Heaven Ran Last

Chapter VI

I figured from his smile there wasn’t anything to worry about. But it took a few seconds for the sudden tightness inside me to go away.

I smiled and put out my hand, trying to do it easy and natural. I said, “Come on in, hero. You’re looking good for yourself.”

He came in and glanced around a bit. He kept on smiling a little, like he was embarrassed.

“I hope you’re not busy. I don’t want to take you away from your work.”

I laughed. “You ought to know me better than that. I don’t like work so well I can’t walk away from it.”

I told him to sit down and I went over to the table and picked up a bottle. “You can have anything you want to drink as long as it’s bourbon and water.”

“Anything you got is fine, Johnny,” he said.

“Coming right up. What’s new? Like this civilian deal okay?”

“Yeah, it’s fine.”

“Swell. Aren’t going back to the army, eh?”

“Not as long as I got all my marbles,” he laughed.

I brought him his drink and sat down facing him. He looked at the drink in his hand and then took a little sip.

“This is the stuff,” he said. “We couldn’t get this overseas. Had to drink that lousy cognac they make in France.”

“Well, drink up. There’s plenty more where that came from.”

I wondered what was on his mind. He might just have dropped in to say hello and kill some time but that didn’t seem likely.

He lifted his glass and said, “Here’s to you, Johnny,” and drank about half of the contents without taking a breath. I drank a little, too, and said, “Well, how’s Alice?”

“Pretty good.”

“You’re looking sharp yourself. Decided yet when you’re going back to work?”

“In about three weeks. Alice and I are taking a little vacation first. We’re going away Sunday.”

I let him see it was all news to me. “That’s great,” I said. “Where you going?”

“To the Lakes. We’re taking that fish special the Northwestern runs up there.”

“You’re lucky,” I said. “How about another drink?”

“I think I’ve had enough.” He looked at his glass as if he was checking on that and then he nodded his head. “Yeah, I’ve got plenty here for the time being.”

We didn’t say anything for a little while. He kept looking at his glass and I could tell he was nervous. He wanted to say something but he was having trouble getting it out. He took a handkerchief from his pocket and wiped his forehead and put it away again and went back to looking at his glass.

“Hot, isn’t it?” he said.

“Well, how about a drink?”

He smiled. “Don’t care if I change my mind, do you?”

“That’s what it’s here for,” I said. I took his glass, gave him a healthy slug of bourbon and put in some ice water. He took a deep swallow, then said, “I came up here to talk about Alice, Johnny. That may surprise you but that’s the truth. You asked me how things were going and I said swell. That was a lie. Things are no good at all between us. I’ve just got to talk to somebody before I blow my top.”

I didn’t know how to handle it or what to say. I fiddled with my drink and tried to keep anything from showing in my face. Inside I was winding up tight.

“That’s too bad,” I said finally. “I thought you kids were getting along. What’s the trouble?”

“She’s changed. She doesn’t care much for me anymore.” He stared down into his drink and when he looked up at me again his face was red. I didn’t know if it was from the liquor or the way he was feeling. “It’s not her fault, Johnny. Some guy got to her while I was gone. That’s what happened.”

The room seemed especially quiet when he stopped talking. I shot a look at him and he was staring at me like something inside him was ready to come apart.

“I think I know the guy,” he said slowly.

I took a long slow breath. My two hands were around the glass and they were squeezing it hard.

“Who?”

“Do you know a guy named Lesser?” he said.

I let my breath out, but my heart was still hitting my ribs like a hammer.

“I’ve met him a few times,” I said. “He’s Alice’s boss, isn’t he?”

“That’s right. What kind of a guy is he?”

I knew I was now, and the tension inside me began to ease up. He was half way down the road we’d put him on and this was my chance to send him the rest of the way. “Quite a big guy with the women, I understand,” I said. “I don’t know him very well. That’s just the talk I hear.”

“I think he’s been hanging around Alice,” he said. “She talks about him a lot, and he’s called a couple of times since I’ve been back.”

