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The Millionaire Owner Fell for the Only Woman in the Company Who Never Tried to Impress Him — Transcript

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0:00Minutes before the showing that would
0:01decide her job, a cup of coffee went
0:03down the front of her only good blouse.
0:06Hazel Whitfield was 28.
0:09The whole room waited for her to run.
0:12She sat down and finished her own cup.
0:15The millionaire owner stood with his
0:17arms crossed.
0:18He had not taken his eyes off her.
0:21That morning had started like any other.
0:24The trouble had started a month earlier
0:26on the first Monday of October.
0:29At 6:40 that Monday, Hazel stood in her
0:31kitchen in Queens and wrapped a snow
0:33globe in a wool scarf.
0:36The globe was glass, the size of a
0:38grapefruit, on a base of dark wood.
0:41Inside was a pond with a lamp post and
0:43two skaters no taller than a match, a
0:46man with his scarf blown out behind him,
0:48and a woman with one foot lifted.
0:51A brass key underneath wound the music.
0:54Beside the key, the base was stamped
0:56Ashby and Sons, Christmas 1979. It had
1:00stood for 47 years beside the cash
1:02register at Whitfield's Cards and
1:05Notions in Millbrook, 2 hours up the
1:07Hudson Valley. Hazel had come to that
1:10shop at 4 years old with one suitcase.
1:13Her mother had been 19 and had gone to
1:15California to find out who she was, and
1:18every Christmas she sent a card to say
1:20she was still looking.
1:22Aunt Ruth had counted the socks in the
1:23suitcase and put a stool behind the
1:25counter.
1:27From that stool, Hazel had learned the
1:29trade.
1:30The wire rack by the door squeaked on
1:32every turn. The shop smelled of paper
1:35and pencil shavings and the peppermints
1:37Ruth kept in a jar for children who
1:38behaved.
1:40Every morning before school, Hazel was
1:42allowed to wind the globe once.
1:44"11 turns of the key," Ruth said, "and
1:47stop, because the 12th one breaks the
1:49spring."
1:50She had wanted that globe the way other
1:52girls wanted a pony, and Ruth had always
1:54said it belonged to the shop. Then, on
1:57the September morning Hazel left for New
1:59York, her aunt had put it in her hands
2:01at the bus station.
2:03"The shop can spare it," Ruth had said.
2:06"Don't unpack it for 3 weeks. A new
2:08place has to take like a graft."
2:11Today made 3 weeks to the day.
2:14Hazel had started at Ashby and Sons on
2:16the 14th of September on 90 days of
2:18probation, and every other Friday she
2:21sent half of her pay to Millbrook.
2:23The landlord had raised the rent on the
2:25shop in the spring.
2:27Without her half, Ruth would be packing
2:29the wire rack into boxes by April.
2:32She rode into Penn Station on a monthly
2:34ticket and walked the seven blocks down
2:36to West 26th Street with the globe held
2:38against her coat.
2:40The Ashby building was 12 floors high
2:42and narrow, and it had made greeting
2:44cards since 1929.
2:47At the coffee cart by the door, she
2:48bought two blue and white paper cups as
2:51she did every morning. The second cup
2:53was for Amos Bell.
2:55Amos was 71 with a white beard and brass
2:58buttons on his uniform jacket, and he
3:00had run the building's elevator by its
3:02brass handle for 44 years.
3:05He stopped the car level with the floor
3:07every time to the width of a dime.
3:10The art floor was on seven with tall
3:12windows and slanted tables and a smell
3:15of gouache and coffee.
3:17Hazel's table was the last one beside
3:19the window that opened onto the fire
3:21escape.
3:22She had been hired to fit printed verses
3:24into layouts on a screen,
3:26but she had brought her brushes from
3:27Millbrook, and Mr. Pruitt, the art
3:29director, had asked her for one
3:31hand-lettered line in gold as a sample.
3:34She came in early to work on it.
3:36She set the globe on the corner of her
3:38table behind the jar of brushes and did
3:41not wind it.
3:42Then she mixed her gold.
3:45Gold ink gives you about a minute.
3:47If you lift the brush and come back, the
3:49joint shows forever. At 8:00, Hazel was
3:52on the word Christmas with her wrist off
3:54the paper and her breath held when the
3:57floor around her went silent and 40
3:59chairs scraped back at once.
4:02She did not look up.
4:04A dark sleeve had stopped beside her
4:05table and a man's voice said, "Good
4:08morning."
4:09"One second, please." Hazel said to the
4:11paper.
4:13"If I stop now, the line dries crooked."
4:16Nobody on the floor breathed.
4:18The sleeve stayed where it was.
4:20She finished the last letter, drew the
4:22tail out thin, and lifted the brush.
4:26It had taken perhaps 40 seconds.
4:28Then she looked up.
4:30He was about 35, tall, with light brown
4:33hair and blue eyes in a charcoal
4:35three-piece suit, a white shirt, and a
4:38dark green tie.
