I Would Rather Stay Poor Read online

  She made an impatient movement as she said, ‘I intend to sell this house and leave here. With the money I get from the house, I’ll be able to drop out of sight. Then I can spend what I like.’

  ‘That’s where you are wrong. It is a difficult thing to drop out of sight. But that’s neither here nor there,’ Calvin said. ‘If you leave, then I can’t. It would look very odd, wouldn’t it, if we both suddenly left town?’

  ‘I don’t see why. We don’t have to leave together. You could leave a few months later: what’s wrong with that?’

  ‘You are not being very bright this morning,’ Calvin said. ‘I am the manager of the bank. I have no other means of earning a living. I couldn’t suddenly resign and leave town. The Federal agents would want to know what I was going to do: how I was going to earn a living. They would be interested especially as there has been a big robbery at my branch. Do you see that?’

  ‘That is for you to work out,’ Kit said. ‘I know what I’m going to do.’

  ‘If you are stupid enough to believe you would be safe to splash your money around you’ll find yourself in trouble. In every town there is a Federal agent who keeps track of newcomers. He’ll wonder where your money is coming from. He’ll make inquiries and he’ll find out you are from Pittsville, the town that has had a payroll robbery. He’ll start checking and then you’ll be in trouble… so will I.’

  ‘I can take care of myself,’ she said. ‘I’m not scared. All I want is the money.’

  ‘If the money is no good to you when you have it, there is no point in taking it,’ he said mildly.

  ‘Just what are you driving at?’ she demanded, facing him, her brown eyes angry. ‘What is it?’

  ‘There is only one safe way for us once we have the money. I stress the word us because there isn’t much point in it being safe for you and not for me since neither of us can take the money without the other. It isn’t unnatural that you should think only of yourself: nor for me to think only of myself, but since neither of us can do without the other, we must think of this thing as a combined operation.’

  She walked over to the kitchen table and sat on it, swinging her long legs, her arms folded tightly across her breasts.

  ‘Can’t you say what you want to say? Must you go round and round the point. What is it?’

  ‘You and I are going to get married,’ Calvin said and smiled his charming smile. ‘That is the only safe solution.’

  She stiffened. Her eyes showed her startled, shocked surprise.

  ‘Oh no! I’m not marrying you! I’ve had one husband… that was plenty!’

  ‘I feel exactly the same as you do, but it is the only safe way. It needn’t be permanent. Just long enough to be convenient.’

  She studied him, then because she had already learned to respect his shrewdness, she said more quietly, ‘I don’t want to marry you, but I’ll listen. Why do you say it is safer?’

  ‘It would be the most natural thing in the world for me, staying in your rooming-house, to fall in love with you and want you to be my wife,’ Calvin said. ‘We have to be sure that every move we make is a natural one. Every move we make could come under scrutiny. It would also be natural, after we were married, for you to sell this house, and for me to resign from the bank. We would say there is no future in Pittsville for either of us, which is true. We are using your capital and my small savings to go south where we hope to find a more profitable rooming-house and run it together. That story would be accepted and both of us could leave here without arousing any suspicions.’

  ‘All right,’ she said, shrugging, ‘but are you suggesting we should buy another rooming-house? I’m not risking so much to get this money to be landed with another rooming-house… get that quite clear.’

  Calvin shook his head.

  ‘You and I will have our honeymoon in Las Vegas. It is an exciting place: a honeymoon place. I happen to have a good friend there who runs a gambling joint. I haven’t seen him for years, but I know I can rely on him because he owes me plenty… I saved his life in the Pacific fighting. I will use some of our capital to gamble with and I’ll win. My pal will see to that. In fact I’ll win quite a lump of money. We will suddenly find ourselves with more money than we had originally and we will change our ideas about buying a rooming-house: instead, we’ll buy a much more ambitious proposition: a motel in Florida. I also happen to know someone who has a motel to sell. We’ll buy it. It isn’t much of a place, but with us working at it, it’ll suddenly begin to make money. If there is one thing I can do it is to fake a set of books. We will pay, little by little, money from the payroll into a bank, showing it is profit from the motel. In three or four years, we’ll have enough in the bank to let us start speculating on the market. Then once we are in this position, we are safe. You and I can part and have our money without any danger to either of us.’

