Part 3 (1/2)

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.”