I see, said David Wilson. It s a hard world, the world ofbusiness. He looked at John s old grey suit. So now youwant a job as a biologist. Well, this is a chemical company,Mr Duncan. We make paint. But we need a biologist to makesure that everything in this factory is safe. We want someoneto tell the government that its safe to work here, and thatits safe to have a paint factory near the town. Thats impor-tant to us. And if somethings not safe, then of course we ll changeit, Mary Carter said. David Wilson looked at her, but hedidn t say anything. Yes, I see, John began nervously. Well, I think I coulddo that. I mean, when I worked for Harper Chemicals in Lon-don I... He talked for two or three minutes about his work.David Wilson listened, but he didn t say anything. Then hesmiled. It was a cold, hard smile, and it made John feel un-comfortable. He remembered his old suit and grey hair, and hewished he hadnt come. You really need this job, don t you, Mr Duncan7 DavidWilson said. You need it a lot.
Yes, I do,he said quietly. But he thought: I hate you,Wilson. Youre enjoying this. You like making people feelsmall. I hate people like you. Wilsons smile grew bigger. He stood up, and held out hishand. OK,he said. When can you start？
What？ John was very surprised. What did you say？
“我明白了，”大卫·威尔逊说，“生意场是很艰难的。”他望着约翰那灰色的旧西服。“这么说你想得到一份生物学家的工作。这是一家化学公司，邓肯先生。我们制造油漆。我们需要一名生物学家以保证工厂的一切都安全。我们需要有人告诉政府在这里工作是安全的，并且告诉他们城市附近有油漆厂也是安全的。这对我们很重要。”
“如果有什么不安全的，我们当然要改变它，”玛丽·卡特说。大卫·威尔逊看着她，但没有说任何话。
“是的，我知道。”约翰紧张地说，“我想我能够做。我的意思是，当我在伦敦为哈波化学公司工作时，我……”他谈了两三分钟关于他的工作的事。大卫·威尔逊听着，但没插话，然后他微笑着。那是一种冰冷、严酷的笑，它使约翰感到很不舒服。他想起他的旧西服和灰头发，他后悔来这里。
“你真的很需要这份工作，是吧，邓肯先生？”大卫·威尔逊说，“你非常迫切地需要它。”
“是的，”他轻声地回答。但是他想：我恨你，威尔逊。你喜欢看着我的这副样子。你喜欢使人感到渺小，我恨你这样的人。
威尔逊的笑容变得更灿烂。他站起身，伸出手说：“好吧，你什么时候能开始？”
“什么？”约翰很惊讶，“你说什么？”
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