Then there’s a deus ex machina type situation where a letter bomb arrives (a message on tape with a blackberry enclosed) and in order to keep it from detonating Margrum has to take dictation very quickly and with exactly the proper punctuation. Margrum of course has no idea about this and Higgs is unsparing in lording over him his far superior grammatical knowledge not only pointing out all of Margrum’s missing marks but also by giving the reason for each one and saying “apposition” an unnecessary number of times. Problem is that, even after the message has been typed in to Higgs’ satisfaction, and apparently correctly, the bomb continues ticking and seems poised to go off. Higgs, apoplectic, insists “the bomb is wrong” but offers no further suggestions, so that it’s Margrum to the rescue again: he throws the letter back in the box, puckishly lifts the delivery flag up, and tackles the fear-rooted Higgs into the safety of a nearby ditch.
It is unclear what lesson is to be drawn from this episode (had Higgs’ message in fact been typed correctly? Will purveyors of grammatical authority be baffled by still greater authorities?) yet Higgs’ confidence, not in his correctness, but in the importance of being correct itself, is, though for only a time, shaken.
margrum, higgs 