Cracked Ice - Part 5

“CRACKED ICE” by Leora Tozer © 2013 - Part 5

Herb talked to his brothers briefly and left for his meeting. Leo and Art left for lunch. Henry stood in the doorway and asked, “Do you want to help me shop for books?”

“Are you asking me to spend your money on books? How can a girl say no to that?” I replied. 

“I should have known. A woman wouldn’t turn down a chance to spend my money,” Henry teased.

“Ah, but who are we spending the money on?” I asked.

“Books for me,” he answered.

“See,” I replied. “That’s how I’m different.”

“Let’s go, wiseacre.” Henry grabbed my left elbow and led me towards the door. After we walked out of the building, he locked up the office.

Henry drove towards Hollywood Blvd. and parked the car on the 6600 block. We entered the bookstore. The store owner was in the middle of the store, talking with a group of friends.

I walked over to a shelf and started looking at the titles. One area had current books and another area had modern classics. Henry had gone to a back shelf in the store. I was looking for some of my favorite books of the era, when I glanced up and saw Henry motioning for me to come over there.

I walked over and saw he was holding a book, so I asked, “What did you find?”

He raised his eyebrows at me and replied, “I’ve found the ‘Sexual Lives of the Savages’. Now we can have afternoon reading hour.”

“Who’s to define either?” I responded. “I was going suggest some wholesome classics as Lawrence’s ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover’ and Huxley’s ‘Brave New World’.”

“If I get ‘Lady Chatterley’s Lover,’ will you call me Tiger?” Henry asked. 

I replied, “It depends if the situation warrants it.” 

“Like a search warrant? I could search you without a warrant,” he teased. “Do they have Huxley?” 

“I was just going to check,” I replied. “If you don’t behave, I’ll buy you ‘Elmer Gantry’.” 

“Buy me what you want,” he answered. “I’m in your hands."

“What do you want to read?” I asked. “I wouldn’t want you to get something you wouldn’t enjoy.” 

“I like the suggestions so far,” Henry said. “Anything else?” 

“People don’t read enough H. G. Wells. And, do you like poetry? Or short stories?” I queried. 

“Let’s just get a couple of books today,” Henry decided. 

We found a few books, including “Brave New World” and “Elmer Gantry.” Henry paid the book seller for the books and we headed for the door. Henry looked back wistfully and said, “I should have gotten the savages book for you to read to me out loud.” 

After we came back to the office, I sorted and filed letters the rest of the afternoon. This could be a pretty interesting job. I like getting things organized and putting a system into place that could be used by others. 

I also liked the energy of the office. It’s enjoyable to work for kind and fun people. Of course, the flirting is just the way men in the 1930s communicated with women. It didn’t really mean anything else. I decided to ignore any odd fascination I might be feeling about any of my bosses. 


To be continued...