Heaven Ran Last

Chapter VII

The next morning I woke up late and I felt lousy. When I thought of everything that was going to break that day I was scared.

I shaved and dressed and went downstairs to get some breakfast. While I was drinking my tomato juice I remembered that Alice was going to call me this afternoon and that I was going to be at the blonde’s. I decided I’d leave the blonde’s number at the desk and tell the operator to give it to Alice when she called.

After I took care of that I called the hotel garage and told them to send my car around. I went out in front and waited for it. The day was warm and sunny and there were a lot of people on the streets walking along with that clean, dressed-up look people have when they come down town on a Sunday.

When the car came around I drove out to the blonde’s. There were a bunch of kids playing ball in the street and when I parked they crowded around the car, talking about it and talking about the cars they were going to have when they grew up.

I gave the biggest kid half a buck and told him to watch the car and then I went up the steps and punched the bell. Out in the street the big kid was already chasing the others away and walking around the car like he owned it. The little kids went half way down the block and then started yelling at him, calling him all the dirty names kids pick up in the street. It didn’t bother him. He just kept on walking around the car, paying no attention to them, looking serious and important.

She answered the door herself. She was wearing a black dress that made her look older and there was a little white apron tied around her waist.

“You’re right on time,” she said. “Come on in.”

She led me into the front room and her old man got up out of a chair and stood there wiping his hands on his pants legs. He was short but wide and he had thick gray hair and a skin that looked like cracked leather.

He was wearing his best clothes and not looking very happy about it. Across the front of his black vest was strung a heavy gold watch chain and a high stiff collar dug into the wrinkled skin under his chin.

She said, “Pa, I want you to meet Johnny Ford.”

We shook hands. His was a lot bigger than mine and the callouses on it were like the bark on a tree.

“Pleased to meet you,” he said. He had a little accent and his voice sounded like it couldn’t get quite far enough out of his throat.

I said I was glad to meet him and we all stood there grinning, trying to think of something to say. The blonde wiped her hands on the little apron.

“Well, I got to get back to the dinner,” she said. “I’ll leave you men here to get acquainted.”

When she went out of the room he pointed to a chair and said, “Sit down. How’d you like a drink?”

I said that would be swell and he went out through the double doors that led to the living room. I sat down and lit a cigarette. I’d been in lots of rooms like this one. We had a room like it in my house, as did most of the kids in my neighborhood.

The carpet was thin and a long time ago there had been a design of roses on it, but they were faded now and it was just gray and dusty. There was a lumpy sofa, two or three overstuffed chairs and heavy, hot looking red drapes. The room had the smell of damp wood and old cooking.

There was a picture of the Madonna over the fireplace in a heavy gilt frame and on the mantle was a picture of Marie taken when she was a little kid. The photographer had posed her on a plush-covered bench with one foot tucked underneath her, and she was wearing a short white dress and white shoes and socks.

There wasn’t much else in the room. Lamps with big cloth shades, the Sunday papers, and a dictionary on a table near the wall.

He came back in, then, with two water glasses half full. He handed me one and I took a small sip. It was gin, with ginger ale and a few ice cubes. I offered him a cigarette but he shook his head and got out a thick black pipe and a paper pouch of tobacco.

When the pipe was going, he stuck his feet out in front of him and bared his teeth at me. “Pretty good, hey?” he said.

We talked about nothing much for a while, then he opened up and told me about his work. He was an oiler for the Pennsy and had been for twenty-six years. All that time entitled him to Sundays off, but he liked it just as well when his day off was Tuesday. The neighborhood was quiet then, except in the summer when the kids were out of school, and he was able to sleep better.

I didn’t say much. I nodded and drank a little from the glass. Mostly I wondered about the call from Alice. Everything hung on that...

Marie came to the doorway and said dinner was ready. The old man and I went out to the table and sat down and she started bringing in the dishes.

There was a roast, gravy, mashed potatoes, fried cabbage and peas. In the middle of the table was a stack of white bread and a plate of butter with the streaked color look of margarine.

The old man took three slices of bread and put them beside his plate and then tucked a napkin under his collar and smoothed it down over his vest. He filled his plate and started eating. Marie brought in a few other things and sat down facing us. It was a round table with a white tablecloth and Marie and I were across from each other, the old man between us on my left.

He ate steadily and loudly, not stopping to ask for anything. He put big slabs of margarine on the bread and then folded the bread in two and used it as a swab to push the food on his fork.

I didn’t have any appetite. I was too nervous to eat and the food wasn’t the kind I like anyway.

She smiled at me. “You’re not eating, Johnny. This must seem plain to you after those fancy restaurants.”

