THE UNPLEASANT PROFESSION OF JONATHAN HOAG
UM ARTISTA CRIOU O MUNDO
INICIALMENTE UNS SERES POVOAM O UNIVERSO
MAS O MESTRE DO ARTISTA DESAPROVA A CRIAÇÃO OU A MÁ CREAÇÃO
E O ARTISTA MASCARA O ORIGINAL COM NOVOS HABITANTES
MAS O PÚBLICO APERCEBEU-SE AND MISTER HOAG IS AN ART CRITIC
QUE VAI DECIDIR SE A OBRA PERMANECE OU VAI SER DESTRUÍDA
October 1942
A man comes to an investigator with an odd request: he wants to have himself followed, because he has no idea what his own profession is.
The story evolves into a discussion of the reality of both life and art.
Jonathan Hoag, a lover of art and fine dining living in Chicago, realizes that he has no memory of his daytime activities when asked, at an evening dinner, what he does for a living.
Furthermore, when he washes his hands in the evening, he discovers a red-brown substance, possibly dried blood, under his fingernails.
He contacts a detective agency, Randall & Craig, and asks them to follow him during the day.
The partners, actually the husband and wife team of Ted and Cynthia Randall, agree to this.
The mystery begins immediately: they routinely try to collect fingerprints from their client, but find that Hoag left none, even when not wearing gloves.
Such memories as Jonathan Hoag has turn out to be false, except for his home address, and a doctor, Potiphar T. Potbury, whom Hoag consulted about the substance under his fingernails.
The doctor had thrown him out of his office and told him not to return.
The first time the pair tails Hoag, Cynthia sees him turn and talk to her husband.
Then Cynthia is menaced by Hoag after she tails him in an office building.
GIVE HIM A SLAP TO SHUT HIS TRAP: THE LAST ONE HOME'S A DIRTY JAP
AT HIS WORK? OBVIOUSLY -BUT WHAT DID HE DO IN THE DAYTIME?
HE DID NOT KNOW...HE RETURNS HOME 6:00 PM
HE MIGHT NOT RECALL HIS PROFESSION, HIS PROFESSION HAD CERTAINLY NOT FORGOTTEN HIM
When she is reunited with Ted, he tells her that he had a completely different experience: after uneventfully tailing Hoag into the building and up to Hoag's office on the thirteenth floor of the Acme building,
Ted discovers that Hoag is a jeweler working for a company called Detheridge & Co., and that the red substance is jeweler's rouge
Both realize that something is terribly wrong, especially once they discover that the building has no thirteenth floor
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