Welcome to the World, Baby Girl! (33 page)

“You did, you were the cutest thing.”

Dena said, “How did she seem?”

“If anything, she was shy, she wouldn’t let anyone take her picture. I said as pretty as you were, you needed to have your picture made—but she wouldn’t.”

“Did she seem unfriendly?”

“Oh, no, she was very sweet and soft-spoken … but sort of reserved, wouldn’t you say, Norma?”

“Yes, I guess you could say that. Not that she wasn’t perfectly friendly, mind you.”

Aunt Elner agreed. “No, she was perfectly friendly and pleasant but you could tell right away that she was not one of those flighty young girls that some of the boys brought home. Not only was your mother pretty, she was refined and well spoken, and she wrote with a
beautiful hand. Well educated and from a good family but she never talked about them and we never asked. We didn’t want to open a sore spot, we thought if she wanted to talk about it she would, and after losing her entire family in a fire, then to lose Gene … I don’t know how she lived through it. Do you, Norma?”

“No, I kept thinking that she would talk about it but she never did the whole time she was here.”

“It must have been terrible for her, a young girl like that all alone in the world, her whole family gone. I don’t know how she stood it but you could tell it had affected her, she always seemed a little sad or something. Even though she never talked about it, you could tell she never got over it.”

“I read in the
Reader’s Digest
that a person that survives a tragedy goes through all kinds of guilt for being the one left alive,” Norma said. “She should have gone for some help. But back then, they didn’t have any, not like they do today. She did seem nervous, though, didn’t she, Aunt Elner?”

“Well, I wouldn’t go so far as to say nervous but she always seemed a little uneasy, looking over her shoulder like something was worrying her—sort of holding her back from really letting go and having fun. You were her only joy, you were the only thing I ever saw her eyes light up over. She never showed her emotions much. She didn’t cry or at least none of us ever saw her. She got a job and just went to work every day and came home and played with you at night. Otherwise, she never went out, never saw anybody. And then one day, when you were about four, she just up and left. Packed your things, took you out of nursery school, and left. She said she wanted to get a better job and she couldn’t get one in Elmwood Springs, so she just took off and she never came back. It broke your poor grandparents’ hearts.”

“Did you ever meet anybody she knew?” Dena asked. “Did anybody at all ever come to see her?”

Aunt Elner thought. “No … nobody ever did. She never had anybody come and see her, nobody except that Italian man that time.”

Norma looked at Aunt Elner. “Italian? You never told me about any Italian man.”

“Well, I forgot. I think he was an Italian or Greek or something, some kind of foreigner. I only saw him through a screen door but he had kind of slicky hair. He walked up on the porch and knocked on the door and asked if your mother lived there and Gerta went to get her and I can tell whoever he was she didn’t like him much, she didn’t even invite him in. Your mother had impeccable manners and that was not like her, but the minute she saw him, she took him way out on the sidewalk and away from the house. I was just sitting there in the living room and I couldn’t help but look. I could see right out the screen door. Whoever he was, your mother was not happy he showed up, I can tell you that. It looked like she was mad at him. And whatever she said must have run him off because after about ten minutes he was gone. When she came back in the house you could tell that she was still upset, her face was all flushed.”

Norma was amazed. “And she never said who he was?”

“No.”

“And you didn’t ask?”

“No, Norma, I don’t poke in other people’s affairs. Just pass and repass, I always say. She didn’t volunteer and we didn’t ask.”

“Are you sure she didn’t say anything? I can’t believe she didn’t say anything.”

“Norma, that was some thirty years ago.”

“Well, try and remember back.”

“She might have said something … let me search my memory. I think she might have said, ‘I’m sorry’ … yes, that’s right, she did. Like I said, your mother had beautiful manners. I think he may have been some old boyfriend who found out that her husband had been killed and showed up trying to get her to go out with him.”

“Did he ever come back?” Dena asked.

“No, not to my knowledge. But your mother left town shortly after that so I haven’t any idea if he ever bothered her again or not. But you know, you can’t blame the poor fellow, she was a pretty thing.”

Norma said, “Couldn’t you hear
any
thing? Did you hear what they were arguing about?”

“Oh, I could hear them, all right, but I couldn’t understand what they were saying. They were talking in a foreign language.”

“
Both
of them?”

“Well, sure, honey, you can’t have one person talking one language and the other one talking something else.”

“What language were they speaking?”

Aunt Elner said, “Well, now, that was the funny thing. Like I said, he looked Italian. But they were talking in German.”

Norma was not convinced. “Aunt Elner, now, think back: Are you
sure
it was German? Don’t you think it might have been Italian or maybe Spanish?”

Aunt Elner said, “No. Don’t forget your Uncle Will’s father was a Shimfessle. All he spoke was German, so I know German when I hear it. It was German, all right, that much I’m sure of.”

“Baby Girl knew her mother spoke German, didn’t you, honey?”

Dena said, “Oh, yes … I knew that.” Suddenly Dena began to feel anxious, and she didn’t know why she lied. She had no idea her mother had spoke German. She quickly changed the subject and did not bring it up again. The next morning a telegram arrived for her.

AM SORRY TO INFORM YOU THAT YOUR BELOVED AGENT AND SHOW BUSINESS ICON, SANDY COOPER, PASSED AWAY SUDDENLY LAST EVENING. PLEASE RETURN TO NEW YORK AT ONCE.

