A Treasure of Gold

by Piper Huguley

  Ruby’s words rung in her mind as she walked down to Mercer’s with Goldie. Nettie shook her head to clear it.

  Jay Evans was not a bad man. Just a misunderstood one.

  Chapter Five

  The picture of the two of them lingered in Jay’s head as he attempted to go about his business that day.

  He hadn’t seen his little girl look so happy in such a long time. Goldie had a look of pure contentment on her little yellow-brown face, and he was glad he had finally done something to put it there. Nettie’s slender hand, which had fed him her delicious soup, had held on to his daughter’s smaller one, giving him good feelings and Goldie a sense of security that he had not had in years. What could he do to keep that look on Goldie’s face?

  All of that was forced out of his mind when he opened the door to his storefront office and four of his runners jumped to their feet at the sight of him. Were they up to something or just shocked to see him without his usual suit on?

  They surrounded him instantly. “What happened, Boss Man?”

  He waved them off despite his pain and sat down at his cobbled-together desk. Most of the chairs in the storefront were cast-off, overstuffed chairs with ottomans where the men could put up their feet, but he did not encourage laziness. The job they performed as runners was named that for a particular reason. Jay, as the banker, was the only one who could be stationary, and he was for the most part. Today was a rare exception.

  “Joe got drunk Saturday night on the wrong kind of bathtub stuff and accused me of misremembering his number. It’s all right.”

  “I’ma going to take care of this, Boss Man.” K.C. patted his waist.

  He frowned. He didn’t particularly like his runners to pack because it wasn’t necessary, but given what happened to him, maybe he had to rethink that rule. He hoped not.

  “Leave it be, K.C. I’ll be fine. Anyone see Don?”

  Another runner, Lem, spoke up, “His wife had her baby over the weekend. I don’t know, but he might be laying low today.”

  He nodded. He had seen that coming, only he didn’t expect the happy event to occur at the same time when he was shot. He would have to do some running today himself. He didn’t dislike going out to see the clients, but given his situation, he needed to be careful. “We may have to take on a little more of his circuit today. I’ll go and get most of his bets.”

  “Boss Man, you got to be well. Policy can’t go on without you if you get put down.” Lem was young, only eighteen, and Jay was honored that his high-yellow face was etched with worry.

  “I’m taking care, little man, don’t worry about me.”

  “It’s kinda shocking, Boss, seeing you out of your suits. I can see where Lem is coming from,” Matt, an older man, spoke up.

  “You going down to the bank?” Lem asked.

  “I’ve gotta get the number.” Jay spread out his good arm.

  “Let one of us do it,” Lem urged.

  He gave it some thought, but the integrity of his operations depended on him doing it. Days like this made it hard to think about leaving the game behind. His word meant something in this neighborhood—except to Joe Griffiths, unfortunately. He had to restore that, even if it tired him. “Matt can drive me down. Lem, you can come on with me if you want, but I have to go. Understood?”

  Archie patted his waistband. “I be looking for Joe.”

  He held up a hand. “But not hurting him. We don’t want that.”

  “You can’t have anyone just thinking it’s okay to shoot you, Boss. No good,” Archie insisted.

  “You have a point, Arch, but we got to get started today. I promised Goldie and her new nanny I would be home by five and with Don out, there’s more on all of us.”

  “Goldie got another new nanny?” Lem rolled his eyes. “What about Eva?”

  Eva was his client and she was working off her obligation by helping Jay with childcare. Why was Lem concerned? Jay waved his good hand. “I’ll write it off, little man. Don’t worry. The new nanny threw her out. It’s a long story.”

  Lem smiled. “I would like to hear it on the drive down.”

  “We’ll see.” He stood, ready to go meet some clients. “Let’s not linger.”

  “Got it. A few clients first and then we’ll go down to get the number.”

  “Precisely.”

