As Bud settles down to sleep around eleven p.m.after aking a sleeping pill, he is stirred by an obnoxious phone call from another office associate in Administration (whose office is located in a glass-enclosed cubicle on the 21st floor), Mr." But the bartender replies that they have run out.The bookwormish chump Charles, meanwhile, is ignoring the rest of he passengers (with bottles of Pike's Pale adorning the tables), engrossed in reading a book titledAre Snakes Necessary?, by Hugo Marzditz [another instance of phallic snake imagery].The Attorney General ponders turning the idea of a law-and-order sheriff into his own advantage, to panic the citizens so that they will cheaply sell out their land to him.Mulwray approaches.[Although the object is a key piece of evidence, the film evolves hrough a deceptive maze as clues are slowly revealed - nothing is ever given away.