“Not on your life. This is fine. But I had kind of a late breakfast.”

After dinner there was apple pie with cream on it and coffee.

I drank the coffee. The room was hot but inside I was cold. It took all the nerve I had just to sit there and eat and to smile at the blonde and act like everything was all right. It was three o’clock and there still wasn’t any call.

The old man took off the napkin finally and folded it carefully, then he got up and patted his stomach with both hands and nodded to his daughter.

“Good meal,” he said. He ran his tongue around his teeth, looking for some more of it, I guess, then he went into the front room.

She smiled at me. “Pa likes you,” she said. “I can tell.”

That was great. I should jump up and down because some goddam dumb laborer, who did nothing but sleep and stuff food in his face, thought I was all right.

I said, “That’s swell. He’s a great guy.”

She got up and came around to me. We were where the old man couldn’t see us from the next room. She leaned over and put her cheek against me.

“Johnny, have you got that surprise for me tonight?”

I covered up pretty well. I hadn’t thought of the ring since the night before, but I said, “Sure thing, honey. Just wait and see.”

I had no idea where I could get her a ring. Things seemed to be piling and crowding against me and there were so many angles to figure.

“You’re sweet, Johnny,” she said. She kissed my ear a couple of times, then straightened up and said, “Now you go on in with Pa while I get the dishes done.”

I went back to the front room. The old man was standing with his back to the imitation fireplace, picking his teeth with a gold tooth pick attached to one end of his watch chain.

“Like another drink?” he said.

I said fine and he went out and got two more. He came back and handed me mine and put his glass on the mantel and began filling his pipe.

“Marie is a good girl,” he said.

“She sure is,” I said.

“Good cook,” he said. “She’d fatten a man up quick.” He glanced at me and grinned a little and I thought he was going to punch the line by telling me I was pretty thin.

We stood there a while, not saying anything. The room was getting on my nerves. The heat and the smell of fried food and the dirty faded wallpaper and the gilt-framed Madonna seemed to be crowding in on me so I could hardly breathe.

He looked at me again and began to chuckle. Then nudged me with his elbow.

“Good girl for making babies,” he said.

He threw his head back and laughed, then took his drink off the mantel and sat down, still chuckling.

I sat down, too, and laughed a little, too, wishing to hell he’d shut up. Finally he did. Maybe he figured the job was done and now he could smoke his pipe in peace.

I could hear Marie moving around in the kitchen and the steady puff from the old man’s pipe. Those were the only sounds in the house.

I looked at my watch. Three-thirty. It was right then that the phone rang and the noise made me jump. The phone was in the vestibule, and after it rang twice, Marie came through the dining room, running a little and wiping her hands on a cloth.

She went out to the vestibule and I heard her say, “Hello.”

I felt tight and cold inside. There was a long silence. The only thing I could hear was the steady puffing of the old boy’s pipe. Then I heard Marie say, “Just a minute, please.”

She came to the doorway, her face stiff-looking. “It’s for you, Johnny.”

I got up fast and went into the vestibule. It was dark in there and smelled of raincoats and rubbers. She showed me where the phone was and left me there without a word.

I picked up the receiver. “Yes.”

“Johnny? This is Alice.”

“How’re things?”

“It’s all set.” I could hear her breathing. She sounded like she’d been running hard.

“Are you sure?”

“Of course I’m sure. He’s leaving for Wisconsin tonight. Alone.”

“How about the other angle?”

“He’ll be there. Eight-fifteen.”

That was it. Everything was ready. My fingers were tight on the receiver. For a while we didn’t say any more but I could still hear her breathing.

“Okay then,” I said. “I’ll see you.”

“Where are you, Johnny?”

“At a friend’s.”

“Who was the girl who answered the phone?”

I was nervous enough without getting into that. “That doesn’t matter. I’ll see you at eight.”

“Wait a minute, Johnny. I can talk a while. He’s getting packed. I’m phoning from the drug store. Do you love me, Johnny?”

“Sure.”

“You don’t sound very enthusiastic. Is your girl friend listening?”

“Now look—”

“All right. I guess you can’t talk.” Her voice was tough and mean now.

“I love you, baby,” I said. I said it as soft as I could and I hated to say it, but I didn’t want her getting any funny streaks now when so much was hanging fire.

“I’ll see you tonight. I love you, Johnny.”

She hung up then and I put back the receiver and went into the living room. The old man was sitting where I’d left him, reading Dick Tracy, and Marie had gone back to the kitchen.

He started to put down the paper, but I said, “Go on with your reading. I’ve got a call to make. Can I use the phone?”

