The Dream Merchants Part 3

The drayman followed him into the street. Peter knocked at the door. There was no answer. He looked through the window, but couldn't see anything. He put the key in the lock and turned it. The door opened and they stepped in. Peter went directly to the back room. The door was closed. Peter knocked at it softly. No reply. He opened the door and looked in. Johnny wasn't there. He turned to the drayman.

"I guess you might as well bring it in," he said; "Johnny's probably gone out for a while."

Peter went out into the street while the drayman unloaded the machine. Curiously he looked at it; it was something he had never seen before. "What is it?" he asked.

"A moving-picture machine," the drayman answered. "It throws pictures on a screen and they move."

Peter shook his head. "What will they think of next?" he wondered aloud. "Do you think it really works?"

The drayman grunted. "Yeah, I seen 'em in New York."

When the machine was in the shop, Peter signed the receipt for it, locked the door, and promptly forgot about it until half past three, when Doris came home from school.

"Daddy, why isn't Uncle Johnny open yet?"

He looked down at her, puzzled. He had already forgotten about the morning. "I don't know," he said slowly. Together they walked out into the street and looked at the penny arcade.

He peered in the window. There was no sign of movement inside. The crate delivered that morning still lay where the drayman had placed it. He turned to Doris. "Run upstairs and get Mamma to come down and stay in the store for a minute."

He stood there in the street waiting until Esther came down. "Johnny hasn't opened up yet," he told her. "Stay in the store while I look in his place."

After he had opened the door he walked slowly to the back room. This time he entered the room and found the note on the floor. He picked it up and read it. Slowly he went back into his own store and handed the note to Esther.

She read it and looked at him questioningly. "He's gone?"

There was a hurt sort of look in his eyes. He didn't seem to hear her question. "I feel like it's my fault. I shouldn't have let him take the place."

She looked at him understandingly. She, too, had grown fond of Johnny. "You couldn't help it, Peter. You tried to stop him."

He took the note back from her and read it again. "The kid didn't have to run off like that," he said. "He could have told me."

"I guess he was a little ashamed," Esther said.

Peter shook his head. "I still can't understand it. We were his friends."

Suddenly Doris, who was standing near them listening solemnly to what they were saying, began to cry. Her parents turned to look at her.

"Isn't Uncle Johnny ever coming back?" she wailed.

Peter picked her up. "Sure he is," he told her. "He says in the note he's coming back to take you on all the carnival rides."

Doris stopped crying and looked at her father. Her eyes grew big and round. "Honest?"

"Honest," Peter answered, looking at his wife over the child's head.

3.

The stranger waited quietly until Peter had finished waiting on the customer before he went over to him. "Is Johnny Edge around?" he asked.

Peter looked at him curiously. He didn't look like one of the creditors Johnny had mentioned in his note; Peter knew most of them. "Not at the moment," he replied. "Maybe I can help. I'm Peter Kessler. I own the building."

The stranger held out his hand and smiled. "I'm Joe Turner of Graphic Pictures Company. I came up to show Johnny how to operate the moving-picture machine that was delivered yesterday."

Peter took his hand and shook it. "Glad to know you," he said. "But I'm afraid you're in for a disappointment. Johnny left here the day before yesterday."

Turner looked disappointed. "He couldn't hold out?"

Peter shook his head. "Things were pretty bad. He went back to his old job."

"With Santos?" Turner asked.

"Yes," Peter answered. "You knew Johnny?"

"We worked for Santos together. He's a good kid. Too bad he couldn't have held on for a few more days. Moving pictures would have pulled him out of the hole."

"In Rochester?" Peter laughed.

Turner looked at him. "Why not? Rochester isn't any different than any place else and moving pictures are the biggest thing in the entertainment field and getting bigger every day. Ever see them?"

"No," said Peter. "Never even heard about them until your man delivered the machine here yesterday."