  ‘Did you say three or four years?’ Kit demanded, her voice going shrill.

  ‘That’s what I said.’

  ‘If you imagine I’m going to wait three or four years before I spend that money…’

  ‘If you can’t wait that long,’ Calvin cut in, ‘then we had better not do the job. This is a three hundred thousand dollar take. It’ll put us on easy street for the rest of our lives. If we make one false move we’ll both land in the gas chamber. Think about it.’

  He got to his feet and left her, going up to his room, humming tunelessly, satisfied in his mind that she would do what he wanted.

  Their love-making the previous night had been disappointing. He had expected a fierce, wild passion, but she had given herself to him the way a prostitute gives herself. He had the disturbing feeling that it was only because of the whisky she had drunk that she had given herself at all. He had been glad to get away from her and return to his room. It had been the most frustrating sex experience he had ever had.

  It was after lunch when the old people were taking a nap and Kit was clearing up in the kitchen that Calvin had the opportunity of getting Alice to himself. She was in the lounge looking through the Sunday newspaper when he wandered in and sat down.

  He said very casually, ‘I’ve been thinking about you, Alice. Would you mind if I talked to you about your career for a moment?’

  She went red and then white and shook her head, dropping the newspaper and staring at him like a startled rabbit.

  ‘I’ve been very impressed by your work,’ Calvin said, his voice matter-of-fact. ‘You’re wasted in Pittsville.’ He switched on his charm. ‘You should be more ambitious.’

  Hanging on his words, Alice continued to stare at him.

  ‘I — I don’t understand, Mr. Calvin,’ she said.

  ‘A girl like you should be working at head office. They’re always on the look-out for keen, energetic workers. Would you like me to put your name forward?’

  Her eyes widened behind the shiny lenses of her glasses.

  ‘But they wouldn’t consider me,’ she said breathlessly.

  ‘Of course they would.’ He paused, his trap set, then he went on, ‘But you would first have to take the advance bank examination. It isn’t difficult. You’d have to take a correspondence course. It wouldn’t cost you anything. Head Office fixes all that.’ His smile widened. ‘You’d have to work in the evenings for two or three months. That wouldn’t worry you, would it?’

  She was pathetically eager as she said, ‘Oh no, of course not.’

  ‘Okay, then leave it to me.’ He waved his big hands. ‘You’ll have to give up watching television, but that won’t be a hardship, will it?’

  She shook her head.

  ‘It would be wonderful to go to San Francisco.’

  ‘Fine, then tomorrow, I’ll fix it for you.’ Smiling, he got to his feet and wandered out of the room. It seemed almost too easy, he thought as he began to mount the stairs. Now the next move was to get Kit to tell Miss Pearson that Alice not only was going to sit for a bank examination but she had found a boy-friend.

  He was humming to himse
lf as he reached the head of the stairs when he became aware of a girl looking at him and waiting to pass. He paused, staring at her, his blue eyes suddenly alert.

  The girl was fair, young and pretty. She was wearing a white sweat-shirt and white shorts. She carried a tennis racket. In that get-up, Calvin was quick to see how well made she was and his eyes ran over her young body with quick appreciation.

  ‘I’m sorry,’ he said, switching on all his charm. ‘I didn’t see you… you must be Miss Loring.’

  ‘Yes, that’s right. You must be Mr. Calvin. Kit said you were staying here.’ She smiled and he saw at once he had impressed her. He reached the head of the stairs and stood aside.

  ‘Getting some exercise?’ he said as she began to move past him.

  ‘Yes… I don’t get much chance… Sunday is really my only time for a game.’

  ‘You’re working nights, I understand. That’s why we haven’t met.’ He was loath to let her go. There was something exciting in her young freshness that appealed to him.

  ‘That’s right,’ she said, waved her racket and went on down the stairs.

