Lee blinked. There had been Girl Scouts everywhere today. They had been soliciting Liberty Loans in thousands of businesses. He might have just looked away, and back to the situation at hand, but for the amazing fact that, regardless of the hundred yards between them—the swarming crowds, the belly-to-bumper automobile traffic—the Girl Scout was looking right at him. Again. He had no doubt he was looking at the girl he’d seen before, the one stealing gum, and as this thought crossed his mind, she flinched. Then she was gone.

“Say,” Lee said. “Officer—”

“We’re going to make an example of you, Golod!” Now the crowd was thick and tight around them, people butting up against one another and trying to see, as if this were an extension of the parade. Officer McKinney held Golod by the sleeve, and the latter wore a truant disposition, head hanging so that his hat obscured his face. The patrolman addressed the new audience. “Folks, this man is going to the pokey for a long, long time.”

“I deserve it,” Golod murmured.

“Thousands of citizens did their duties today, they were proud to be American supporting the war in the best way they could. But you! But wait a minute.” McKinney rubbed at his broad chin with a beefy palm.

“But what?” Golod looked up.

McKinney glared at him. “I could run you in. Or—you can do the better thing. You could enlist.”

“What?” Andy took a step forward, ready to swing her fist at Golod as Lee held her back. The crowd voted with wild assent.

“I think you’re going to enlist, pal.”

Golod looked around, baffled, as the citizens of San Francisco agreed, with calls of “Enlist!” coming from all points of the compass.

“He can’t enlist,” Andy said. “He’s a jewel thief.”

“Calm down, Andy,” Lee whispered.

“Now, miss,” McKinney said, “the jewels were recovered, and in the spirit of the day—”

“Enlist! Enlist! Enlist!” the crowd chanted. It is difficult to say who was most surprised by this: Andy, who was also infuriated; Lee, who had been annoyed enough when he’d seen this in the movies; Golod himself, who looked at McKinney, who, with a flick of his shoulders, the smallest telegraphing of concern, grabbed him by the collar and started to walk him away.

The small crowd dispersed. Lee started to tell Andy he was putting aside his audition for her, and he reiterated that he had a story to tell— father, Chaplin, remember their late night together—but she could not listen, for she saw her own father leaving Shreve & Co., and needed to intercept him.

So Lee was left alone. He brought his arms down behind his head and made a cradle of his fingers. “Nuts,” he whispered: Andy had found him uninteresting.