  The men agreed to let Jay have Don’s clients since they were closest to the storefront. By the time he met with them, he was spent. He could see Archie’s point about looking vulnerable. Maybe his injury might be a way of getting him out of the game. Was that what he was destined to do? Was that the game Nettie’s God was playing with him by letting him get shot?

  What could he possibly do? Did he know how to exist without what they called policy in New York, el boleto? Jay had not even finished the eighth grade because his mother died when he was in the seventh grade, and his father pulled him out of school to take care of his younger siblings. By the time his father remarried, and started having more children, Jay had drifted from his family and was doing a man’s job by running errands and learning all about policy.

  It was in the policy game where his mathematical gifts found a home, dealing with numbers—forwards, backwards and upside down. When he saw how well policy worked in New York, and knowing that there was no room for him there without more trouble, Jay brought it to Pittsburgh, where a cousin had married and moved.

  It became easy for him to set up his own policy game where there wasn’t any, and it had been Jay’s for almost ten years now. The game afforded him the ability to live very well and to take care of his family, to get white doctors for Clara, even though it hadn’t worked, and to buy his daughter dresses. But what about him?

  Jay pondered all of this as he rode in the backseat of the car with Lem, who had brought him a cup of soup from the diner down the street, where they usually ate. Jay sipped on the soup out of the container that Lem had handed him. The soup wasn’t as good as Nettie’s, but it was something to fill him. The skimpy breakfast Nettie served him was a long time ago. He smiled thinking of her smug satisfaction as she gave him the plate with the small portions on it.

  Usually, as they neared the main bank in downtown Pittsburgh, they quieted. Though it was a very short drive from the Hill into downtown, it was an entire world away. They were entering the white world and he was a Negro with means that, despite any other inclination, had to be respected.

  “Why you smiling, Boss?” Lem’s frown creased his face, knowing what they were about to be encountering.

  “Just remembering how Goldie’s new nanny thought she was going to show me a thing or two at breakfast this morning.”

  “Oh yeah? You said you were going to tell me about it.”

  “After we finish our business. Let’s just say, she might be nannying more than one of us.”

  “Especially since you got shot. She old or young?”

  “Young. A few years older than you, maybe, but younger than me.” Jay was struck that he did not know how old Nettie was. Her old-timey clothes made her look older than she was, but Nettie’s youth and inexperience shone from her smooth brown features.

  “Hey, Boss. Maybe you need a wife. Miss Clara been gone some time now.”

  “Two years.”

  “She pretty?”

  Nettie’s slender sienna-brown face and her proud corona of jet-black hair appeared in his mind. No. Nettie wasn’t pretty. She was beautiful. “She’s good looking enough, I guess.” No point in betraying his thoughts to young Lem, but his hesitation told the younger man something.

  Lem smiled. “I see. I wonder if Goldie’ll be by today.”

  “Mind your own business, Lem.” He struggled painfully into his suit jacket and tie before he went into the main bank they called the Clearing House. It wouldn’t do to look any different. They didn’t want the white people to know he had
got shot. Anyone at any time might want to come in to take over the game.

  Matt edged the roadster to the curb, far enough away as not to occupy a prime parking space, but still close enough so he wouldn’t have to walk far.

  Even though he was in pain, it didn’t take long for him to conduct his daily business at the Clearing House. He deposited the money and pulled the number for the day from the New York Stock Exchange. Relieved that was over, Jay slid himself into the car and shrugged out of the black suit coat and tie to relieve the pressure of the cloth on top of his wound.

  He didn’t drink because he liked his head to be clear at all times, but, Lord, he would like something to take the edge off of his pain. He was feeling it now.

  Despite Lem’s good-natured prodding, he did not respond to his attempts to find out more about Goldie’s nanny. He just sat back, closed his eyes and rested.

  After posting the number and paying out to a cleaning woman who was ecstatic that her two-cent stake turned into twelve dollars, they went back to the storefront to begin the business of gathering client information for the next day.

