Part 12 (2/2)
”But I didn't say we were going to make the picture,” Peter said.
”I know,” Johnny replied. ”But if you don't somebody else will.” He looked down at Peter challengingly. ”And I don't aim to be on the outside looking in when it's all over.”
Peter looked up at him for a few minutes. Johnny looked back at him steadily. At last Peter spoke. ”Your mind's made up?”
Johnny nodded. ”My mind's made up. I'm through horsin' around.”
The phone rang. Peter picked it up and answered it. He turned to Johnny and held the phone toward him. ”It's for you.”
Johnny took the phone. ”h.e.l.lo.”
The voice crackled over the phone a few minutes while Johnny listened. He put his hand over the mouthpiece of the phone and spoke to Peter while the voice crackled on. ”It's Borden. Did you speak to him about the picture this morning?”
”Yes,” Peter said. ”What does he want?”
Johnny didn't answer him, for the voice over the phone stopped talking. Johnny spoke into the phone. ”I don't know, Bill.” He looked at Peter questioningly. ”He hasn't made up his mind yet.”
The voice spoke rapidly for a few minutes.
”Sure, Bill, sure,” Johnny said. ”I'll let you know.” He hung up the receiver.
”What did he want?” Peter repeated suspiciously.
”He wanted to know if you had made up your mind. He said if you decided against it, for me to see him.”
”The gonif!” Peter exploded indignantly. He put a cigar in his mouth and chewed on it furiously. ”Only this morning I spoke to him and already he's trying to steal my ideas. What did you tell him?”
”You heard me,” Johnny answered. ”I told him you hadn't decided.”
”Well, call him right back and tell him I decided,” Peter said excitedly. ”We're going to make the picture!”
”You'll do it?” Johnny was grinning.
”I'll do it,” Peter said. He was still angry. ”I'll show that Willie Bordanov he can't steal a man's ideas.”
Johnny picked up the phone.
”Wait a minute,” Peter stopped him. ”I'll call him. There's a little matter of twenty-five hundred dollars he promised to lend me if I make this picture and I want him to send it right over.”
5.
Peter was silent all through dinner. He scarcely spoke two words throughout the entire meal. Esther wondered what was worrying him but kept tactfully quiet until he had finished eating. She knew him well enough to know that he would talk to her when he was ready.
”Doris brought home her report card today,” she said. ”She got an A in everything.”
”That's nice,” Peter answered absent-mindedly.
She looked at him. Ordinarily he was much interested in Doris's report card; he would want to see it and would make a great fuss over signing it. She didn't speak again.
He got up from the table, picked up the paper, and went into the living room. She watched him go and then helped the maid clean up. When she went into the other room, the paper was lying neglected on the floor while he stared into s.p.a.ce.
She grew a little exasperated at his protracted silence. ”What's the matter with you?” she queried. ”Don't you feel good?”
He looked at her. ”I feel all right,” he replied. ”Why do you ask?”
”You look like you're dying,” she said. ”All night long not one word do you say.”
”I got things on my mind,” he answered shortly. He wished she would leave him alone.
”So it's a big secret?” she asked.
”No.” He was startled. Suddenly he remembered he hadn't told her about his decision. ”I decided to make that picture that Johnny wanted. Now I'm worried.”
”If you made up your mind, what are you worrying about?”
”There's a big risk involved,” he answered. ”I could lose the business.”
”You knew that when you made up your mind, didn't you?”
He nodded his head.
”So don't sit there like the world came to an end. The time for worrying was before you made up your mind. Now you got to do what you want, not worry over what might happen.”
”But supposing I lose the business, then what will happen?” He puffed at his cigar. His mind clung to that one thought like a tongue to an aching tooth; the more he played with it, the more pain he felt.
She smiled slowly. ”Nothing. My father lost three businesses and he always made out. We'll get along.”
His face brightened a little. ”You wouldn't care?”
She went over to him and sat down on his lap. She pressed his head against her bosom. ”Business is not that important I should care about it. What I'm interested in is you. You do what you feel you must. That's important. Even if it's no good, you should do it. I'm happy if I got just you and the children. I don't care if we ain't got an apartment on Riverside Drive and a maid.”
He put his arms around her and turned his head until it rested in the cleft between her b.r.e.a.s.t.s. He spoke in a low voice. ”Everything I do is for you and the kinder. I want you should have everything.”
Her voice was warm. This was what she wanted. She understood that success in business was very important to a man, but to her the way her man felt about her was important. ”I know, Peter, I know. That's why you shouldn't worry. A man can do a better job without foolish worries on his mind. You'll do all right. It's a good idea and it's needed.”
”You think so?” He looked up at her.
She looked into his eyes and smiled. ”Of course it is. If it wasn't, you wouldn't have decided to do it.”
Raising the money for the picture proved to be the easiest part of the whole project. The exhibitors whom Johnny spoke to were eager to put up money to have the picture made. They were tired of being gouged for poor combine-quality, routine pictures. Johnny received sums ranging from the thousand dollars he had obtained from Pappas down to one hundred dollars from a small exhibitor on Long Island.
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