1929

by M. L. Gardner

  Caleb stood outside the bedroom door. Arianna lay curled on her side in the large bed. The bedside lamp dimly illuminated the room. Her crystal blue eyes were puffy from crying and her short, glossy black hair disheveled. Of course, Caleb thought she was still the most beautiful creature who had ever lived. Sometimes he had so much pride in her that he pitied his friends whose wives were more ordinary. There was nothing ordinary about Arianna. Her voice was raspy when she spoke.

  “I’m sorry,” she whispered, sounding genuinely ashamed. She moved lethargically to the center of the bed, motioning for him sit by her. “I didn’t think you’d come. I thought you probably hated me for what I did.”

  “I don’t hate you, Arianna, I couldn't. I know you were just scared.” He reached to touch her face, but she turned away.

  “It’s not just that.” She pulled herself up and sat cross-legged, leaning her elbows on her knees. “I don’t think I can do this.” She hung her head in a combination of shame and exhaustion.

  “Do what?” he asked cautiously. She really is leaving, he thought, and his heart twisted with pain, beat faster with fearful dread. She mustered the courage to look him in the eyes. Her voice was broken and uneven when she began.

  “It’s not that I don’t love you. I do, Caleb. With all my heart. It’s not that.” The hysterical sobs started again and he quickly pulled her to him, cradling her, and stroking her hair.

  “I don’t understand,” he said when she quieted. “If you love me, why did you try to leave?” She took a deep breath before trying to explain.

  “You love me now–spoiled and pampered without a care in the world. I don’t want you to see me desperate. It won’t be pretty. I’m positive you won’t love me that way. I don’t want you to see me depressed, poor, and wretchedly miserable.” She grabbed his shirt, desperately trying to convey her point. “You deserve better than that, Caleb. I don’t want to make you miserable. But I know I will. I won’t be able to help it. I’m a horrible, shallow person. You know it and I admit it. But I do love you too much to put you through that. That’s why I tried to leave. I wanted to spare you.”

  He thought for a moment and kissed her hair. “Let me decide what I deserve and what I don’t. Where were you going to go anyway?” he asked.

  “My parents,” she said with a shrug, avoiding his eyes.

  “Ahna.” He shook his head, appalled. “We’ve practically been supporting them for the last few years. Why would you go there?” She shrugged.

  He pulled the covers back, gesturing for her to slide back down into bed. He lay beside her and pulled her to rest on his chest. “I love you. You’re not going anywhere and neither am I. We’ll get through this together. And whether you believe me or not, you will be just as beautiful to me, and I will love you just as much, no matter how bad things get.” He looked down at her with conviction. “I’ll help you, Ahna, every step of the way. I promise.” She attempted a smile and touched her fingers to his lips.

  “I don’t deserve you,” she whispered.

  “Nonsense,” he whispered back. “I wake up every morning amazed at what I have beside me . . . that you ever gave a second look to a plain old farm boy like me.”

  “You’re short, too,” she said with a slight grin and tousled his messy, red-brown hair.

  “No. You’re tall,” he countered and slipped an arm over her waist. “But I love you something awful regardless.”

  “Show me,” she implored, pulling the buttons of his shirt. “Show me how much you love me despite how awful I am.”

  A while later, he held her and whispered a long list of reasons why he loved her, every beautiful feature and stunning quality she had, until she fell asleep. Then he quietly slipped back downstairs.

  ∞∞∞

  “Don’t think badly of Arianna,” Caleb blurted out. “She isn’t as durable as some, but she’s a good person. This all hits too close to home for her. She was damned near destitute once before. When she was almost eighteen, her father began drinking, gambling, and having affairs. He lost a tremendous amount of money. Her fiancée at the time broke the engagement because his family didn’t want their reputation associated with the incorrigible things her father was doing.” He paused and took a deep breath.

