High Priest of California

Chapter 4

 When the alarm went off on Monday morning, I shut it off and looked out the window. Fog. For breakfast I poached a half-dozen eggs and toasted some English muffins. Afterwards I drove down to the lot and parked the Buick. It was early. The colored flags and streamers hanging from the overhead wires were limp in the soft dampness of the air. There was no wind and the fog was so thick it was difficult to see from one end of the lot to the other. I crossed Van Ness and got a cup of coffee at the comer shop.

When I returned to the lot Tad Tate was there. Tad is a real salesman and a good guy to work with. He has a huge paunch and always wears a suit with a vest. Usually he has an unlit, well-chewed cigar in his mouth and a little black notebook in his hand. I like Tad. We understand each other.

"Well, Russell," he said, "we better get some soldiers from the Presidio down here for guard duty today. People will be stealing cars and we won't even know it."

"They always get a steal, don't they?" "That's the idea. See if you can get rid of that 1938 LaSalle today, will you? I'm tired of looking at it."

"If you take the Cadillac price off it I will." "Sell it for whatever you want. I'm sick of looking at it. "Okay. Madeleine in yet?"

"She's in the office. I won't be back 'til around eleven. If you really need me - never mind. I’ll be back at eleven."

He squeezed himself and his paunch into his MG and roared through the gravel of the lot and into the fog. I went into the office. Madeleine was already banging it out on the typewriter. We have twelve different forms to fill in on every car sold. She pounds the stuff out day after day and knows the business inside and out. I had never given her a tumble, because it doesn't pay in this business. But I intended to get around to it one day. She is a handsome woman, and so healthy she practically busts out of her clothes. When I'm around her I just keep my mind on other things.

"Good morning," I said.

"I see you found your way through the fog."

"You never knew me to miss a day, did you?"

"Just what do you do with all your money, Russell?"

"I spend it. Where's Andy?"

"Isn't he out there?"

"I didn't see him."

"He checked in. He probably went out for coffee."

"Okay." I went outside.

Andy was our colored mechanic. He had been with Tad for fifteen years. I looked around the lot. I found him removing a spotlight from a Buick super.

"Andy," I said, "when you get some time, work on that old Essex in the fourth row."

"Who's going to buy that?"

"I sold it yesterday."

"What kind of a job you want?"

"The best you can do with it. The engine's good, and with a little luck it'll last two or three years."

"I'll do what I can but it won't be much."

"And Andy, rub off the seventy-five dollar price and mark it two-fifty. "

"Two hundred and fifty dollars?"

"That's what I said."

"Mr. Haxby, I sometimes think you ain't got a conscience."

He took the spotlight and headed for his workshop by the office. I walked to the driveway and watched the traffic pound up Van Ness. It was heavy. The fog slowed them down. Once in a while you could spot an idiot going full speed up the hill passing people on the right. Two colored soldiers in a maroon Dodge crept along the curb. They wanted to park but were hesitant because the curb was painted red.

"Just pull on in!" I shouted and waved to them. After the car was parked they got out and walked over to where I was standing.

"We just wanted to look around," one said.

"Sure. "

"You got any Caddy's?" the other one asked.

"Sure. Where are you men stationed?"

"We're out at Camp Stoneman. Just got back from Japan."

I sold them a Cadillac. It was easy. They were driving a borrowed car, but they had enough money for a down payment, and that was all I was interested in. The way Tad works it, it is foolproof. If we get the one-third down payment, we turn the buyer over to the AAA Acme Finance Company. They take up the loan and we get our money right then. The Triple A has to worry about collecting the other two-thirds. But they do collect.

These two soldiers were the kind I like to latch onto. With plenty of money in their pockets and just back from overseas, they like the looks of all the cars. After being away from the United States for two or three years, the model that was new when they left still looks to them like a new car. In fifteen minutes I had made two hundred dollars. The returning colored soldiers almost always buy a Cadillac.

After I finished my part of the paperwork, I handed the stack of papers to Madeleine, left the office, and cut across the lot to Thrifty's. There is a telephone in the office but I preferred to do my phoning elsewhere.

I called Miller's Garage and asked for Miss Vitale. I hardly recognized her voice when she answered the telephone. It was like a little girl's voice.

"Is that you, Alyce?"

"Who is this, please?"

"Russell. Russell Haxby."

"Oh! Russell! How nice of you to call me. I was just thinking about you."

"I just thought I'd call. Thought it best to confirm our date for tonight. You seemed a bit upset yesterday."

"I'm sorry. I can get off a little earlier than seven-thirty if you want me to."

"No, that's all right."

"All right." There was a period of silence. I broke it. "Seven-thirty. "

"I'll be waiting. " Again we hesitated, then we both hung up the receivers at the same time. I thought about Alyce for the rest of the day.

I sold the LaSalle to a veteran that afternoon. He had his insurance dividend check for $147.40. All I said was, "Even-Stephen." He signed the papers, endorsed the check, and drove the LaSalle off the lot. At 4:30 I checked out and went home. The fog was just as thick as it had been in the morning. If it hadn't been for the Cadillac sale it would have been a bad day for me. I drove home in a Ford Victoria that had a working radio, and backed up my driveway. It would be dark soon and I didn't like to back down the driveway at night. I fixed a gin and cherry brandy, then took a shower. I took my time dressing and had another drink before I left. I put a lightweight trenchcoat on over my tweed suit. It was exactly 7:30 when I parked in front of Miller's Garage. Alyce was waiting for me.

