fender, you've got to see ... here, look at five one oh, that two-steepled business with the porte cochere - all right, what what are the possibilities there? that was a coach house once, in back.. oh come on, come on, it's easy - friend, it's easy - you spot the house and instantly - like that! - it fills your mind: name, slogans, programs, the whole package, everything! .. let's see - Twin Steeples - no, Twin Pinnacles Funeral Home - Twin Pinnacles! ah! superb! - you haven't been in the business long enough to know how good that name is, Fender, so don't make a face... no sir - bravo, Pearson, fine friend, bravo! - not Smerz, Block, Nicolay - names of people - no, a place , a lofty position, perfect for final rest - peaks - desrved - sure, a little paint is all, some facing stone, enlarge that window, lots of space for the hearse in back, big bvasement likely, if it isn't damp, a few spots hide by shrubbery at the corners of the lot to light it up... Twin Pinnacles... perfect, perfect.. paint the turrets gold - with the sun glinting from them, a little suggestion of the Great Gate Above - can't you see it? a flood lamp at night - ideas! ideas! that's what this job is, it's creative... you've got to consider how the undertaking business is, who needs to move, who might, all that - facts...how's this street to go? that's what you've got to think - will they be lodge hall? officials? or are there too many cheap apartments in this neighborhood already? - there's one, for instance, with two outside stairs - no good - his driver's license up a year, he drinks and rust is in his eaves - see those stains? ... you've got to know how far it is to the centrtree of town, what other businesses there are around, what the general direct of the traffic is - north-south, west-east? consider, see/... this is your person, Fender - these streets, these buildings, this towm - the body of your beloved - yes, yes, yum - and you've got to know it... think, perceive, consoder and create... who are these biddies with the string? yeah, fates - well that's our function, Fender, we're the Fates... so maybe dentists, doctors - you've got to think - how far it is from the hospital? happen to know? .... six-tenths of a mile from this corner - not bad, considering... see what I mean? here she is, Fender, feel her up, eh? hah! yum... oh say, figure. Fender, figure - beautifications? barbers? chapter of the Red Cross? or realtors even! maybe me! hay, maybe Pearson!... you've got to have everything at the tip-the tip... Fender, the thing is: it's moving, and the thing to ask yourself is: am I going to create, control. direct. manage, make that move, or is it going to manage and move and make me ? see? ... they talk about subdivisions - out in the country- weed fields and drainage ditches - that's child's play, sandbox stuff - slides! swings! - but look what's here, right here! we can subdivide this street, that's wha it comes to, it's in our hands! ...responsibility!... ah, it's terrific, this business, Fender, terrific. (William H. Gass)