“I’ve heard her talk about him, too, but hell, I never thought” I stopped talking and looked down at my drink like I was embarrassed at saying too much.

“That’s why I’m making Alice quit her job,” he said. “Maybe after three weeks alone with her we can get back to the way we used to be.”

“Sure, sure,” I said. “That should do it.” I tried to sound like I wanted to agree with everything he said. But I made sure I wasn’t very convincing.

He finished his drink and got up slowly, as if he was tired. “I supposed you think I’m a damn fool for bothering you like this,” he said, with an unsteady smile. “But I just didn’t know anybody else to talk to. You saw her while I was away and I knew you’d be willing to listen.” He walked over to the door and stood there, shaking his head. When he began to talk again, I don’t think he remembered I was standing there listening.

“You see, we never thought about things like this overseas. There was enough to worry about just staying alive and putting up with all the brass and mud and bad weather. Home was just a place a long way off where everything was going along right. Maybe we were wrong. But we kind of thought we were heroes doing a big job. When we came across a States-side magazine, all the articles were full of stories about GI’s and what great guys they were. And all the advertising made us think all the cars and washing machines and electric toasters in the world were just waiting for us. We got to thinking everybody at home was rooting for us and that all we had to do was stay alive and get back and everything would be fine. That’s what makes it so tough when you run into a deal like this. You’re just not ready for it. You’ve got nothing inside you to fight it with.”

He said all that while he stood there at the door and looked at a spot, on the wall a foot or so over my head. Finally he shook his head abruptly and his face turned red.

“I must sound like a dope,” he said. “I don’t know what got into me to start sounding off that way.”

“It’s tough,” I said. I didn’t know what else to say. I wished to God he’d get out and try his speeches on somebody else. But first I had an angle to fix.

“You’re going Sunday night? How about letting me give you a lift down to the station? I’m going to be out in your neighborhood around seven-thirty, so it won’t take me out of my way.”

“Thanks. That would be swell,” he said.

“Fine. I’ll pick you up around a quarter to eight. Okay?”

He said that would be fine and we shook hands and he went out the door.

I made another drink and sat down and thought about things for a while. It was all so close to being set that I was nervous. Now if Alice handled her end as well...

The next day was Saturday and I took the little blonde out to Arlington to see the nags run. It was a nice day, clear and sunny, and she was dressed like she was going to picnic.

I felt a little sorry for her. She’d never been to the track and she didn’t know that woman went there to show off their clothes and the men went there to show off their women. She was wearing a little white dress and a bracelet with junk hanging from it and moccasins and white ankle socks on her small feet.

I guess she thought the track was a place where you spread a blanket on the grass and drank pop and ate hot dogs while you watched the races.

I had a season pass to the club house which is air-conditioned and glassed-in, and when we walked in and she got a look at the way the dames were dressed I saw a lot of color come into her face.

We had a table with a good view of the track and there was a page behind us to take our bets and waiters ready to bring us drinks.

After I ordered a couple of drinks she leaned over and said. “Why didn’t you tell me it was like this?” She took a quick look around at the other women. “I feel like a fool.”

“Don’t worry about it,” I grinned. “Most of these dames owe some guy for the clothes they’re wearing. And these hot shot guys with the binoculars probably owe half the bookies in town. You could wear a barrel out here as long as you’ve got plenty of that green stuff handy.”

I made a couple of bets in the first race and then we sat there drinking, waiting for the horses to get to the post. She couldn’t understand why it took so long to get them started, but when they finally got off she got so excited that the people around us were laughing.

I knew the horses and the jockies and when the race was over it turned out I had made a good bet. Our horse paid us four to one and she looked at the money with her mouth open. It was probably more than she made in a month.

A city judge came over to say hello to me and have a drink with us. He wouldn’t want to be seen with a guy like me in most places but at the track it was all right. He wanted a horse, so I gave him one. He finished his drink in a hurry then, patted the blonde on the hand and said he was charmed to meet her and went back to his own table.

“You know a lot of big people, don’t you Johnny?” she said.