JULIAN AMSLEY, NETWORK PRESIDENT

Later that night when she got off the plane at La Guardia, Sandy said, “Well, how do I look for a dead man?”

Dena said, “Beautiful!” and kissed him, thrilled to be back.

One of the first things she did when she got back to her apartment was to sit down and type a letter.

As the months went by, Dena was getting better and better interviews. Her agent, Sandy, even heard serious rumblings. They were considering moving her to a coanchor spot on the six o’clock news. But in the meantime, Ira Wallace was happy with her work. The ratings were still climbing and upstairs was pleased, too. Production costs were small compared with the budget for an hour-long drama. News shows were suddenly big business.

Competition was heating up, too, and Dena’s interviews were getting rougher and rougher. It made her uneasy, particularly when she remembered that Howard Kingsley might be watching her.

Pete Koski had been elected governor of his state mostly because he had been a championship football star, but after twelve years in politics he had turned out to be a respected member of his party and now there was a lot of talk about him being asked to run for president in the upcoming campaign. Ira briefed her for the interview. As soon as she sat down and saw that look on Ira’s face, she knew something was coming, and prepared herself for the worst.

“Your Mr. Macho, hall of famer, Super Governor, has a son that’s as queer as a three-dollar bill. Got his little fairy butt kicked out of the army for playing house with some other fairy, but Koski
had it fixed so it wouldn’t show up on his record. How’s that for a nice little cherry bomb to throw in?”

“Oh, God, Ira, why won’t you let me just have one interview without trying to turn it into an ambush?”

“It’s the truth!” Wallace yelled defensively. “Capello got the goddamn report out of the goddamn military files and he’s got a statement from one of his boyfriends.”

Dena stared at him.

“Ira, I told you before I wouldn’t work with Capello. You lied. You didn’t fire him, did you?”

“You think I would quit working with the best son of a bitch in the business just because you don’t like him? Whata’ya think, I’m stupid? I got him outta your face, what else do you want from me? Now I’m not asking you, I’m telling you—you work for me, not Howard Kingsley, me! You ask the questions that I tell you to.”

“What does Howard Kingsley have to do with this?”

“Don’t play innocent with me. Everybody knows what’s been going on with you two. Who do you think you’re kidding?”

“Ira, I hope you’re not serious. You know that’s not true.”

“Hey, what you do is your own business. Just don’t try and con me.”

“Ira, you are disgusting, do you know that, a disgusting pig.”

“Oh, yeah, I’m terrible. Meanwhile, your sainted governor just got caught abusing his power. He bribed the United States Army, for Christ sakes. That’s a crime, kid, so don’t get all high and mighty with me. Sit down!”

Dena realized for the first time how utterly ruthless Ira Wallace could be. “You can’t be insulted, can you? You really don’t care what people think of you, not even me.”

“I see people for what they are; you see them for what you wish they were but they ain’t. And I’m warning you: if you want to stay on top in this business, you better get over this Doris Day phase you’re in or these new broads are gonna kick your ass. Here, read this.” He pushed a copy of a medical discharge toward her and an army psychiatrist’s private notes.

“See … he admits it. What more do you want?”

Dena looked at him in disbelief. “Ira, we can’t use this. This is illegal.”

“Oh, I know that, for Christ sakes. I just wanted you to see it, you’re always screaming about backup. So there it is—your goddamn backup.”

“How did Capello get this?”

“I don’t ask. I don’t care. He got it. Just ask the question.”

“Ira, this guy should be in jail—and that’s where you are going to wind up if you’re not careful. And I’d be going with you. I’m not doing it.”

“That’s final?”

“Yes,” said Dena, and she meant it. She had already ruined one man’s political life, she wasn’t going to do it again.

Wallace sat back and sadly shook his head. “I don’t understand you. I bring you into the bosom of my family, move your career along, and you have no loyalty, none at all.” He reached in his top drawer and pulled out a cigar cutter and clipped the end off a new cigar. “You know, kid, you are beginning to worry me. And I don’t like that. ’Cause when I worry I start looking around.”

“What does that mean?”

“You figure it out.”

“I see. That’s a threat. If I don’t do your on-air dirty work, you’ll find somebody who will, is that it?”

“No, no threat. You don’t want to do the story, what am I gonna do, force you? I’ll give it to Larry, he ain’t so particular.”

As Dena was leaving, Wallace said, “By the way, I hear your friend Kingsley is retiring.”

“What?”

“He’s retiring, all right. He’s getting his ass fired.”

“How—?”

“What is it they say? Old newsmen never die, their ratings just fade away.”

“Ira, don’t say stuff like that, not even joking. You know that’s a lie.”

“I hate to break your heart about your boyfriend but he’s getting canned. I got it on good authority. I make it my business to know what’s going on everywhere in the business.”

“Who told you that?”

“Never mind who. They are giving him an ultimatum. Either he retires or gets canned officially.”

“I don’t believe it.”

“Believe it. Do you know what that self-righteous son of a bitch was doing? He was redlining stories, leaving whole segments out. That senile old alligator was trying to control the news.” He laughed mirthlessly. “Oh, they’ll miss him. About a week or two at most. The man is a joke, and everybody in town knows it. About time somebody knocked him on his holier-than-thou, sanctimonious butt.”

Dena went back to her office, sick at what Wallace had said about Howard, and particularly about their relationship. Was he just trying to shake her up and knock her off balance or did everybody else think that, too? She thought about it, then buzzed Arnie, an editor at the network she liked, and asked him to have a drink with her after work.