  Fortunately, this was the quietest part of the day, when he had less to do and he took the opportunity to relax. He contemplated sending a runner to Adam for more pain medication, but he held off, opting to do more tabulations.

  After he had been working for a while, and thinking about getting a cup of coffee from the diner, he looked up. Through the glass of the storefront, he spotted Goldie walking by holding Nettie’s hand. His daughter pushed through the door and let Nettie in behind her.

  Goldie was the only female allowed into this bastion of his, even just to visit. What would Nettie think? He watched as her eyes took in the space, with his desk in the back and the overstuffed chairs lined up in the front.

  “Hi, Daddy! We’re about to go to Mercer’s for the dinner stuff and we wanted to say hey.”

  “You’re saying it now, little girl.” He smoothed a hand over her hair. Her braids looked like an Indian princess—smooth and stick straight. “Did Miss Nettie help you with your hair?”

  “She did.”

  He gave Nettie a look, and the young woman squirmed.

  “Thank you.”

  “You’re welcome. It’s part of my job as her temporary nanny.”

  He didn’t miss her pointed reference. Little Country had a way of getting her point across. Well, she owed him. Something.

  Goldie tugged on Nettie’s hand. “Let’s go, we got stuff to do and Daddy’s calculating.”

  Nettie smiled. “I’m sure he is.”

  “I’ll see you at home soon, Ladies. Remember, I have the account, so get whatever you need.” He sat back down in his chair. “Send Goldie back down to let us know if you’d like a ride.”

  “I’m sure we’ll be fine. The walk and fresh air are doing us a lot of good. Don’t work too much longer yourself.”

  He opened his mouth to reassure her he wouldn’t, but Lem and Matt chose that moment to walk through the door. Jay waved them over, wiping his hands down his trousers. “This is Goldie’s new temporary nanny. They’re going to shop at Mercer’s. I’ve been told by Miss Nettie here that my larder is a little low so they may need some help.”

  “I can pull around the car for them, Boss,” Matt advised.

  “On second thought, your larder is quite low and it would be a lot to carry. Thank you, Mr. Matt.” Nettie bowed and both of the runners grinned all over themselves like fools. “Let’s go.”

  Matt walked behind them. He held the open door for the ladies, and Jay was chagrined to notice Matt showed his white, even teeth as he followed Nettie and Goldie down the street. He had never even seen Matt’s teeth before.

  He didn’t want to, but turned to Lem, who regarded him carefully. He decided to preempt the situation. “What you all doing here? You should be gathering. Did you finish up Don’s accounts?”

  “All done, Boss Man. Got a few of mine left. I was just coming by to get some more slips.”

  “Carry more on you. Never know who you might come across who wants to play,” Jay groused. He disapproved of the whole enterprise of writing down the bets, but not everyone had his proficiency with numbers.

  “Sorry.” Lem gathered up some slips and tucked them into his suit-jacket pocket. “So. Miss Nettie is Goldie’s new nanny?”

  “Yes. For now. Till I get another.” He sat down to his ledger, not wanting to admit how exhausted he was. Did the fact that Nettie brought it up make it so? He had a fleeting thought about what happened to Clara and his stomach twisted up. No time for him to go down like that. Not with Goldie needing so much.

  “Good looking, huh?”

  “If you say so.”

  “No, Boss, that was what you said this morning.”

  “All right. And?”

  “She mighty fine, sir. Mighty fine.”

  “She’s Goldie’s nanny, not horseflesh.”

  “I know that. Where she come from?”

  “Georgia. Just got here about two weeks ago. She’s the doctor’s sister-in-law.”

  “Ahh. One of them good girls. How she fall in with you?”

  “She’s the one who found me when I was shot.” Jay cleared his throat. Lem was probably the only runner of his he could admit that to since Lem looked up to him.

  “So you owe her, huh? That’s why she got the nanny job?”

