Big Business
Lesson One
Text: Big Business
Grammar: The Infinitive (contd). Complex Subject.
For-Complexes.
Big Business
Danny was standing on Manhattan Bridge.1 Suddenly he noticed a still burning cigarette-end on the sidewalk2 and rushed to save it. A few deep puffs and Danny sent little blue clouds of smoke into the mild air of the early morning.
While enjoying the smoke he thought over his present situation. What's the use of it all, he said to himself; here I am a young man looking for a job of some kind or other—but not the ghost of a chance3 of getting one.
And I am certainly no fool! I am good at anything, I don't mind what I do—and still—no luck ... I must smoke dog-ends4 thrown away by others ... Oh boy!5 what does a man do to become a partner of Rockefeller or Vanderbilt?6 ... I am quite sure they were not very particular about the way in which they made their money—and I shouldn't be either!
... And still, there is only eight dollars and fifty cents in the torn pocket of my trousers. Eight dollars and fifty cents! The devil knows how much longer I shall be able to make both ends meet on eight fifty! A week? A fortnight? A month? Where, for Heaven's sake, could I pick up a job?
Damn it all! Now it is beginning to rain cats and dogs7 on top of all, and I have a hole in my shoes. A hole? It's holes I have, nothing but holes and no shoes around them ... Where can I hide from the rain? I'll go into the Post Office for a while.
By the time he reached the Post Office he was nearly wet through. Now he stood in the main hall of the post office, watching the people hurrying busily this way and that, and then picked up a letter somebody seemed to have left behind on one of the many writing desks. He read the first few lines, hardly knowing what exactly he was reading; then something struck him. He read again, and this time he gave a low, long whistle of surprise. In no time8 he was out in the street again, looked stealthily back, and hiding in a doorway started to learn by heart the short note.
"Dear Friend", it said. "Yesterday, shortly before I left I made up my mind to get rid of my old clothes. I am well on my way9 to San Francisco10 by now, but I just remembered something terrible.
The night before I left I happened to meet Mr. Burbridge at the Savoy.11 He paid off an old debt. He gave me a one thousand dollar bill, and I put it into the inside pocket of the blue worsted suit I was wearing. But I have sold that suit along with the other old things. Do please go at once to Black, the old clothes dealer, at 3, Pineapple Street, Brooklyn,12 may be he has not resold the suit yet..."
One thousand dollars! whispered Danny, almost beside himself with excitement. That sum might be the making of me ... Damn it, I am going to risk my last eight dollars!
* * *
Black & Son, second hand gents' clothiers,13 had their shop full of customers when Danny entered. Old man Black, his sleeves rolled up, was wiping the sweat off his face, and after giving instructions to his employees who were busy carrying clothes about the shop, hurried towards Danny to serve him.
"What can I do for you, sir?"
"Have you got anything in tweed?" asked Danny with seeming indifference.
"Tweed, sir? Certainly, sir, the very latest ... My assistant will attend to you. John, run and bring the tweed suit we bought from Mr. Rockefeller the other day!"
"Now I come to think of it,"14 said Danny who seemed to be changing his mind, "I think I would rather have something in worsted."
"Just my own taste, sir! Worsted is always the smartest wear for a gentleman."
"Well—I think I'd like to have something in navy blue—"
"I can let you have a suit like that, sir. Something quite exceptional," exclaimed Mr. Black. "I say, John, leave the tweed, bring the blue worsted one... Yes, the one we have from Mr. Gould—it will be just the right size." And then Mr. Black turned to another customer.
"The blue lounge suit!"15 cried the attendant to a small boy. "Run, Ralph, be sharp! Get us the navy worsted lounge suit!"
The boy hurried off and a second later Danny was trying on a jacket that hung loosely from his narrow shoulders.
"Fits you like a glove, sir!" exclaimed the attendant in admiration. "A suit made to measure by a first-class tailor couldn't fit you better — "
Carefully and yet stealthily Danny passed his hand over the pockets of the jacket, his heart almost stopped beating, he had to clear his throat. Then he asked for the price, and without bargaining he paid the price of seven and a half dollars, and a quarter of an hour later he sat in Columbus Park16 with a large parcel in his hands. He couldn't help feeling excited.
Hurriedly he opened the parcel, took out the navy blue jacket in the right inside pocket of which he found a black leather wallet, opened it and began to count the money with shaking hands.
"Eleven thousand three hundred dollars!" he stammered. "Eleven— thousand—three—hundred—dollars! Danny, old boy, that was big business, indeed!"...
* * *
When Mr. Black closed his shop long after nine p.m., his managing clerk
said to him with a satisfied smile:
"Well, sir, that was excellent business again today, wasn't it? ... We are getting rid of all our old things. We are doing very good business in those cheap suits!"
"Fine," said Mr. Black smiling. "Did you manage to write those letters?"
"Certainly, Mr. Black. Five hundred!"
"All right! My son will deal with that. Tomorrow morning he is going to 'lose' them again in the post offices, the subway and in the telephone boxes ... We shall sell out everything in a couple of days. A marvelous idea, those one thousand dollar letters!"
Mr. Black was searching about the shop for something.
"Ralph!" he called, "bring me my jacket!"
"Your jacket, sir?"
"Yes, I hung it here over the chair. The blue jacket!"
"Oh, that one ..," stammered the boy and opened his eyes wide, "that one was sold this afternoon, sir!"
NOTES
1.Manhattan Bridge: a bridge across the East River in New York City
2.sidewalk (Am. E): pavement
3.not the ghost of a chance: no chance at all
4.dog-end (sl): cigarette-end
5. Oh boy! (sl): an exclamation of surprise, wonder, etc.
6.Rockefeller, Vanderbilt: American capitalists, millionaires
7.rain cats and dogs (colloq): rain heavily
8.in no time: in a very short period of time (very emphatic)
9.I am well on my way to ...: I have covered the greater part of the distance to ...
10.San Francisco: a city on the coast of central California
11.Savoy: a fashionable hotel in New York
12.Brooklyn: a borough (district) in New York City. The other boroughs are: the Bronx, Manhattan, Queens, Richmond.
13.Black & Son, second hand gents' clothiers: магазин фирмы "Блэк и сын" по продаже поношенной мужской одежды
14.Now I come to think of it: поразмыслив; зд. нет, пожалуй ...
15.lounge suit: a suit of clothes of the kind usually worn during the day (contrasted with formal dress, evening dress, etc.) пиджачный костюм
16.Columbus Park: a small park in Manhattan.