The Jazz Age Chapter Two: The Love Nest
Charlie Desmond, the husband of Nancy Desmond, had a great faith in the future of America. Along with most of the men he knew, he thought the business of America was business and that was that. The business of America was business and the future of business looked good. No, he thought it was better than that. The business of America was business and the future of business looked smashing.
In the year 1928 that darling of the business community Mr. Bruce Barton announced to the country that Jesus Christ was the greatest businessman who ever lived. Hadn't Jesus brought together twelve top salesmen to sell religion to the world? Jesus would understand, Barton said. Jesus would understand, all right. Jesus would understand that business was something good. Business was the business of America. People had to understand that promoting American business was not only patriotic but enobling and virtuous.
Give of thyself to thy brethren by sharing in the consumption of what this great land produces. Salesmen were whipped into a fervor to get the people to buy, no matter how, get the first installment and a contract for the rest of the cost. Get them to buy. Get in the door and sell, sell, sell. And it worked. People bought. One company after another grew fat with profits. And there was cash aplenty, all the cash any business might need. Gold poured in from abroad in payment of loans to foreign countries and the banks were awash with cash. The bankers of America quickly loaned the money out to the American businessman to pump up the business boom even further.
Stock market speculation was now feverish, broker loans to investors greater than ever before in history. The country seemed headed for unlimited prosperity, the number of millionaires doubling each year, paradise just over the horizon. The Secretary of Commerce Mr. Herbert Clark Hoover proclaimed: "We in America today are nearer to the final triumph over poverty than ever before in the history of any land. The poor-house is vanishing from among us."
In the meantime Charlie and Nancy Desmond's townhouse in Gramercy Park was anything but a poor-house. Charles Earnest Desmond achieved his dreams of success in the five years between 1923 and 1928. He was among the first of the new generation of Wall Street attorneys to specialize in consolidations, mergers, malgamations, and absorptions of American corporations, the fusion of property, ownership, and management of business concerns. He chose well. By 1925 American business was already showing signs of merger fever, mergers and more mergers of corporations and public utilities and banks resulting from the enormous amount of cash available. By 1928 Charlie Desmond was a senior partner in the law offices of Haskins, Mason, and Shibley, and at the age of thirty-eight he had a net income of nearly eighty thousand dollars a year. In 1928 that was enough to make a man feel rich. That was enough money to buy ten fully equipped Lincoln towncars. In addition to the income from Charlie's law practice, the Desmonds had by way of Nancy's money substantial stock in the Chrysler Motor Company. In 1928 the stock was worth twenty times what they'd paid for it in 1923.
Now at the end of a long day in the middle of October, Charlie was in his office thinking about relaxation. His desk was clean and in ten minutes the driver provided by the firm would have the Cadillac waiting for him on Broad Street. Charlie pulled the telephone toward him, lifted the receiver and dialed a number.
"Garage," a voice on the line said.
"This is Mr. Desmond. Tell Dugan I'm using a taxi this evening. Tell him I'll see him in the morning as usual."
"Yes, Mr. Desmond."
And that was that. Charlie felt better now. Once a decision was made he always felt better about it. He left his briefcase on the desk because he knew he wouldn't be needing it tonight. He put on his coat and hat and a few minutes later he was down on the street waving his arm at a cab.
"220 West Forty-eighth Street," Charlie said.
He checked his pocket to make sure he had the key. That was one key he never kept in his key-case.
* * *
The building had a doorman, a clean lobby, and two elevators. Charlie rode one of the elevators to the eighth floor and then he walked down the corridor to the door he wanted.
He pushed the buzzer and waited, and when he decided she wasn't home he used his key. He opened the door, walked inside and closed the door behind him.
"Rita?"
Just to make sure she wasn't in the bathroom or asleep on the bed. But after a quick glance into the bedroom, he was certain she was out. Maybe shopping or at the hairdresser. This was one of the days she expected him and he had no doubt she'd arrive soon.
He slipped out of his coat and he hung it in the hall closet. Then he brought some ice out of the refrigerator and he carried it to the living room to mix a Scotch highball. He sipped the drink and he felt better. When he visited Rita the first drink always made him feel better.
The furniture still looked good. She'd been in the apartment six months now, but she took care of things. She was a neat girl, no sign of a mess, no ashes in the ashtrays. He'd bought some of the furniture second-hand, but it looked good as new and Rita said she liked everything.
He took his jacket off, and then he removed his tie and opened his collar. Then he heard the key in the door, and when he turned around the door opened and Rita came in.
"Charlie honey."
"Hello kitten."
She slipped her coat off and smiled at him. She wore red lipstick, a necklace of black beads, a red dress with a pleated skirt and red shoes with high heels. She was a dark-haired girl with a big bust and long legs, just his type. Nancy had no bust at all, but Nancy was his wife and he didn't mind it. Rita was something else.
She came over to him now and she leaned forward to kiss his lips.
"I love Manhattan," she said.
She'd arrived in New York two years ago from Easton, Pennsylvania.
"I guess you had a nice time today," Charlie said.
"I'm getting an audition at the Harem Club."
"You're not serious."
"No, I mean it. I have a friend who works there and she's fixed it for me."
"Well, that's fine. We can drink to that."
After she poured some Scotch into a glass, they drank a toast to the audition at the Harem Club. He'd been in the place once or twice, and he remembered the chorus girls didn't wear much when they came out to do their number.
"Will you come to see me if I dance there?"
"What do you think?"
"I think you'll come to see me."
Then she came into his arms and he kissed her. She pressed against him and he could feel her breasts against his chest. She still had her heels on and she was a little taller than he was. He put his drink down on the closest table and he kissed her again. Her mouth had a sweet taste and he always liked it. He ran his hands over the curves of her ass and then he squeezed her buttocks while he had his tongue in her mouth.
She pulled her mouth away and tickled his ear with her lips. "I think you're hot," she said.
"You can find out."
"I already know it."
"I can't stay long."
She pouted at him. "You always say that."
"Well it's true."
She touched him then. She passed her right hand over his fly and pressed against it. "I hope I get that job at the Harem Club."
"Maybe you will."
Her fingers worked at the buttons. Then she slid her hand inside his fly and she brought his penis out in the open. "Mmmm, he's ready for it, isn't he? Let's get some of your clothes off. You just sit down on the sofa."
He sat down and watched her while she removed his shoes. She was a sweet girl and he liked the way she treated him. He wasn't that happy about the Harem Club. She'd be out there dancing half naked and maybe soon he'd find himself with competition. He had enough competition downtown and he didn't need it here too.
After the shoes were off, she pulled his suspenders down and then she pulled his trousers off his legs. And then his undershorts. Now all he had on was the white shirt and the black socks held up by garters on his calves. His cock stuck out like a pink flagpole. She smiled at it, used two fingers to pull the foreskin down to expose his glans, then lowered her face to get the knob in her mouth.
Nancy did it once in a while, but she was never as good as Rita. When Nancy did it there was always a reason for it, something she wanted from him, a promise about something. It was never money because she had money of her own and she could buy nearly anything she wanted. Whatever it was, she never told him about it until later, maybe the next day, and then he would learn what it was and why she had done it in the first place. With Rita there was never something he was going to find out tomorrow. She did it because she knew he liked it. He paid the rent and he gave her money to live on and he'd put the furniture in the place and if he liked it she would do it. They never talked about it but they both understood it. It was honest, wasn't it? Maybe it was more honest than what he had with Nancy.