Turner took a cigar out of his pocket, bit the end off it, and lighted it. He blew out a cloud of smoke and looked at Peter a moment before he spoke. "You look like a fair man to me, Mr. Kessler, so I'm going to make you a proposition. I guaranteed Johnny's machine to my office. If I have to pull it back, I'm hooked for the freight and installation charges even if the machine is never used. That's over a hundred dollars. You let me run a show for you tonight, and if you like it you open up and give it a try."

Peter shook his head. "Not me. I'm a hardware man. I don't know nothing about moving pictures."

Turner persisted. "It doesn't make any difference. It's a new business. Just two years ago a man by the name of Fox opened a picture show without any experience and he's doing all right. So did another man by the name of Laemmle. All you have to do is run the machine. People will pay to see the pictures. There's good money in it. It's the coming thing."

"Not for me," Peter told him. "I got a good business. I don't need any headaches."

"Look, Mr. Kessler," Turner said, "it won't cost you anything to see it. The projector's here already. I got some cans of film outside and nothing better to do with my time. Let me run a show for you, and you can see for yourself what it's like. And then if you don't like it, I'll pull the machine out."

Peter thought for a moment. He wanted to see the moving pictures. The few words the drayman had said to him the other day had excited his imagination. "All right," he said, "I'll look. But I'm not promising anything."

Turner smiled. He held his hand out to Peter again. "That's what they all say until they see it. I'm telling you, Mr. Kessler, you may not know it but you're in the picture business already."

Peter invited Mr. Turner to have supper with them. When he introduced Turner to Esther, she looked at him questioningly but didn't say anything. He hastened to explain: "Mr. Turner is going to show us some moving pictures tonight."

After they had eaten, Turner excused himself, saying he had to go downstairs to set things up. Peter went along with him.

As they walked into the penny arcade together, Turner looked around. "Too bad Johnny had to leave. This was just the thing he needed."

Then Peter told him why Johnny had left and about the note Johnny had written.

Turner listened attentively while he worked, and when Peter had finished, he said: "Anyway, Mr. Kessler, you don't have to worry about the money Johnny owes you. If he said he'd pay you, he will."

"Who's worried about the money?" Peter asked. "We liked the kid. He almost seemed like one of the family by now."

Turner smiled. "That's the way Johnny is. I remember when his folks were killed. Johnny was about ten years old then. Santos and I were discussing what to do with him. He had no other relatives, so he would have gone to an orphanage, but instead Santos decided to keep him. After a while Santos used to say Johnny seemed just like his own kid."

Turner finished his work in silence and Peter went upstairs to get Esther. When they came down, all the lights in the store were turned off. They sat down self-consciously in the dark where Turner told them. Excited as Peter was about seeing the moving pictures, at the same time he was glad there weren't many people on the street to see him.

"Ready?" Turner asked.

"Yes," Peter answered.

Suddenly a bright light flashed on the screen that Turner had set up in front of where they sat. Some printed words, which blurred, then became clearer as Turner focused the lens. Then the words were off the screen before they had a chance to read them and there was a train, small in the corner of the screen, smoke belching from it. It was moving toward them, growing larger every second.

Then it was upon them. It seemed to leap from the screen into their faces.

Esther made a small cry and buried her face on Peter's shoulder, her hand grasping for his. Peter held her hand tightly. His throat was dry, he couldn't speak, and his face was pale with sweat.

"Is it gone?" Esther asked, her voice m.u.f.fled against his shoulder.

"It's gone," Peter answered, surprised that he could speak.

Almost before the words had left his mouth, they were on a beach and some girls were going swimming and they stood around and smiled; and then they were on a ferryboat coming into New York Harbor and the familiar buildings looked so real that they were tempted to reach out and touch them, but before they could they were out at the race track in Sheepshead Bay and the horses were running and the crowd was milling around and one horse, running mightily, finished ahead of the others and it was all over. A bright light flashed on the screen again, hurting their eyes.

Surprised, Peter still found Esther's hand in his. He heard Turner's voice saying: "How did you like it?"

Peter stood up, still blinking his eyes. He saw Turner smiling at him. He brushed his hands over his eyes wonderingly. "If I didn't see it myself, I still wouldn't believe it."

