The Prodigal Daughter (5 page)

“Ah, yes,” he
replied. “Will you come in?”

Miss Tredgold
entered the house followed by a puzzled Florentyna. They were conducted through
a narrow hall covered in photographs and multicolored rosettes before reaching
the back door, which led out onto a yard.

Florentyna saw
them immediately. They were in a basket on the far side of the yard and she ran
toward them. Six yellow Labrador puppies snuggled up close to their mother. One
of them left the warmth of the clan and limped out of the basket toward Florentyna.

“This one’s
lame,” said Florentyna, immediately picking up the puppy and studying the
animal’s leg.

“Yes, I’m afraid
so,” admitted the breeder. “But there are still five others in perfect
condition for you to choose from.”

“What wili
happen if nobody takes her?”

“I suppose...”
The breeder hesitated.She will have to be
Put
to
sleep.”

Florentyna
stared desperately at Miss Tredgold as she clung to the dog,
who
was busily licking her face.

“I want this
one,” said Florentyna without hesitation, fearful of Miss Tredgold’s reaction.

“How much will
that be?” asked Miss Tredgold as she opened her purse.

“No charge,
ma’am. I’m happy to see that one go to a good home.”

“Thank you,”
said Florentyna. “Thank you.”

The puppy’s tail
never stopped wagging all the way to its new home while to Miss Tredgold’s
surprise Florentyna’s tongue never wagged once. In fact, she didn’t let go of
her new pet until she was safely back inside the family kitchen. Zaphia and
Miss Tredgold watched as the young Labrador limped across the kitchen floor
toward a bowl of warm milk.

“She reminds me
of Papa,” said Florentyna.

“Don’t be
impertinent, child,” said Miss Tredgold.

Zaphia
stined a smile.
“Well, Florentyna, what are you going to call her?”

“Eleanor.”

T
HE FIRST TIME
Florentyna ran for President was in 1940 at the age of six. Miss Evans, her
teacher in second grade decided to hold a mock election. The boys from the
Latin School were invited to join the contest, and Edward Winchester, whom
Florentyna had never quite forgiven for pouring blue ink over her bear, was
chosen to run as the surrogate Mr. Wendell L. Willkie. Florentyna naturally ran
as FDR.

It was agreed
that each candidate would give a five-minute talk to the remaining twenty-seven
members of the two classes. Miss Tredgold, without wishing to influence
Florentyna, listened to her deliver her oration thirty-one times-or was it
thirty-two? –
as
she remarked to Mr. Rosnovski the
Sunday morning before the great election.

Florentyna read
the political columns of the Chicago Tribune out loud each day to Miss
Tredgold, searching for any scrap of information she could add to her speech.
Kate Smith seemed to be singing “God Bless America” everywhere and the Dow
Jones Index had passed 150 for the first time: whatever that was, it seemed to
favor the incumbent. Florentyna also read about the progress of the war in
Europe and the launching of a 36,600-ton U.S. battleship Washingion, the first
fighting vessel America had built in nineteen years.

“Why are we
building a battleship if the President has promised that the American people
will never have to go to war?”

“I presume it’s
in the best interest of our own defense,” suggested Miss Tredgold, who was
furiously knitting socks for the boys back home.
“Just in
case the Germans decide to attack us.”

“They wouldn’t
dare,” said Florentyna.

The day Leon
Trotsky was slain with a pickaxe in
Mexico,
Miss
Tredgold kept the paper away from her charge, while on another morning she was
quite unable to explain what nylons were and why the first 72,000 were sold out
in eight hours, the shops limiting the sale to two pairs per customer.

Miss Tredgold,
whose legs were habitually clad in beige lisle stockings of a shade
optimistically entitled “Allure,” studied the item frowningly.

“I’m sure I
shall never wear nylons,” she declared, and indeed she never did.

When Election
Day came, Florentyna’s head was crammed with facts and figures, some of which
she did not understand, but they gave her the confidence to feel she would win.
The only problem that still concerned her was that Edward was bigger than she
was. Florentyna imagined that this was a definite advantage as she had read
that twenty-seven of the thirty-two Presidents of the United States had been
taller than their rivals.

The two
contestants tossed a newly minted Jefferson nickel to decide the order of
speaking. Fiorentyna won and chose to speak first, a mistake she never made
again in her life. She walked to the front of the class, a frail figure, and
mindful of Miss Tredgold’s final words of advice
– ”
Stand
up straight, child. Remember you’re not a question mark” – she stood bolt
upright in the center of the raised wooden platform in front of Miss Evans s
desk and waited to be told she could begin. Her first few sentences came
choking out. She explained her policies for ensuring that the nation’s finances
remained stable while at the same time promising to keep the United States out
of the war. “There is no need for one American to die because the nations of
Europe cannot stay at peace,” she declared a sentence from one of Mr.
Roosevelt’s speeches that she had learned by heart. Mary Gill started to
applaud, but Florentyna took no notice and went on talking while, at the same
time, pushing her dress down nervously with damp hands. Her last few sentences
came out in a great rush, and she sat down to a lot of clapping and smiles.

Edward
Winchester rose to follow her, and a few of the boys from his class cheered him
as he walked up to the blackboard. It was the first time Florentyna realized that
some of the votes had been decided even before the speeches began. She only
hoped that was true for her side as well. Edward told his.classmates that
winning at kickball was the same as winning for your country, and in any case
Willkie stood for all the things that their parents believed in. Did they want
to vote against the wishes of their fathers and mothers?
Because
if they did support FDR they would lose everything.
This line was
greeted with a splutter of applause, so he repeated it. At the end of his
speech, Edward was also rewarded with claps and smiles, but Florentyna
convinced herself they were no louder or wider than hers had been.

