Making it in Chesterville - Chapter 6

Our College Instructor wanted us to dabble in the Stock Market

 

Last year till Eureka Time

This last year had added interest for one of my instructors at college said he wanted us to dabble in the stock market.  He suggested we could do it on paper only or we could invest a few dollars and see if we could get rich. He emphasized the important thing was to learn as much as we could about how the market worked.

I took a hundred dollars and invested it in stocks and at the end of the year I had made a small gain nothing to get excited about but it was better than the rest of the class.

I graduated and got my degree and was trying to decide which of the offers for employment I wanted to take. It finally boiled down to a brokerage house and a large corporation as a bookkeeper.

I decided for New York.  I had to deal with my holdings in Chesterville for I wasn’t going back to being a farmer or a grease monkey. I did enjoy the atmosphere in Chesterville but opted for the excitement of the big city. I set it up so the farmer could buy the farms he was working and Ronnie and John to buy the service station.

I told them they could either keep Mr. Johnson on or let him go. They both said they wanted to keep him on for he kept things in order when predicaments would try to become problems.

With my bridges burned behind me so to speak there was no turning back and I had to make my new job work for me.

Being in the accounting department I learned everything about the money end and how they worked the phones of a brokerage house but not what was happening on the floor.

An older man I worked with taught me most of what I know.  He had traded for many years and I asked him if he was rich and he said no. I have enough but not rich.

When I asked why because he seem to fully understand how the market worked.

Not Rich, but Well Off

He said, “There are times I forget to use my head and facts and go on feelings. Then I lose all I made using my smarts.  He said I know better but it is like an addiction with me.”



He continued, “If you do like I say and not like I do then you can become rich or as well off as you want.”

The thought of becoming rich appealed to me. After two years it was like he said. I wasn’t rich, but according to Wall Street’s standards I was well off.

What a surprise

One day I received a phone call from Alice and she said she was coming to the City. I found out when she was going to arrive and met her at Grand Central Station.

She about hugged me to death she was so glad to see me.  After she made a pit stop we headed to my place.

I told her she could use the spare bedroom but she said, that won’t be necessary for she would just sleep with me.

I turned red and she burst out in laughter and I realized she was just teasing me.

I feebly tried to hide my embarrassment by saying; “I was going to suggest that but didn’t for some reason.”

She came over and hugged me again and said; “My friend, I’ve missed you.”

I said, “I’ve missed you also,” as I increased my hold on her.

I asked her how long she was staying and she said five days.  Well we will see what we can see during your stay.

Alice wanted to see the Statue of Liberty

Being Thursday she would be leaving on Tuesday. That would give us the weekend when I would be off.  She was awed by the tall buildings and the Stature of Liberty. That was the one thing she wanted to see.

We went to a couple of shows one of which was a vaudeville show; An Opera, the Ballet and the ferry to Staten Island.

One evening I said, “I have to ask you and if you don’t want to answer it’s okay.

Around the station the guys (more than one) said that they had their way with you and I didn’t believe them… was I wrong?”

She said, ‘Yes, I’m afraid you were.  There were many over the years and when I get home I’m going to marry a man that proposed to me.”

I said, “Do you think you will be satisfied with him?”

She smiled and said, “Yes he’ll do just fine.”

“You’re sure?”

“Yes quite sure.”

“Just one more question… why didn’t you ever with - - -“

Friends

She said, “Because you’re my friend.  Lovers don’t last but a friend can be forever. I didn’t want to lose you… my friend.”

We were quiet for some time just looking at one another and I said I’m glad we’re friends and didn’t mess it up.  We just hugged as friends for some time.

The next day I took her to the train and while waiting to board she said, “Something you may not know, Annie left Martin and is getting a divorce. She couldn’t stand him after a couple of months and family or no family she left him.

The families had pooled their money and tried to outspend each other. They ended up broke and are ready to be kicked out of the home they had bought together. It seems they couldn’t stand each other any better than Annie could stand Martin.”

After Alice left my thoughts turned back to Annie and what she must be going through.

I called Mr. Johnson and he told me about everything going on in Chesterville.

He said, “What you really want to know is how Annie is doing?”

I said, “Yes that would be nice for we were friends.”

“She is working at the Five and Dime and living alone. She doesn’t go out and her friends shun her now.”

We talked for some time and he told me the station was doing fine. Both boys have got married.  When the women around town found out they were businessmen they had their daughters down there drinking the Coke soda pop box empty. They couldn’t keep it filled up.

The boys picked out what they figured were the best of the litters and married them.

He said the soda pop business dropped off considerably after that.

To be Continued