332: Lorna and Herb sat ...
Herb ’n’ Lorna, Chapter 12 continues
Lorna and Herb sat up with May and listened to the whole horrible tale. “This is the end,” May said. “It really is. I can’t do anything for him, he won’t let me do anything for him, and he won’t do anything for himself. There’s nothing that can be done, nothing.”
“May,” said Herb, “let me try just one thing.” He took her hands and squeezed them. “Hear me out, May,” he said. “Hear me out. My father was a failure, you know. He lost everything in cork furniture. When he knew he was ruined, that there wasn’t any hope, he sank into a chair. He wouldn’t get out of that chair, just sat there. He wouldn’t leave it except, well, you know.”
May smiled despite herself.
“Let me go to see Garth,” said Herb. “Let me go to see him alone, and tell him the whole story about my father. Maybe if he sees someone else’s mistake, he can benefit from it.”
Herb went to see Garth, but he didn’t say anything about his father. He found Garth at Nosy’s, and when Garth suggested that Herb have a drink with him, Herb said, “Gee, Garth, it’s pretty early in the day for me.” From his pocket he pulled what looked like a pocket watch. He flipped the case open and said, “Oops, wrong one.”
“Say, what is that?” asked Garth. He leaned across the table.
“This?” said Herb. “Oh, sort of a toy.” Herb had never before taken such a risk. He had never even shown a piece of coarse goods to anyone he knew. He winked. He extended the Watchcase Wonder toward Garth and began turning the stem slowly. “Just look at the workmanship,” he said. Garth watched, amazed. “You think you could sell these, Garth?”
Garth lifted his eyes from the animated couple and looked at Herb. He was wearing a twisted grin, and in his eyes, behind the blankness that had settled there, Herb could see an ambitious gleam.
“NOW, HERE’S THE WAY I SEE IT,” Herb said on the trip to Boston. “Since the dealership’s open again, you ought to come back. Start selling Studebakers again.”
Garth drew back from him and looked at Herb with suspicion.
“Sure,” said Herb. “You’ve got to. You’ve got to have something else to sell besides this stuff. When I first started, it was books. For you it might as well be Studebakers.”
“Why?” asked Garth.
“Well,” said Herb, “The Studebakers are your answer.”
“Answer to what?” asked Garth.
“To the question, ‘How’d you make all that money?’ ” said Herb. They burst into invigorating laughter, hopeful laughter.
[to be continued on Tuesday, September 6, 2022]
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