  He turned to watch her, his eyes roving over her neat young figure. When she went out of the house, closing the front door behind her, he felt suddenly bored and lonely. He had thought of a round of golf. Now he couldn’t be bothered. He went into his room, sat down and stared out of the window.

  It might have made him happier if he could have known what was going on in Iris Loring’s mind as she got into the estate wagon and started the engine.

  She was thinking: Hmm… he’s quite a man. He’s like a movie star. That stare he has. I felt he was looking right through my clothes, but not in a horrid way either. It was rather exciting. She giggled. He is a man who knows his own mind… that smile… Hmm… yes… quite a man!

  She found Ken Travers waiting for her at the Country Club. They played two strenuous sets of tennis, then went and sat under a tree where they could talk.

  ‘Ken… I’m worried,’ Iris said abruptly. ‘It may not be anything, but I have a suspicion that Kit is drinking again.’

  ‘Oh, hell!’ Travers showed his shocked distress. ‘What makes you think that?’

  ‘When she was really bad… it must be over two years now, she always had a glassy, set expression in her eyes. I could always tell by that if she had been drinking. This morning when she came into my room, there was that same expression.’

  ‘What are you going to do?’

  ‘I don’t know. I can’t bear to think of it starting again after what she has gone through. I don’t think I can face having that all over again.’

  ‘But you just can’t do nothing,’ Travers said, his voice sharpening. ‘She’s done a hell of a lot for you. I admit I have no cause to like your mother. She doesn’t like me and she’s stopped us marrying, but at least, I have to admire her for what she has done for you. You can’t let her down now if she needs help. Why not ask her outright?’

  ‘She would never admit it. I think maybe I’ll talk to Dr. Sterling. He knows what she’s been through. I know nothing I say will do any good. Besides, I may be wrong. I’ve had it on my mind all the morning. I just had to share it with you.’

  He put his hand on hers.

  ‘Well, watch her. If you think… well, Dr. Sterling is a good friend of hers. Maybe you should speak to him.’

  ‘I’ll see how she is tonight. Let’s get some tea. I could be wrong.’ She stood up. ‘I hope I am. The thought of that awful business starting again…’

  They walked in silence to the tea pavilion. Then when they had got tea from the bar, they stood in the sunshine, sipping the tea and watching a foursome battling it out on the court nearby.

  Travers said abruptly, ‘Have you met Calvin yet?’

  Iris nodded.

  ‘I ran into him as I was coming out. Quite a man!’

  Travers looked sharply at her.

  ‘Yeah… I don’t quite know what to make of him. There’s something I don’t like about him… I don’t know what it is.’

  Iris laughed.

  ‘I know… he’s the type every man is jealous of. He reminds me a little of Cary Grant. He could be a movie star.’

  ‘You think so?’ Travers grinned uneasily. ‘He’s not all that good looking. The sheriff doesn’t know what to make of him either. He says he could be rotten with women.’

  ‘There you are! Pure envy! I bet he’s thrown poor Alice into a terrible tizz. .Imagine being locked up in the bank alone with that he-man for twelve hours a day!’

  ‘Just so long as you don’t get into a tizz,’ Travers said quietly.

  Iris looked at him: her eyes sparkled.

  ‘Is that worrying you?’

  ‘I can’t say it does. You don’t get much chance of meeting the guy, do you?’ Travers took her empty cup. ‘Feel like another game?’

  ‘Yes… all right. And Ken… even if I did have the chance, I’d still prefer you.’

  He gave her a delighted grin, then linking his arm through hers, went with her towards a vacant court.

  2

  By the end of the week, Alice had begun her correspondence course and a hint had been dropped by Kit to the old couple that she had seen Alice with a handsome young man. The old people were delighted, agreeing with Kit to say nothing that might embarrass Alice.

  During the week, Iris, still unsure of her suspicions about her mother, had kept a dose watch but had seen nothing further to confirm her first impression that Kit was drinking again.