  “No, Lem.” He let his impatience show to stop Lem’s ruminations. “You can see how Goldie likes her, and she’s a good cook. She doesn’t want the job anyway. Said she would only watch her today.”

  “Why? You paying her well.”

  “I surely am.” He put his pencil down. “But as you said, she’s one of the good ones. A churchwoman who wants nothing to do with a low, dirty criminal like me.”

  Lem gave an unnecessary tug to the slips inside his suit jacket. “Oh, Boss Man. You can do better to convince her to keep on being Goldie’s nanny. You used to have moves, I know you did.”

  Lem’s grin unsettled him and he tried to look busy. He arranged some slips and sat back. “Let’s hope so. Good nannies are not easy to come by.”

  “Or a good country woman. Lot of the time, it’s the men who come up to work and send money back. When women come up, that’s the wives they sent for. A pretty young one like that by herself won’t last long. You be wanting a piece of that, you better act now. ’Less you not interested.”

  Jay pushed back in his chair and used his most direct gaze on the young man. “You collect all your stakes?”

  Lem waved. “I’m going. But I think I’ll go on by Mercer’s before I get my stakes up.”

  He moved his jaw to make it loose. Nettie was a grown woman and she could handle a young wolf like Lem.

  That sounded wrong. Even to him.

  Maybe he should call it quits for the day. He was about to when he saw his roadster pass by the window with Nettie and Goldie in the backseat and Matt riding in front.

  Matt beeped the horn and he lifted his good arm to wave.

  Then Jay noticed Lem was next to Matt in the front seat. The sight of that young Red Bone wolf riding along in his roadster bothered him for the rest of the day because they had all smiled and waved as they passed by.

  The sight, and his continued recollection after, gave him a sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach.

  Jay had such nice employees. The gentlemen helped Nettie and her charge into the house with the groceries and assisted her in putting them away. They lingered, and she was on the verge of inviting them to join in the beef stew that she was going to make for dinner, but as soon as the last package was put in the icebox, they departed.

  “They’ve got to get the stakes from the clients to make book,” Goldie explained as she pulled up a chair to help Nettie cut up some vegetables for the stew. She had given the little girl a dull
knife and some celery to cut and be productive, but not do any damage to her fingers.

  She did not understand a word that Goldie had just said. Instead, she asked a different question, “What about school for you?”

  Goldie shrugged her shoulders. “Sometimes school is in, sometimes not. This month, until the beginning of the next, is Easter break. Then we’ll go back for a little while.”

  She shook her head, not understanding. There was no cotton to harvest like there was at home. “That schedule doesn’t make sense. Pittsburgh isn’t a farming place, so why are you out?”

  “My school is too crowded so we go to school in shifts. Daddy says not too many folk up here is too concerned with little Negro children going to school all the time.”

  She forced herself to keep her lips together. She had come up here for better opportunities, but this was one way in which Winslow was ahead of Pittsburgh. Shifts? In education? This must be why Solomon had tutors. It helped that both of his parents had advanced educations. But what about Goldie? “So when you have those long breaks, you just are with whatever nanny you happen to have at the moment?”

  “Yes. Besides, Daddy says that I’m a girl, and since he has money, I don’t have to worry about too much education.”

  Something in her stomach clenched at the little girl’s words, so clearly articulated, already set in stone. What kind of father was he, thinking his money could protect the child from life? The more she engaged with this family, the more horrified she was.

  “Well, we’ll see after we set the stew how well you can read. My family’s made up of all girls, and even though my parents were poor, my older sisters managed to get high school diplomas. You probably know Solomon’s mother is a nurse—she has more education.” Nettie lowered her head after putting some carrots into the stewpot. “I’m still trying to finish my high school diploma. I got a little off track while I was touring the country, but it’s important to be educated.”

  Goldie seemed very solemn as she cut up her celery chunks. “Yes, ma’am.”

  When they read together later on, it was as Nettie thought. Goldie was a very bright child, but long breaks and shifts of school weren’t doing her any good.