“THE DAY OF CALAMITY” – EXCERPT #2
I worked my way up to the King’s X over on 1st and Broadway and took a seat at the counter. That was where I first encountered Jennie Palmer roughly six months earlier. Even though she recently graduated from North High School, her mind worked like a forty-year-old dame who had seen a thing or two. A wizened girl of the street who didn’t have secretarial college in her future. Just as easily, she would fall back into sweet and innocent mode if it suited her. Her arms were in constant motion, whether it was wiping down the counter, pouring a cup of coffee, or scooping empty plates away from satisfied customers. Her mind worked as deftly and too often more quickly.
“Cheeseburger and coffee, Jennie.”
“Good thing you ain’t Kosher with that milk and meat thing.” She was right. I thought about all the culinary delights I would have to give up if I followed my religion a little more strictly. That would include the delightful ham-and-Swiss on rye from the Old Mill. My attitude was the Lord was more concerned about following His laws than His menu. Maybe it was a rationalization. Since He hadn’t struck me down thus far, I figured on following the dictates of my stomach.
The lunch crowd worked their way in and out of the small café as I wiped meat grease off my chin and got a couple of refills of java. No one from the place begrudged me a spot after I smacked down an attempted robber last winter. I had a permanent reservation even though this wasn’t the Ritz. Jennie finally came back and leaned her elbows on the counter, staring at me like a starry-eyed bobby-soxer.
“You know a lot of gals who hang out at the jazz clubs?” I asked casually.
“Oh sure. It feels daring and dangerous.”
“And who doesn’t like danger, right?”
“Oh, not me. I like gentle, mellow crooners. Give me Freddy Martin and Eddie Howard any day of the week.”
Anyone listening to our conversation would have thought young Miss Palmer to be a shy and assuming maiden. However, as she decided not to attend college, she worked as often as she could, breakfast shifts, lunch shifts, or the late-night crowd. She saw things and heard things about parts of the city I did not have access to, while no one paid her any mind. Those qualities made her an invaluable resource for me. Her disarming smile opened doors a mug like me found closed.
“Maybe a few of these gals come in for an after-hours bite?”
“Maybe a few.”
“High on hooch perhaps?”
She stood up straight, those starry eyes now clear as the sky after a summer rain.
“Or other things.”
Private detective Harold Bergman stood as a testament to his former life as a Wichita Kansas policeman. Having endured the brutalities of World War II, he carries a slight but noticeable limp, a constant reminder of the battles fought on distant shores. As a Jew, his identity is woven into the very fabric of his being, but he cannot fulfill his father’s wishes that he become a rabbi, and instead faces a world where the laws of God and the laws of man don’t make sense, taking it upon himself to find the Truth and perhaps himself.
Harold finds himself entangled in the lives of a spoiled daughter, and the wayward husband of a devout colored woman. Their cases take Harold on a perilous journey into the depths of a dark underworld, where shadows dance with malicious intent and faith emerges as his sole weapon. Failure to wield it will usher in a day of calamity.
“The Day of Calamity” , The Wichita Chronicles Volume 1 will be released on November 29, 2023.