“You mean him? He’s a creep.”

“Well, he’s a judge,” she said.

“That means he’s a thief with a law degree,” I told her.

That made a bigger impression on her than meeting him. She looked at me like I was a tin god because I knew enough about a judge to call him a thief. I didn’t tell her that was a safe thing to say about almost any judge.

We left after the last race and went out for dinner. I had to close the deal with her now before I set things going the following night. When Frank blew the lid off everything, I wanted to be a long way from the blast, and set so that nobody would ever connect me with it.

After dinner we went to a show and about eleven o’clock I drove out to the lake, at Albion Avenue, and parked and there were a couple of other cars parked there. It was a hot, quiet night. I lit a cigarette, wondering whether this was going to work or not.

“Look, honey,” I said. “There’s no sense kidding around any longer. I’m nuts about you and I want to do something about it.”

I felt her sort of draw away from me. “What do you mean, Johnny?”

“I’m asking you to marry me,” I said. “What do you say?”

She was quiet for a long time. I couldn’t see her face in the dark but she was sitting so still that she hardly seemed to be breathing.

“I don’t know what to say,” she said, at last. “I’ve been all mixed up since you started taking me out. I figured you must like me pretty well, but you didn’t do anything about it.”

She turned her head so she could see my expression.

“I mean, you didn’t bother me or anything. I never really knew anybody like you before. I mean a guy with money and who knows a lot of important people. It’s hard to believe you mean what you’re saying.”

“I mean it, honey,” I said.

I put my arm around her shoulders and pulled her close to me and then I kissed her hard. She seemed thin and small in my arms, and for just a second she pushed against me but then she relaxed and her body pressed close to me and I felt her lips opening under mine.

Finally I let her go. “Does that tell you how I feel, honey?”

She came back into my arms with a little cry. “I guess I do love you, Johnny. I was scared you were just taking me around for some other reason. A girl like me has only one way of paying a guy back, and I felt guilty when you were spending all that money because I knew I couldn’t give you anything for it. That sounds all mixed up, but I’m really a good girl.”

There wasn’t anything in that for me to laugh at.

“That wasn’t on my mind, honey. I wanted you permanent. And I’ve got a little surprise for you, now that everything’s set.”

“What is it, Johnny?”

“It wouldn’t be a surprise if I told you.”

I kissed her again, thinking all the while how well things had worked out. I wanted her up in my room tomorrow night so I could get back to her after the deal with Frank was over. She was going to cover for me if anything broke.

I said, “I’ll show you tomorrow night.”

“It’s not a ring, is it?” she said, her voice tight and breathless.

I hadn’t thought of that but it was a good idea. It would be one more little touch. “You’ll see,” I said. “I’ll show you tomorrow night. Okay?”

“Anything you say is all right, Johnny,” she said.

We talked a while more and I kissed her a few times and all I felt was that it was getting closer to Alice. When I was getting ready to start the car she said, “Johnny, do you mind if I ask you a favor? I’d like you to come out for dinner tomorrow. My old man wants to meet you. I don’t like to ask you, but it would make things easier for me.”

I started to say no but I thought it over and there was no reason why I couldn’t.

So I said, “Sure. That’ll be fine, honey.”

I took her home, then went back downtown. Driving along, I had the strange feeling that things were piling up on me. I kept looking at all the angles and little by little I began to see that the idea had some holes in it.

A lot of things could happen. I didn’t know yet whether Alice had fixed it so Frank would leave for Wisconsin without her. And I didn’t know whether she had set the deal with Lesser. I knew how some talkative wolves were. All a girl had to do was take them up on their big talk and they ran like thieves.

There was a lot that wasn’t set, and even when it was set there were still things that could louse up the deal.

By the time I got to my room I was wishing it was over with. I went to bed but I couldn’t sleep. I was getting tight inside just thinking about what was going to happen.

Finally I got up and poured myself half a glass of whisky and drank it down straight. I coughed until the tears came.

I crawled back into bed and after a while I went to sleep.