I honked the horn and she got into the car. "Where do you want to eat?" I asked her.

"I don't eat. Remember?"

"In that case we'll go down to Fisherman's Wharf. You can watch me eat fried shrimp and French fried potatoes."

"You're killing me, " she said. Alyce was in a fine mood and gave me an account of her day. Some of it was amusing, but most of it was boring. After we were seated in a wharf restaurant I changed the subject.

"Do you know that shrimp salad is not fattening?" I surprised her.

"Shrimp?"

"That's right. Try one."

"What about the salad dressing?"

"It's fattening, but the shrimp isn't. Just put lemon juice on it."

She had a shrimp salad while I polished off my dinner. We sat smoking, drinking coffee. It was a pleasure to look at her across the booth. I got into a talkative mood myself and told her about the morning's Cadillac sale. She was impressed.

"Do you mean, Russell, that you made two hundred dollars on that one sale?"

"That's right."

"What do you make a week then?"

"On an average, it runs about two-fifty to three hundred. I'll make more this week."

"That's a lot of money."

"It goes."

"What do you spend it all on?"

"I'm spending some of it on you."

We left, and although it was still early I took her to the Commodore to catch the combo that was playing. The piano was good. The dinner, my drink, and holding Alyce's hand put me in a good mood. I was slightly happy and smoked one cigarette after another.

"What are you thinking about, Russell?"

"You. "

"What about me?"

"That's what I want to find out."

She shook her head and smiled sadly. "I hope you never do. "

"I will. Don't worry."

The room was getting smoky and we went outside, walked along Geary. I puffed Alyce into a storefront and kissed her. She tightened up, giving no response whatever.

"Why do you freeze up like that, Alyce?"

"I can't help it."

"You aren’t afraid of me, are you?"

"No. Of course not."

"How old are you?"

"Twenty-nine."

"Then you're not a virgin." I made a statement.

"I was married for seven years. No. I'm no longer a virgin. "

It must have been my fault. I was rushing her along too fast. There was no hurry. I could wait. I had a hunch she would be worth it. We walked back to the car. I started the engine, turned on the heater, and we sat and talked. She told me her husband had been dead for three years and that I was the first man she had gone out with since. I believed her.

"What do you do with your free time then? You must go out some."

"I do, " she said. "I go to movies once in a while with my girlfriend. But I really don't have much time to myself. I work from ten till seven-thirty, and when I get home I have to take care of the animals and clean up the apartment. By that time it's time to go to bed. I get up at nine-thirty, and always just barely make it to work on time. That takes care of six days, doesn't it? Then on Sunday I go to the cemetery, and to a movie that evening."

It was a dull and horrible life she pictured.

"Do you like your work?"

"Oh, yes!"

"Do you stand or sit?"

"I stand, but I don't mind because I'm so busy."

"I see. Well, Alyce, maybe I can make life more interesting for you."

"That's what I'm afraid of. "

I could see her face in the faint light from the streetlamp. She wasn't smiling. The lines from the wings of her nose to the comers of her mouth were deep and tragic.

"Mother used to tell me to go out all the time. But I couldn't really leave her when she was home. She was ill, and couldn't bear to be alone. And now, since she died, there hasn't been much meaning to my life."

"You're a young woman, Alyce. You shouldn't brood over things like that. There are a great many years ahead of you."

"I know it and I hate it. I don't feel very good, Russell. Will you take me home?"

"All right, " I said. I drove toward her apartment and we didn't speak. She looked out the window at the fuzzy neon lighting that wavered through the fog. Again, two blocks away from her home, she asked me to stop.

"I’ll walk the rest of the way," she said.

"What for?"

"It was nice of you to take me out, Russell, and I had a wonderful time. But I don't want to see you anymore."

"Why?"

"I think it would be best."

"I don't. And I intend to take you out again tomorrow night." She thought that over for a moment.

"Please don't!" She put her face in her hands and began to cry.

"What the hell are you crying for? I haven't done anything to you."

"It's what I've done to you." She continued to cry.

"You haven't done anything to me. You just don't feel good, that's all. Your stomach is probably indignant over the load of shrimp."

"No, that isn't it." She blew her nose and dabbed at her eyes with a postage-stamp handkerchief. I handed her mine.

"We'll talk about it tomorrow," I said.

"All right then." She started to get out of the car.

"I’ll drive you the rest of the way."

"No. I'll walk. Goodnight, Russell. " I watched her walk down the hill.

She had a beautiful posture.

I sat there for a few minutes smoking a cigarette. I flipped the butt out the window, then drove to a business district. I parked and went into a bar. I ordered a straight gin with a dash of bitters. Sipping it, I looked over the customers. The man next to me was my size. I put my drink down, raised my elbow level with my shoulder, and spun on my heel. My elbow caught him just below the eye. He raised a beer bottle over his head and my fist caught him flush on the jaw. He dropped to the floor and lay still. I threw a half-dollar on the bar and left. No one looked in my direction as I closed the door.

I felt a little better but not enough. I drove home, and dug through my LP albums till I found the Romeo and Juliet Overture. There are three speakers rigged up around the walls of my living room, and when I put the music on full volume it filled the room like the symphony orchestra was right there. I poured a glass full of gin and played the overture several times while I finished the drink. After this emotional bath I felt wonderful. I went to bed and slept soundly all night. Like a child.