Lyle's first day of the Jazz age

Lyle drove slowly through the residential areas of St. Louis. He still couldn’t believe he was here. In St. Louis. In 1922, with a beautiful woman, one he didn’t know. He risked a sidelong glance, she smiled. “I’m Ellen, Bobby’’s wife’s cousin. You are?”

“I am Lyle."

“We’ve known Porter Jones for a long time, Robert said he recommended you. Turn, here!” she pointed and waved excitedly at the rear bumper of the car Robert was driving. Lyle's face turned red and not just from embarrassment, he forgot that there was no power steering in 1922. He didn’t say anything else, and didn’t really hear what Ellen was saying. He followed Robert around a series of curves and up a long drive. Robert pulled into a large building that looked like it had once been a horse barn, got out and waved to Lyle to pull into the next stall. Lyle pulled up and shut the car off. He sat there for a long moment reveling in the fact that he had just driven a brand new 1922 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost through part of St. Louis, in 1922.

“Come in, I’ll introduce you to my brother Lenny” Lyle nodded, got out, grabbed his bag from the back seat, and started following Robert out of the barn/garage. A horn honked, Lyle jumped and he and Robert both turned back towards the cars. Ellen was still seated in the car frowning. “It is customary when a man drives a woman somewhere He opens the door for her when they arrive.” Robert gave him a half smile. Lyle reddened again and hurried back to let Ellen out of the car.

Robert opened the first door on the right as they entered the house, the women walked on past giggling. “This is my brother, Lenard. Lenny, this is Lyle.”

Lyle extended his hand and looked up, Lenard was even taller than Robert, both had sandy brown hair cut short, green eyes, square jaw, and large ears. Lenard had a scar on his left cheek running from under his eye to his jawline, Robert was a little thinner and about an inch shorter. “Pleased to meet you, it was a pleasure driving your car.”

“Thank you, you helped us out of a tight spot.” Lenny pulled a roll of bills out of his pocket and handed Lyle a twenty and turned away slightly.

Lyle nodded, “thank you” he slid the bill into his pocket and turned toward the door.

Robert faced his brother. “I like him, and Porter Jones recommended him.”

“Bobby, he’s a runt, he can’t me more than five feet tall, and a hundred pounds wringing wet.”

Lyle stopped, took a deep breath and let it out slowly, turned back around and took a step toward Leonard. “I am five feet, five inches and one hundred thirty-five pounds, and a black belt in Karate.” He looked up and met the larger man’s gaze. Lenard stared at him for a few seconds and laughed. He reached out and gripped Lyle on the shoulder. “Bobby will walk you out.”

Lyle and Robert walked down the winding driveway in silence for several minutes. They both spoke at once. “Do you know of a good boarding house?”

“Thank you for helping us out today.”

They both laughed. “Seriously, why did you pick me to help you? I 'm sure there were close to a hundred other people there, and I am a runt."

“Porter Jones helped us out when we first came to St. Louis sixteen years ago. I was 14 and Lenny was 16. We have built a good business and Porter Jones has sent us several good workers over the years. He seems to be a good judge of character.”

“Ok” Lyle said aloud, to himself he thought “what does Porter Jones know? And who are these brothers really?” he turned to ask about the boarding house again when he felt someone behind him, coming at him fast, he reacted instinctively. His would-be attacker Looked up at him from road. Robert was standing a few feet away with a wide grin on his face.

“Meet Eugene, he works security for us, he was tasked with testing you, to see if you were misrepresenting yourself or not. Either you are not or you are extremely lucky. Let’s walk back up to the house and see what other job Lenny has for you.”

Lyle sat on his bed looking out his window, down at the street, full of people, cars, and a few horse drawn vehicles. His head was spinning. He got on a train in Washington DC October Friday October 13, 2023, and got off the train on Saturday October 14, 1922. He had driven a brand new 1922 Rolls Royce Silver Ghost; and gotten paid twenty dollars. He was to report to the Barone’s house on Tuesday afternoon at one. He had a tiny second floor apartment, the only one in the building with its own sink, toilet and tub. Some of the others had sinks and toilets. Others had sinks, some had neither with the tenants having to go to the shared bathroom at the end of the hall for water. His new landlady, Mrs. Smith was nice enough but there was something about her manner that was odd. Robert had recommended her and she said that the best apartment she had, had just become available, all rents were due on the first of the month but she could let him have the rest of October for $30 dollars, Then it would be $80 a month. He felt both relieved and uneasy about the smooth efficiency in which he was set up. He had sensed a current of some kind between his new landlady and his new boss. Or rather his new boss's brother. He looked around his new home, there was a cupboard with a few dishes, and a large metal bowl, a couple of dish towels, a hot plate, and a coffee pot. He saw what looked like a small refrigerator but it turned out to be an ice box. The only other furniture was a table with two chairs, and a small lumpy sofa. The bedroom contained a single bed, a chest of drawers, and a small wardrobe, containing a few odd shaped wire clothes hangers. In one of the drawers he found some scraps of paper and stubby pencil and began a list of things he needed.

A knock on the door broke his concentration. The door opened to reveal a young woman in clean but worn baggy dark grey pants and a loose fitting, pale yellow shirt. “Hello, I’m Ida. I clean, do laundry and run errands for people that live around here. I worked for the man that used to live here and was wondering if you would like a similar arrangement.”

