The Studs Lonigan Trilogy - James T. Farrell [314]
IV
“Hello, Dad,” Studs said, still breathing rapidly as he entered the parlor.
“Hello, Bill. What’s in the paper tonight?”
“A break in the stock market, and it looks like they got the goods on that Methodist minister who’s mixed in that divorce suit out in California.”
“The dirty Protestant A. P. A. Fooling around with a decent little girl who sings in his choir. Stringing him up would be too good for him. You wouldn’t find a Catholic priest doing a thing like that,” the father said with venom.
“How was Amos and Andy tonight?” Studs asked.
“Oh, they were all right,” Lonigan said.
There was something on the old man’s mind. Must be the stock-market break. He could see that the old man had something to say to him, too. He’d need that money now. For a moment, he felt as he used to when he was a kid, and his father was really a boss over him. He grew fearful of his father as he had done in those days when he’d done something the old man didn’t want him to do. Then he realized that he wasn’t a kid any more and he and his father acted differently toward each other.
“Let’s see that paper, I want to look at the stock-market news.”
Studs handed him the newspaper and watched his father’s fretting face as he read.
“Looks damn rotten, all right, Bill,” he said as if to himself.
“Think things are going to keep on this way?”
“I don’t know what the hell it is, but something is wrong. It’s the big fellows, the banks and Wall Street,” Lonigan said laying aside the paper.
“I don’t know,” Studs said, because he hadn’t listened closely and he hadn’t anything else to say.
“Bill, I had my stocks sold out from under my feet today.”
“Gee, Dad. That’s rotten, I’m terribly sorry. How much?”
“Five thousand bucks more, Bill.”
Studs lit a cigarette and rose to get an ash tray.
“Goddamn robbers,” Lonigan cursed.
They sat in silence.
“Bill, I’m in a hole now. I can’t collect on bills long overdue me, and I’m going to have to meet a big mortgage payment in the early fall. And with wages to pay out and the household expenses to meet, I’m in a tighter pinch than I ever was in my life. Can I borrow that money of yours for a little while?”
Studs’ face dropped. He looked aside.
“Of course, Bill, I feel that I ain’t got the right to ask you, and if you don’t want to, why, I’ll have to try elsewhere. I’ve already borrowed up to the hilt on my life insurance, and it’s pretty damn hard raising any money these days.”
“It isn’t that, it’s... ”
“What?” Lonigan said with questioning anxiety, as Studs, failing to continue, seemingly groped for words.
“Well, you see, Dad, after Catherine and I got engaged, I thought that I’d be needing all the money I could get, and that I ought to put my money in something that paid me a little more than just the bank interest, so I took a chance.”
“You lost it?”
“I bought some Imbray stock at twenty-five a share, and it’s down to thirteen. I’m nine hundred and sixty bucks out if I sell.”
“Bill, you should have asked me. You should have asked me,” Lonigan said regretfully, showing that he was deeply hurt.
“I meant to. And well, Dad. I just took a chance. I was just a damn sucker.”
“God, Bill! Imbray stock is as shaky as a reed in the wind.”
“I thought that since it is based on public utilities, and with a smart man like Solomon Imbray controlling it, it would be safe.”
“I know. I had money in some Imbray securities, too, and that’s why I’m holding the bag. That stock is paper and water. You better get out from under with what you got left in the morning, and take your loss. Something left is better than nothing.”
“Think so, Dad?”
“Yes, Bill. Get out, and don’t try that stunt again without asking me about it. I’ve learned now, myself. They just wait for suckers, sheep to fleece in the market. If you’d only asked me, I might have warned you. This is the wrong time to go fooling around in stocks. The reason I lost today is, I bought my stocks on margin, and they slid so I couldn