  “When he sobered up, he panicked and took out some loans, so his family wouldn’t know the extent of the damage. When I met Arianna, her family was struggling pretty badly. The family hid it from everyone for the longest time. And when I finally did find out how bad her situation was, well, to say she was angry is a major understatement. Her pride was three stories high. I tried to convince her that it didn’t matter. I offered to take her away from the shame. I couldn’t guarantee a grand lifestyle, but I promised her I’d take care of her.

  “We decided to start a new life up north, stopping by the preacher’s house before we left Georgia to be married and the rest, as they say, is history.”

  Jonathan sighed heavily. “I wish I had told you to stay. You might be doing better on your own land in Georgia right now.”

  “No, you can’t blame yourself. How in hell could you have foreseen this? I just don’t want you all to think badly of Arianna. She’s doing the best she can.”

  “We understand,” Jonathan said.

  Caleb stood up and stretched. “I need to get some sleep. We’ve got busy days ahead of us.”

  “Night, Caleb,” they all mumbled in unison as he left the room.

  Claire and Aryl stood up as well and Claire hugged Ava tightly. “I’ll come by tomorrow.” Aryl helped Claire with her coat, and Jonathan saw them out.

  October 30th 1929

  The next day started too early and on too little sleep. Caleb slipped out just at the break of dawn. He stopped by home to change clothes and grab his own coat. He donned his favorite hat, catching a glimpse of himself in the foyer mirror. He hardly looked like a man about to go out and search for a cheap place to live. Lastly, he grabbed a thin wad of cash from a hidden safe behind an oil painting of Arianna. He let out a stress-laden sigh as he realized it was the only money he had left to his name now.

  He headed downtown, buying a pastry and coffee on his way. He ate slowly while running through his memory of rental brokers before the businesses opened. He had learned about a few slumlords from other brokers who did investing for them, even though he frowned upon the way those men earned their fortunes. They provided substandard housing to desperate people for a tremendous profit. The buildings were homes only in the sense that they had four walls and a roof. Most of the time. Large, brick tenements contained several apartments, crammed onto each floor. They had unreliable heat sources, shoddy electrical wiring, and leaky plumbing built in long after the original construction. They were drafty, depressing places, and he was not looking forward to having to call one home. Slumlords had made a decent amount of money before the market crashed, and no doubt they would be raking it in now. There were several offices dotted along the downtown area, not counting the one he really did not want to go to.

  ∞∞∞

  Caleb sighed and wrung his hands as he walked a few miles, stopping to inquire at every rental agency. The vacancies available were either too expensive or lacked heat and electricity all together.

  Now out of options, he slumped on a bench, elbows on knees, head in hands and reluctant to go back to Jonathan empty-handed. He would have to go to Victor Drayton. He shuddered at the thought of renting from one of the most notorious slumlords in New York, and Jonathan’s old rival to boot. From where he sat, however, he saw no way around it. He rallied his resolve and set out for Victor’s office. Jonathan’s history with Victor was on his mind as he walked.

  They had first arrived in New York around the same time. Assigned to the same boarding house, they apprenticed at one of the larger brokerages together. Jonathan had natural talent whereas Victor struggled. He spent extra time in the evenings after work coaching Victor, who should have been grateful, but loathed Jonathan’s instinct even as he used him
for knowledge. A year into the apprenticeship, Jonathan came across some incriminating information and exposed Victor to the firm for insider trading and playing mole for a half-dozen rival brokerages. The apprenticeship dismissed Victor and later Jonathan became a junior partner. Victor bought his first abandoned building with money he had skimmed, made it barely livable and began his business of taking advantage of desperate immigrants fresh off the boat. He soon built a fortune, and met Ava through some equally cunning friends with selfish motives. Victor might have bullied her to the altar had Jonathan not foiled those plans as well. Victor was controlling and manipulative. When he set his sights on something, it rarely escaped him. Jonathan’s downfall would bring outright joy to Victor now. To see Jonathan come to nothing, unable to provide for himself and Ava would be, for him, Christmas come early.

  ∞∞∞

  Aryl left Claire nestled deep in silken, down comforters and headed to the dock office to talk to his old acquaintances.