Lyle looked her over, she was thin but not delicate, she looked sturdy and healthy, he looked straight into her dark brown, almost black eyes and saw a strength he hadn’t seen in many people. Her short black hair was held out of her face with a grey cloth that complemented the colors of her pants and shirt. Her round face reminded him of the first cup of coffee his grandmother gave him, mostly cream but enough coffee to add color and flavor.

“I could really use some help, I arrived on the train this morning with one duffel bag of belongings. I am making a list of things I need, but it might be easier if I made a list of the things I need to get.” he smiled at her.

She laughed softly, “May I come in? I may be able to help” . He opened the door wider and moved aside, she strode into the room with confidence and looked around, she opened the cupboards and drawers and looked into the bedroom and bathroom. Then turned to him and said, “I’ll be right back.” She returned a few minutes later with a stack of linens that she placed on the bed. A boy with a similar complexion followed her carrying a large bowl that Lyle realized was a wash basin, filled with kitchen utensils. "This is my brother, Willy, he helps me with pickups and deliveries, and runs other errands for people. What stores do you usually shop at?”

Lyle caught himself before he replied “Walmart” then said “It’s is my first day in St. Louis, I don’t have a preference yet. I guess the one we can walk to.”

Ida nodded “we have about three hours before the shops start closing.” Lyle followed Ida out of the apartment and locked the door behind them. Willy ran ahead and disappeared down another hall, he came back pulling a Radio Flyer red wagon, with wooden sides added on.

“Mr., if you give me fifty cents I’ll get you a block of ice and put it in your Ice box then meet you at the grocer.”

“Carter, Lyle Carter,” Lyle dug into his pocket and handed the boy two coins, “Here you go,” The boy was half way down the block in seconds. Lyle laughed, and turned to Ida, she was grinning and shaking her head. “What? Lyle asked. She opened her mouth to say something then changed her mind and started walking down the sidewalk.

Lyle was in a daze as he paid for his groceries. He'd gotten bread, milk, eggs, coffee, tea, honey, Butter, round steak, potatoes, salt, pepper, and six bottles of coke for under ten dollars. Willy appeared at the grocer and put their purchases in his wagon. “Where will you be next?”

Lyle laughed, “I need a watch and writing supplies.” The trio headed out, Willy started back toward the apartment building when a car sped past in a cloud of dust. There were gun shots. Willy ducked down behind the wagon, Lyle stepped in front of Ida, his heart pounding, They’d been shot at. Why? He was supposed to be safe here. People were running and screaming, and the car disappeared around the corner. Then he noticed a man lying on the sidewalk about six feet away from him bleeding. He could see willy looking around the wagon, he turned to Ida “Are you alright?” he expected her to be scared and maybe she was but it was anger that was most evident.

“Those Hogan boys need to keep their war away from this neighborhood!”

“Who are the Hogan Boys?”

Willy came back over to them “They are bootleggers fighting with Eagan’s Rats, they’re both applesauce to come over here shooting.” Lyle looked down at the boy, thoroughly confused, He was relieved that they weren’t shooting at him though. Lyle gathered though the chaos of the crowd, that the man wasn’t dead but was bleeding badly.

Ida pulled on his arm, her face was red, her eyes wide but she was fighting to stay calm. “If you don’t want anything fancy I think we can find you a watch and stuff at the pawnshop around the corner.”

“That would be great.” They walked down the sidewalk, Lyle noticed that Willy stayed next to the building and Ida kept him between her and the street. “Are we going to need to talk to the Police”

“Probably not, they know who did it, it could have been a policeman in the car shooting. Here we are.” They stopped in front of a display window filled with a variety of items, chairs, clothing, musical instruments among other things. Lyle was still thinking about the gangs, the shooting and bootlegging when Ida pulled him into the store.

“Can I help you with something?” A young man wearing brown wool pants, a light brown shirt with blue pinstripes, suspenders and sleeve garters stood behind the counter.

“I need a simple pocket watch that keeps good time, and some paper and pencils, pens maybe.”

“Hello Ida, is he a friend of yours?”

“He moved into Claude’s apartment today and needs a few things, we are helping him out." The two exchanged a look that let Lyle know there were things about Claude that weren’t being said.

“Here are our watches, do you see any you like?”

A few minutes later they left with a plain silver plated pocket watch with a chain, and leather wallet with a money clip, and a box of writing supplies with letterhead from a motel Lyle had never heard of. Willy was standing outside the door talking with several other boys about his age explaining in great detail the shooting they’d witnessed earlier. Lyle wondered how he saw all that from behind a wagon full of groceries but just smiled at them. They walked toward the apartment building.

“What do you think of St. Louis so far?”

Lyle thought for a moment he didn’t want to say “It stinks” so he said “the smells are somewhat stronger than what I’m used to.”

“You should be glad you don’t live right next to the meat processing plant. It is over a mile away.”

Lyle took a deep breath and coughed, “I am glad of that. I am getting hungry though, how about you?”

Ida didn’t answer right away and Lyle was afraid he had offended her with the question. Willy wasn’t offended in the least. “I’m starving”

“Willy!” Ida’s face turned red.

Lyle laughed, “it’s fine, let me take you both out for supper, you have been a big help to me today. What’s your favorite restaurant?”

Lyle half listened to the two siblings discussion about food, Jazz and clubs. He was beginning to think he would survive this new place and new/old century, he had an apartment, new friends, and a new job. Well he had one shift but he was optimistic that if that didn’t work out he could find something else and the icing on the cake he saw his first drive by shooting, and they weren’t aiming for him.