midnight
George handed over the dripping confection in his strong right hand , and the boy plunged his face into it . When he whirled and ran to rejoin his friends , George saw that his ears were already getting longer , and his delighted laugh had sounded a little like a bray . A job well done , he thought , and watched the rain spatter the spongy rubber cobbles of the midway . # George was supposed to go off-shift at midnight . He always showed up promptly at noon , but he rarely left as punctually . The soft one who had the midnight-to-six shift was lazy and late , and generally staggered in at twelve thirty , grumbling about his tiredness . George knew how to deal with the soft ones , though -- his father had brought him up surrounded by them , so that he spoke without his father 's thick accent , so that he never inadvertently crushed their soft hands when he shook with them , so that he smiled good-naturedly and gave up a realistic facsimile of sympathy when they griped their perennial gripes .