  We prove that the grades of simple modules indexed by boolean permutations,
over the incidence algebra of the symmetric group with respect to the Bruhat
order, are given by Lusztig's a-function. Our arguments are combinatorial, and
include a description of the intersection of two principal order ideals when at
least one permutation is boolean. An important object in our work is a reduced
word written as minimally many runs of consecutive integers, and one step of
our argument shows that this minimal quantity is equal to the length of the
second row in the permutation's shape under the Robinson-Schensted
correspondence. We also prove that a simple module over the above-mentioned
incidence algebra is perfect if and only if its index is the longest element of
a parabolic subgroup.
