the midnight sun
If the legs were not on stilts they were certainly the longest legs he had ever seen , and they must have been suspended by a kind of universal joint for they moved in every direction while bringing their burden forward . Upon this absurd being 's closer approach , Pee-wee perceived it to be a negro as thin and tall as a clothespole , and so black that the blackness of sin would seem white by comparison and the arctic night like the blazing rays of midsummer . This was Licorice Stick whose home was nowhere in particular , whose profession was everything and chiefly nothing . `` I done seed yer comin ' , '' he said with a smile a mile long which shone in the surrounding darkness like the midnight sun of Norway . His teeth were as conspicuous as tombstones , and on close inspection Pee-wee saw that his tattered regalia was held together by a system of safety pins placed at strategic points . The terrible responsibility of suspenders was borne by a single strand consisting of a key ring chain connected with a shoe lace and this ran through a harness pin which , if the worst came to the worst , would act as a sort of emergency stop . Licorice Stick was built in the shape of a right angle , his feet being almost as long as his body and they flapped down like carpet beaters when he walked .