  He opened the door to an office labeled Lead Foreman. Roman sat with his back to the door, talking animatedly on the phone. Aryl cleared his throat, and Roman held up a finger. Aryl smiled devilishly.

  “Sir! I’m with the Bureau of Internal Revenue,” he shouted with an authoritative tone. Roman jumped to his feet, dropping the phone, his face gone white. Roman recognized Aryl at once, and his head dropped in relief.

  “Jesus, Mary and Joseph, you scared the piss outta me, Aryl.” He couldn’t help but laugh, though, as he wiped beads of sweat from his forehead and hung up the phone.

  “It’s been a long time, Aryl. How are you?” he asked, reaching to shake his hand. “I heard about all the shit that’s happened these last few weeks and especially yesterday. Whew! What a mess. You guys get through that okay?”

  “Well, not really. I wish this were a social visit, but I need to call in a favor.” Aryl frowned.

  “Nonsense. With you, it’s always a social visit. Pull up a chair.” He walked to the door, glanced both ways in the hall, then closed and locked the door. He returned, pulling a bottle of rum and two small glasses from a bottom drawer. “Can’t be too careful, you know?”

  “So, lead foreman, eh?” Aryl nodded toward the black stencil on the frosted glass of the door.

  “Yeah, I guess hanging around this shithole for so long finally paid off,” he said with a laugh. “Now, I know you’re not here to celebrate my promotion. What is it, Aryl?”

  “Well, remember a few years back when I did some creative accounting work for you guys?”

  “Hell yeah, saved our asses. Not just from jail, but from our wives . . . not sure which would have been worse!” he bellowed.

  “Well, me and two of my friends, we need jobs. It doesn’t matter doing what. We just need them quick.”

  Roman’s face fell somber. “You guys didn’t fare so well yesterday, did you?”

  “We lost everything,” Aryl said without emotion.

  “I’m real sorry, Aryl.”

  “Easy come, easy go.”

  “Well, as luck would have it, I just got word that two of my men aren’t coming back. I was going to replace them with day workers, but I’d be happy to give those jobs to you and your friend.”

  “That’s great, Roman. I really appreciate it. But there are three of us.”

  “Right. Right,” he said, rubbing his chin. “I’ll have to get that past the big boss. This company has taken some blows right along with everyone else, you know, but luckily, shipments have to continue. Just shipments of beans and rice in place of radios and clothes, I’m predicting.” Aryl could care less what was imported, but he tried not to show his impatience.

  “Look, I’ll get it past the boss tomorrow. Don’t you worry about that. You guys be here day after tomorrow, and come in here to my office, don’t go where the day workers line up.”

  Aryl exhaled with relief. “Thanks, Roman.”

  “Don’t thank me just yet,” he laughed. “The job is hard and the pay is shit.”

  “Doesn’t matter, not right now, anyway. Thanks again.” He shook Roman’s hand and quickly turned on his heel to leave.

  ∞∞∞

  Caleb paused at the front door of Victor’s office, shook off thoughts of Jonathan, put on his best poker face and walked in.

  “Can I help you?” the receptionist asked, without looking up. Caleb glanced at Victor’s closed office door. No light escaped from under the door. Caleb cleared his throat.

  “I’m looking for three apartments.”

  She looked up at him curiously. “Three?”

  “Yes, three. Myself and two friends of mine. Do you have any available?”

  She looked him up and down in confusion. “Well.” She started thumbing through a small stack of paperwork. “I believe we do. We just evicted a few yesterday. Would you like the keys to go take a look?”

  “No, thanks. I’ll take them.”

  “You don’t even want to look?” She looked at him, bewildered.

  “I see there’s a run on cheap places to live. I’ll take three.”

  “Well, okay,” she muttered as she started to gather the paperwork. “Now, you can fill out your paperwork, but your friends will have to come in to fill out theirs.”

  “What time will Mr. Drayton be in?” he asked casually as he sat down to fill out the paper.