After Edward had
sat down, Miss Evans congratulated both candidates and asked the twenty-seven
voters to take a blank page from their notebooks and write down the name of
Edward or Florentyria, according to who they felt should be President. Pens
dipped furiously into inkwells, scratched across paper. Voting slips, were
blotted, folded, and then passed forward to Miss Evans. When the teacher had
received the last one, she began to unfold the little rectangles and place them
in front of her in separate piles, a process that seetried to take hours. The
whole clacssroom remained silent throughout the count, which in itself was an
unusual event. Once Miss Evans had completed the unfolding, she counted the
twenty-seven sheets of paper slowly and carefully, and then double-checked
them.

“The result of
the mock election” – Florentyna held her breath
– ”
for
President of the United States is thirteen votes for Edward Winchester” –
Florentyna nearly cheered: she had won – “and twelve votes for Florentyna
Rosnovski. Two people left their papers blank, which is called abstaining.”
Florentyna couldn’t believe it. “I therefore declare Edward Winchester,
representing Wendell Willkie, to be the new President.”

It was the only
election FDR lost that year, but Florentyna was unable to disguise her
disappointment and ran to hide in the girls’ locker room to be sure.no one
could see her crying. When she came out she found Mary Gill and Susie Jacobson
waiting for her.

“It doesn’t
matter,” said Florentyna, trying to put a brave face on the result. “At least I
know both of you supported me.”

“We
couldnt.”

“Why couldn’t
you?” asked Florentyna in disbelief.

“We didn’t want
Miss Evans to know that we weren’t sure how to spell your name,” said Mary.

On the way home,
after Miss Tredgold had heard the story seven times, she made so bold as to ask
if the child had learned anything from the exercise.

“Oh, yes.”
replied Florentyna emphatically. “I’m going to marry a man with a very simple
name.”

Abel laughed
when he heard the story that night and repeated it to Henry Osborne over
dinner. “Better keep your eye on her, Henry, because it won’t be long before
she’s after your seat.”

“I’ve got
fifteen years before she can vote, and by then I’ll be ready to hand the
constituency over to her.”

“What are you
doing about convincing the International Relations Committee that we ought to
be in this war?”

“FDR will do
nothing until the result of the election is known. Everybody is aware of that,
including Hitler.”

“If that’s so, I
only pray that Britain won’t lose before we join in because America will have
to wait until November to confirm FDR as President.”

During the year
Abel broke ground on two more hotels, in Philadelphia and San Francisco, and
had begun his first project in Canada, the Montreal Baron. Although his
thoughts were rarely far from the success of the Group, something else still
remained on his mind.

He wanted to be
in Europe, and it wasn’t to build hotels.

At the end of
the fall term, Florentyna got her first spanking. In later life she always
associated this with snow. Her classmates decided to build a massive snowman,
and each member of the class had to bring something with which to decorate him.
The snowman ended up with raisin eyes, a carrot nose, potato ears, an old pair
of garden gloves, a cigar and a hat supplied by Florentyna. On the last day of
the term all the parents were invited to view the snowman, and many of them
remarked on its hat. Florentyna beamed with pride until her father and mother
arrived. Zaphia burst out laughing, but Abel was not amused at the sight of his
fine silk topper on the head of a grinning snowman. Once they had arrived home,
Florentyna was taken to her father’s study and given a long lecture on the
irresponsibility of taking things that did not belong to her. Abel bent her
over his knee and gave her three hard slaps with a hairbrush.

That Saturday
night was one she would never forget.

That Sunday
morning was one America would always remember.

The Rising Sun
appeared over Pearl Harbor on the wings of hostile aircraft and crippled the
U.S. battle fleet, virtually wiping out the base and killing 2,403 Americans.
The United States declared war on Japan the following day and on Germany three
days later.

Abel immediately
summoned George to inform him that he was going to join the American forces
before they sailed for Europe.

George
protested, Zaphia pleaded, and Fiorentyna cried. Miss Tredgold did not venture
an opinion.

Abel knew he had
to settle one final thing before leaving America. Hc called for Henry.

“Did you spot
the announcement in The Wall Street Journal, Henry? I nearly missed it myself
because of all the news about Pearl Harbor.”

“You mean the
merger of Lester’s with Kane and Cabot, which I predicted in last month’s
report? Yes, I already have the full details.” Henry took a file from his
briefcase and passed it to Abel. 1 guessed that was what you wanted to see me about.”

Abel flipped
through the file until he found the relevant article, which Henry had
underlined in red. He read the paragraph twice and then started to tap his
fingers on the table. “The first mistake Kane has made.”

“I think you may
be right,” said Henry.

“You’re earning
your fifteen hundred dollars a month, Henry.”

“Perhaps it’s
time to make it two thousand.”

“Why?”

“Because of
Article Seven of the new bank’s rules.”

“Why do you think
he allowed the new clause to be inserted in the first piace?” said Abel.

“To
protect himself.
It has obviously never occurred to Mr. Kane that someone might be trying to
destroy him, but by exchanging all his shares in Kane and Cabot for the
equivalent Lester shares he’s lost control of one bank and not gained control
of the new one because Lester’s is so much larger. While he only holds eight
percent of the shares in the new venture, he has insisted on that clause to be
sure he can stop any transaction for twelve months, including the appointment
of a new chairman.”

“So all we have
to do is get hold of eight percent of Lester’s stock and use his own specially
inserted clause against him as and when it suits us.” Abel paused. “I don’t
imagine that will be easy. “

“That’s why I’ve
asked you for a raise.”