“Sure, it’s okay.” He waved his hand like he was giving me a farm. “Use it all you want.”

I went back and called a guy by the name of Abe Morelli, who owned a pawn shop on South State Street. I was depending on him to get me a ring. That was important now. The deal was set for tonight and I wanted to cover up, but good. I knew I was going to be in the clear and that Frank was going to hang himself, but I still had that cold feeling. I wanted to be sure of my out.

When Abe answered the phone, I said, “This is Johnny Ford, Abe, I want you to help me get a good diamond engagement ring.”

“Sure thing, Johnny. I got some fine ones. How about dropping in tomorrow and taking a look?”

“I got to have this tonight, Abe. By six o’clock, at my hotel.”

“Now wait a minute, Johnny. I’m here all alone today. I can’t close up and go around delivering jewelry.”

“I wouldn’t ask if this wasn’t important, Abe.”

“Well... What kind of a ring do you want?”

“A flashy one, Abe. But a damn good one.”

It had to be that way. Everybody around town knew the kind of guy I was and it wouldn’t have looked right if I was to give a girl a hundred dollar rock.

“I got ’em,” he said. “I’ll bring it over, Johnny. This is cash, understand?”

“Sure. How much cash?”

“Fifteen hundred.”

“Goddamit, I don’t want something to go around her neck.”

“Diamonds are high now, Johnny. I can let you have one for a grand but it’s not as good as this other one.”

“Bring it around. About six at my hotel. You know my room number?”

“Yeah. I’ll be there.”

I hung up and went back to the living room. The old man was halfway through Dick Tracy. When Marie came in I told her I thought we ought to be going. She went out to get her hat and I told the old man what a swell time I’d had and he said that was fine and be sure to come again.

It was four o’clock when we reached the car. The kids were off the street and the boy I’d paid half a buck to was gone.

When we pulled away from the curb she snuggled up close to me and put her hand on my knee.

“It was nice of you to come over for dinner,” she said. “I know Pa isn’t much but he worries about the guys I go out with. He feels better after he’s had a look at them.”

She drummed her fingers on my knee for a while before she said, “I didn’t tell him we’re getting married. I thought I’d wait until I can show him the ring.”

“You won’t have to wait long.”

“Oh, Johnny!” She caught my arm tight and put her face against my shoulder and looked up at me with a little smile on her lips.

I drove around for an hour, then back downtown. We got up to my room about five-thirty. She went into the bathroom to put on a new face and I put together a couple of drinks, making hers strong, but mine mostly ice water.

I sat down in the big chair and put her drink on the floor. While I waited I tried to go over everything as carefully as I could, but it didn’t help much. There was too much on my mind and I couldn’t lick the tight nervous way I felt.

She came out finally and climbed into my lap and I reached down and got her the drink.

“This will do you good,” I said.

“You’re all I need,” she said. She put her head on my shoulder and snuggled closer under my arm.

“Take it anyway. It will warm you up.”

She giggled. “I’m warm enough right now.”

But she sat up and sipped the drink. “It’s strong,” she said, making a face. “Did you put the bottle in it?”

“Are you going to be a woman about it?”

“I can take it,” she said. She drank a little more and then tried kissing the tip of my nose. She looked cute with her blonde curls and her mouth painted into a small red bow, but I was too nervous to pay much attention to that. I had to get her tight.

I told her to drink up, and when she did I got up and filled her glass.

“Are you trying to get me tight?”

“Maybe. It’d be fun to see how you’d act.”

“I might surprise you.”

“I like surprises.”

She smiled at me and tilted the glass again. She was being coy now, but letting me know any play I made would be all right with her. I pulled her closer.

“You’re pretty cute. A guy could get a lot of ideas around you.”

“There’s nothing wrong with ideas,” she said, and laughed.

We sat there, kissing every now and then while she finished the second drink. After a while it began to get to her. She put her head on my shoulder and closed her eyes. Every time I kissed her she would open her eyes drowsily and smile at me.

There was a knock at the door about six o’clock and I knew it was Abe. Marie sat up and pushed the hair away from her forehead and gave me a scared look.

“Who’s that?” she whispered.

“The surprise, honey,” I said. While I was on my way to the door, she smoothed her skirt and sat primly in the chair, looking guilty.

It was Abe, all right. He stood there, a little dark guy in sloppy clothes.

“How’s the keed, Johnny?” he said.

“Fine. You got it?”

“Sure, sure.”

I opened the door enough so that he could see the blonde sitting in the chair.

“Swell, I’d like to ask you in for a drink, but you know how it is.”

