AllFreeNovel
Share Us
/>
Billy said: "Who's his father, Eth?"
"Earl Fitzherbert," she said. Then she opened her eyes. "Oh, bugger, I never meant to tell you that. "
"The bloody swine," said Billy. "I'll kill him. "
Chapter 15
CHAPTER FIFTEEN - June to September1915
As the ship entered New York harbor, it occurred to Lev Peshkov that America might not be as wonderful as his brother, Grigori, said. He steeled himself for a terrible disappointment. But that was unnecessary. America was all the things he had hoped for: rich, busy, exciting, and free.
Three months later, on a hot afternoon in June, he was working at a hotel in Buffalo, in the stables, grooming a guest's horse. The place was owned by Josef Vyalov, who had put an onion dome on top of the old Central Tavern and renamed it the St. Petersburg Hotel, perhaps out of nostalgia for the city he had left when he was a child.
Lev worked for Vyalov, as did many of Buffalo's Russian immigrants, but he had never met the man. If he ever did, he was not sure what he would say. The Vyalov family in Russia had cheated Lev by dumping him in Cardiff, and that rankled. On the other hand, the papers supplied by the St. Petersburg Vyalovs had got Lev through U. S. immigration without a hitch. And mentioning the name of Vyalov in a bar on Canal Street had got him a job immediately.
He had been speaking English every day for a year now, ever since he landed in Cardiff, and he was becoming fluent. Americans said he had a British accent, and they were not familiar with some of the expressions he had learned in Aberowen, such as by here and by there, or is it? and isn't it? at the ends of sentences. But he could say just about anything he needed to, and girls were charmed when he called them my lovely.
At a few minutes to six o'clock, shortly before he finished work for the day, his friend Nick came into the stable yard, a cigarette between his lips. "Fatima brand," he said. He drew in smoke with exaggerated satisfaction. "Turkish tobacco. Beautiful. "
Nick's full name was Nicolai Davidovich Fomek, but here he was called Nick Forman. He occasionally played the role previously taken by Spirya and Rhys Price in Lev's card games, though mostly he was a thief.
"How much?" said Lev.
"In the stores, fifty cents for a tin of a hundred cigarettes. To you, ten cents. Sell them for a quarter. "
Lev knew that Fatima was a popular brand. It would be easy to sell them at half price. He looked around the yard. The boss was nowhere to be seen. "All right. "
"How many do you want? I've got a trunkful. "
Lev had one dollar in his pocket. "Twenty tins," he said. "I'll give you a dollar now and a dollar later. "
"I don't give credit. "
Lev grinned and put his hand on Nick's shoulder. "Come on, buddy, you can trust me. Are we pals, or not?"
"Twenty it is. I'll be right back. "
Lev found an old feed sack in a corner. Nick returned with twenty long green tins, each with a picture of a veiled woman on the lid. Lev put the tins in the sack and gave Nick a dollar. "Always nice to give a helping hand to a fellow Russian," Nick said, and he sauntered away.
Lev cleaned his curry comb and hoofpick. At five past six he said good-bye to the chief ostler and headed for the First Ward. He felt a little conspicuous, carrying a feed sack through the streets, and he wondered what he would say if a cop stopped him and demanded to see what was in the sack. But he was not very worried: he could talk his way out of most situations.
He went to a large, popular bar called the Irish Rover. He pushed through the crowd, bought a tankard of beer, and downed half of it thirstily. Then he sat next to a group of workingmen speaking a mixture of Polish and English. After a few moments he said: "Anyone here smoke Fatimas?"
A bald man in a leather apron said: "Yeah, I'll smoke a Fatima now and again. "
"Want to buy a tin at half price? Twenty-five cents for a hundred smokes. "
"What's wrong with them?"
"They got lost. Someone found them. "
"Sounds a little risky. "
"I tell you what. Put your money on the table. I won't pick it up until you tell me to. "
The men were interested now. The bald man fished in his pocket and came up with a quarter. Lev took a tin from his sack and handed it over. The man opened the tin. He took out a small rectangle of folded paper and opened it to disclose a photograph. "Hey, it's even got a baseball card!" he said. He put one of the cigarettes in his mouth and lit it. "All right," he said to Lev. "Pick up your quarter. "