  “Oh, there’s no telling. Depends on how good of a time he had last night,” she said with a wink. He hurried through the paperwork, gave the receptionist a deposit to hold the places, and rushed back to Jonathan’s house.

  ∞∞∞

  Good news!” Aryl called out. Jonathan and Ava were talking in the parlor, and he interrupted their quiet conversation. “I found us jobs.”

  “You did?” Jonathan asked.

  “That’s great, Aryl, well done.” Ava smiled.

  “Yep. They’re about the crappiest jobs in town, very physical. Farm boy is going to be all right, but it's gonna whip us pretty bad at first,” he said, holding up his hands in warning. “The pay really stinks. But it’s a job. We start day after tomorrow.” Just then, Caleb came bounding through the door.

  “Jonathan! Aryl! Come with me now. We have to hurry.”

  “Where to?” Jonathan asked.

  “To sign paperwork. I found apartments. But we have to hurry.” Jonathan pulled on his coat and gave Ava a hasty kiss as he followed the others out the door.

  ∞∞∞

  “So, Caleb, you wanna give us some details?” Aryl asked. Caleb stopped short and spun around.

  “Here it is.” He took a deep breath for words he was sure would have to come out quickly. “I’ve been to every place that rents anything close to cheap. Everything is filling up fast. There are three apartments available, all in the same building. They’re pretty bad, I’m sure. I didn’t take the time to look at them, but it’s a roof with winter coming. Just a place to land until we figure out something better. I filled out some paperwork and put the money down, but you two have to come in to sign your parts.”

  “Okay but that doesn’t explain the rush,” Aryl said.

  Caleb turned tentatively to Jonathan. “Look, I tried every other place first. I didn’t want to go to him, but he had the only openings I could find, I swear. I’m sorry, but there’s been a run on cheap places since the whole damn world fell apart. Anyway, he wasn’t in when I was there earlier. With any luck, he won’t be in when we get there. We can just run in, sign, get the keys, and leave.” Jonathan knew exactly who Caleb was referring to. He stared at him with apprehension.

  “You’re kidding, right?” he asked, barely above a whisper.

  “No, I wish I was,” Caleb said apologetically.

  Jonathan put his hands on his head and turned to walk a few paces in the opposite direction as fury welled up in him. “You went to Victor Drayton for a place to live! Of all people, Caleb?”

  “There was nothing else avail–”

  “There has to be something else,” Jonathan growled through his
teeth. “No.” He shook his head. “I won’t do it. I’ll find something on my own. If you two want to rent from that low life, good for nothing bastard, then be my guest.” He waved his hand and started down the street. His angry pace was so brisk that Caleb’s shorter legs had to sprint to catch up to him.

  “Jon. You know that I wouldn’t have done this if there were any other way. I know your past with him. I tried to do everything by myself, but the receptionist insisted you both come in. That’s all you have to do, run in and sign. Trust me, Jon, there’s nothing else available in this town right now. I’ve been all over.”

  Jonathan continued walking. Caleb stopped and called out, “If you want a roof over your head after Monday, this is it! Hard as it is, you need to take it, Jonathan. Think of Ava.” Jonathan stopped suddenly and turned his head slowly toward Caleb. His eyes were blazing with fury.

  “Shit,” Caleb muttered and took a step back.

  “And just what do you think I’ve been doing, Caleb? Thinking of Ava and protecting her from that bastard from the first moment I laid eyes on her. And now you expect me to put her in one of his places? Where he can find her whenever he wants? Only I don’t have the means to hire security any longer, now, do I?”

  Caleb dropped his head in frustration, and Jonathan started walking again. Caleb looked at Aryl and shrugged his shoulders. “Any ideas?”

  “Nope.” He knew Jonathan well enough to expect a lot more creative language from him. It always entertained Aryl when Jonathan let loose with a long stream of infuriated profanity. Caleb watched Jonathan walk on for another block and felt helpless.

  Then suddenly, Jonathan stopped. Something in the alley to his right caught his eye. He turned and disappeared into it.