“Sure,” he said. “This ain’t a social call. I don’t drink anyway.” He had a lot of dignity for a little guy. He took a package from his pocket and gave it to me. “That’s an even grand, Johnny.”

I took the package, which was about the size of a big ice cube, and dropped it into my pocket. When I started counting out the money, he said, “Don’t you want to look at what you’re buying?”

“Hell, I trust you, Abe.”

“Okay,” he said.

I gave him a thousand dollars... and it hurt. I had two hundred bucks left and about a thousand in the bank. I didn’t mind spending the money, but I hated to be short. Money was the one thing that made me feel sure of myself. Bell hops and head waiters and lots of other people always had a big smile for me, but not because I was a good guy who never got caught beating his mother. It’s that ready green stuff that makes friends out of everybody.

Abe counted the money and put it in his pocket.

“Good luck, Johnny.”

“Thanks. Let me know if I can help you out some time.”

“Sure thing, keed,” he said, and walked away down the corridor. I closed the door and took the package out of my pocket. I looked down at the blonde and tossed the package up and down in my hand.

“Want to open this up while I make a drink?”

She was like a kid with a little red wagon when I flipped that cube into her lap. I made a couple of drinks, then sat on the arm of the chair while she tore the paper off with fingers that trembled.

It was a nice ring. It was big as a headlight, with a few chips set around the stone in a square pattern. The thing was too big for a thousand bucks unless it had some flaws in it and I suppose it had them. I didn’t care. It looked flashy and expensive and it was the kind of ring people would expect me to give a girl.

She looked at it like she couldn’t believe her eyes. Then she put her head against my arm and started to cry.

“It’s so beautiful, Johnny. I never thought any guy would want to give me a ring like this.”

“It’s nothing to cry about,” I said. “See if it fits.”

She tried it on and it was all right. A little big, because she had awfully small hands, but that didn’t make any difference to her.

I patted her on the shoulder and handed her the drink.

“Let’s drink to us,” I said.

She took the drink and sipped it but she kept looking at the ring. I took a look at my watch. I had to be out there at eight and it was six-fifteen now. I had plenty of time, but the waiting was getting on my nerves.

She smiled at me then, a funny little smile, and got up and went over to the bed. She walked carefully, but once she almost stumbled. The liquor was working.

When she got to the bed she looked back at me with the same funny smile and then she stretched out and put her hands behind her head.

“Sleepy?” I said.

I went over and sat on the edge of the bed.

“It’s nice being here alone with you,” she said. “This is the first time we’ve ever been really alone. There’s always been a crowd around, or a floor show, or something like that. We couldn’t even talk before.”

I grinned. “You want to talk?”

“I guess not,” she said. She gave a sigh and twisted around a little on the bed. “I guess I just want to be with you.”

I bent over and kissed her and she put her arms around my neck and pulled me down close. “Oh, Johnny,” she whispered. “I never knew there were guys like you in the world.”

I didn’t want things to go too far. I didn’t feel like it for one thing: I was too tight and nervous, and I wanted her drunk so she’d go to sleep. I didn’t want to do anything to keep her awake.

I sat up and she let her arms drop back beside her.

“I’ll get us a drink,” I said. “Then I got a little bad news for you.”

When I brought her drink she got up on one elbow, her expression worried. “What kind of bad news, Johnny?”

“Not too bad,” I said. “But something came up this afternoon I’ve got to handle. It’ll take about an hour. Will you mind waiting until I get back?”

“It’s all right, Johnny. When do you have to go?”

“About seven-thirty.”

“Is it that girl who called you at my house?”

“Well... that’s how I got the news.”

“Who is she, Johnny?”

“Just a girl. Nobody you’d know.” I tried to make it sound right but it wasn’t easy. I was talking about Alice. “She’s a guy’s secretary. She just gave me a message is all.”

I coaxed her into finishing her drink and by that time she was pretty tight. I was putting double shots in her drinks and she’d had enough to make anybody foggy.

About seven she went to sleep. I went into the bathroom and shaved in a hurry and got into a clean shirt. My fingers were shaking while I buttoned it and I couldn’t shake the idea that something was going wrong. I hadn’t been drinking enough to matter and I needed one bad. I wanted to be sharp, but not with the kind of sharpness that comes from booze.

By the time I finished dressing, it was seven-thirty. Time for me to go. I took a look at the blonde. She was sleeping like a baby. She had turned on one side and drawn up her legs so she looked even smaller. Her blonde hair was spread over the pillow and the little red bow of lipstick on her mouth made her look almost too young. She was out for the count.

I turned out the lights, locked the door from the outside and went on downstairs.