Turner laughed. "They all say that at first." He turned on the store lights.

Then Peter first saw the crowd. They were standing in the street, their faces vague and anonymous, pressed up against the windows of the store, their eyes filled with the same wonder and amazement as his. He turned to Esther. "What do you think?"

"I don't know what to think," she answered. "I never saw anything like this before."

The door opened and the crowd came pouring in. Peter began to recognize people and faces. They were all talking at once.

"What is it?" one of them asked.

"Moving pictures, from New York," Peter heard Turner reply.

"You going to show them here?"

"I don't know," Turner answered. "That depends on Mr. Kessler."

The crowd looked at Peter.

Peter stood there a second without speaking, his mind still filled with what he had just seen. Suddenly he heard himself saying: "Sure, sure we're going to show them here. We'll be open by Sat.u.r.day night."

Esther grabbed him by the arm. "Bist du meshuggeh?" she asked; "Sat.u.r.day is the day after tomorrow!"

He whispered to her: "Crazy? Me? With all these people wanting to pay to see moving pictures?"

She didn't answer.

Peter began to feel big, his heart started to pound. He would open by Sat.u.r.day night. After all, Esther didn't say no.

It was a little less than six weeks later that Johnny came back to Rochester. His valise in one hand, he walked up the street toward the arcade. He stopped on the sidewalk in front of the building. The hardware store was still the same but the penny arcade was no more. The old sign had been taken down and a new one put up: Kessler's Nickelodeon.

It was early in the morning and the street was still deserted. Johnny stood there looking at the sign for a minute; then, shifting his grip on the valise from one hand to the other, he walked into Peter's store. He stood in the doorway for a second, his eyes getting used to the darkness in the store.

Peter saw him first and came running up to him, hand outstretched. "Johnny!"

Johnny dropped the valise and took Peter's hand.

"You did come back," Peter was saying excitedly. "I told Esther you would. I told her. She said maybe you wouldn't want to, but I said we'll telegraph him anyway and find out."

Johnny grinned. "I didn't understand why you wanted me-especially after the way I powdered on you. But-"

Peter didn't let him finish. "No buts. What happened we'll forget. It's over." He looked around him for Doris; seeing her, he called: "Go upstairs and tell Mamma that Johnny's here." He drew Johnny farther into the store.

"I felt you should come back. This was your idea, you were ent.i.tled to something from it." His gaze fell on Doris. She was still standing there, looking at Johnny. "Didn't I tell you to go upstairs and tell Mamma?" he demanded.

"I only wanted to say h.e.l.lo to Uncle Johnny first," she answered plaintively.

"All right, then, say h.e.l.lo and hurry up to Mamma."

Doris came over to Johnny gravely and held out her hand. "h.e.l.lo, Uncle Johnny."

Johnny laughed and picked her up and held her to him. "h.e.l.lo, sweetheart, I missed yuh."

She blushed and squirmed out of his arms and ran to the stairs. "I gotta tell Mamma," she said, and ran up the steps.

Johnny turned to Peter. "Now tell me what happened."

"The day after you left, Joe Turner came in, and before I knew it I was in the picture business." Peter smiled. "I didn't expect it to be such a big thing though. It's too much for me. Esther has been working the cash, but I'm too tired at night after a day in the store to run movies too. So we decided to ask you to come back. Like I said in the telegram, you get a hundred a month and ten percent of the profits."

"It sounded good to me," Johnny said. "I seen a lot of these nickelodeons around and they're getting to be a big thing."

Later they walked into the nickelodeon. Johnny looked around him approvingly. The machines had all been taken out and rows of benches had been placed in their stead, only the Grandma fortune-telling machine remained undisturbed in her corner near the door.

Johnny walked over to the machine and rapped on the gla.s.s. "It looks like you were right, old girl."

"What did you say?" Peter asked, looking startled.

"The old girl here told my fortune the night I left. She said I'd be back. I thought she was nuts, but she knew more than me."