  It was soon after Iris’s seventeenth birthday, a few months after her father had been killed, that she had discovered her mother had become an alcoholic. She had returned from college one hot summer evening to find Kit sitting motionless, her face ashen, her eyes glazed, an empty whisky bottle on the table. This had been an experience that Iris was never to forget. Kit had been unable to speak: unable to move. Terrified, Iris had telephoned for Dr. Sterling who had attended the Loring family ever since they had set up home in Pittsville. He had helped Iris get her mother to bed, then he had taken the frightened girl downstairs and had talked to her.

  She would always remember Dr. Sterling’s quiet, kind talk in which he had persuaded her that her mother should go into a sanatorium. Kit had remained there for two months.

  Iris got a job as cashier at a movie house at Downside. When Kit was cured, she bought the rooming-house with the money her husband had left her. For months Iris watched her mother. Kit seemed cured, but now just when Iris was beginning to relax, her suspicions were again alerted. She continued to watch, but so far, after the first alarm, she hadn’t further proof that Kit was backsliding.

  One evening, a week after the first hint had been dropped about Alice’s boy-friend, Kit came into Calvin’s room. She received a shock.

  Looking at himself in the mirror was a tall, heavily-built man wearing a wide-brimmed hat and a fawn belted overcoat. He had black sideboards and a black moustache. The sight of this stranger made Kit’s heart skip a beat and she paused in the doorway, asking, ‘What are you doing here?’

  The man turned and grinned at her and she recognised Calvin.

  ‘This is Johnny Acres — Alice’s boy-friend,’ he said. ‘Not bad?’ He took off the halt and tossed it on the bed, then he stripped off the crepe sideboards and the moustache.

  As she watched him take off the overcoat and hang it up, he said, ‘In the half light no one would recognise me. Now the problem is how the major and Miss Pearson can get a glimpse of Mr. Acres.’

  A little unsteadily, Kit went to the armchair and sat in it.

  ‘Mr. Acres must have a car,’ Calvin said. He opened the closet and took out the bottle of whisky. ‘Hello! There’s not much here.’ He looked sharply at her. ‘Have you been drinking my Scotch?’

  ‘Is that all that of a crime?’ she asked sullenly.

  ‘Can’t you buy your own whisky?’ he said irritably. He poured himself the last of the whisky and dropped the empty bottle into the trash
basket. She watched him furtively. ‘As I was saying, Acres has to have a car. This is where we have to spend to gain. I have three hundred dollars. I’ll need at least another three hundred. Have you got it?’

  She hesitated, then nodded.

  ‘I can get it.’

  ‘Then tomorrow evening we’ll go to Downside. We’ll go to a movie. There’ll be no secret about it. It’s time the old people knew there is more than one romance in the house. Have you told your daughter yet?’

  Kit’s face stiffened.

  ‘No.’

  ‘Well, you’d better.’

  She didn’t say anything.

  ‘While you’re at the movie, I’ll go along, dressed as Johnny Acres, and buy a second-hand car. I’ll park it behind the bank until we want it.’

  She said tonelessly, ‘You’re sure all this is going to be safe?’

  His fleshy face hardened.’

  ‘I’ve waited a long time for this chance: every move I am making is going to be safe.’

  A few days later, Major Hardy was the first of the old couple set eyes on Alice’s boy-friend. It was just after eleven o’clock and the major was finishing a crossword puzzle before going to bed. Miss Pearson had already gone upstairs and so had Kit. The major was on his own. He knew Alice had gone out because her hat and coat weren’t in the lobby. In actual fact, Alice was in bed, reading The Manual of Banking and making notes as she read, but the major wasn’t to know this. He wasn’t to know that Kit, wearing Alice’s hat and coat, had sneaked out the back way and had joined Calvin, dressed as Johnny Acres, who was waiting for her down the road in. a newly-bought, second-hand Lincoln.

  The major heard a car come up the short drive, went to the window and peered out into the darkness. He saw whom he thought to be Alice getting out of the car. He then saw a heavily-built man, wearing a fawn-coloured overcoat join her. All this he could see clearly as the couple moved into the light from the car’s headlights. They kissed fondly and the major nodded approvingly. Then he watched the woman he thought was Alice run up the steps and he heard her open the front door as the man got back into the car and drove away.