4:40He was looking at the wet line.
4:42Everyone else on the floor was standing.
4:44"Did it dry straight?" he asked.
4:47"It will." Hazel said. "Thank you for
4:49waiting."
4:51He nodded and went on to the far wall
4:53where the boards for the new line were
4:54pinned up.
4:56The line was called Ashby Now. The cards
4:59were gray, each with a few small words
5:02in lower case.
5:04One said,
5:05"Thinking of you." or "Whatever."
5:07Besides the boards stood a woman of
5:09about 40 in a white pantsuit with her
5:11blonde hair pulled back into a smooth
5:14knot.
5:15"Six months in the stores." the man said
5:17to the floor. "What do we think of it?"
5:20"Very clean." said a young man named
5:21Brent.
5:23"Very fresh." said Tessa, the girl
5:25beside him.
5:26Then the man in the suit looked down the
5:28row of tables to the last one. "And
5:30you?" he asked.
5:32"You're new."
5:33"Hazel Whitfield." she said.
5:35"They're handsome cards. I only wonder
5:37who I'd send one to."
5:39She heard her own voice going on and
5:41could not find the place to stop it.
5:44"I grew up in a card shop.
5:46People come in with somebody in mind, a
5:48sister who's sick, or a boy who shipped
5:50out.
5:51My aunt would pick that one up and turn
5:53it over twice and put it back because
5:55she couldn't tell who it was for.
5:58The woman in white smiled.
6:00"Our customer is nobody's aunt," she
6:02said.
6:03"Thank you, Ms. Whitfield," the man
6:05said.
6:06He looked at her a moment longer,
6:08and then Amos took him up in the
6:09elevator.
6:11The chairs came back in.
6:13Mr. Pruitt arrived at her table
6:14sideways, like a man approaching a
6:16spill.
6:18"That was Graham Ashby," he said.
6:20"He owns the building, the presses, and
6:22the paper in front of you.
6:24He's been away at the mill in Wisconsin
6:26since before you came.
6:28The lady is Vivian Marsh, vice president
6:30of marketing.
6:32Ashby now is hers."
6:34"I thought he might be somebody," Hazel
6:36said. Everyone stood up.
6:38Her hands did not start to shake until
6:41Mr. Pruitt had gone.
6:43She put the brush in the water and held
6:45the edge of the table and counted.
6:4890 days and 21 of them used.
6:51She had told the owner to wait, and she
6:54had told the vice president her cards
6:56were for nobody.
6:57Under the counting stood Ruth at the bus
7:00station with her hands empty.
7:02She looked at the line.
7:04With love at Christmas, it had dried
7:07straight.
7:08Upstairs on the ninth floor, Graham
7:10Ashby sat at his father's desk and was
7:13annoyed for most of the morning.
7:16Nobody had asked him to wait for
7:17anything in 3 years, since his father
7:20died in the spring of 2023.
7:23Every idea he had was a good one.
7:26He had put it down to respect. Around
7:29noon, he noticed that waiting had cost
7:31him 40 seconds and done him no harm.
7:35The sales sheets for Ashby now had been
7:37on his desk since August, and stores
7:40were sending the gray cards back by the
7:41carton. He had said nothing, and neither
7:44had 40 people downstairs.
7:47A girl with gold on her fingers had said
7:49it in one breath because he asked.
7:52At 4:00, he stood up to stretch his
7:54back.
7:55His window looked across the narrow
7:56court to the back wing of the building.
7:59Two floors down, on the iron landing of
8:01the fire escape, three people were
8:03having coffee.
8:05One was Amos on his break.
8:08One was Dolores, the small dark woman
8:10who cleaned the offices in the evenings,
8:12already in her blue smock.
8:14The third had dark wavy hair that was
8:17coming out of its pins. She reached back
8:19through the open window and brought out
8:21something round.
8:23She turned something underneath it with
8:24great care and held it up between the
8:27two old people.
8:29Amos took off his cap.
8:31Dolores put her head on one side.
8:34Graham could not see what it was or hear
8:36a note through the glass.
8:38He stood there until they had finished
8:40listening, and then he went down the
8:42stairs.
8:43He told himself he wanted air.
8:45By the time he climbed out through the
8:47seventh floor window, Amos and Dolores
8:49had gone back to work.
8:51Hazel sat alone on the landing with a
8:53cup in each hand.
8:55She had been telling herself the day
8:56could not get worse.
8:58Then a charcoal trouser leg came over
9:00the sill.
9:02"Mind the third step," she said before
9:04she could think.
9:06"It rings."
9:07He put his foot on it anyway, and it
9:09rang like a dropped pan.
9:11"So it does," Graham said.
9:14He stood there in his vest and tie with
9:16nowhere to put his hands.
9:19Hazel held up the second cup.
9:21"After half past three, the cart man
9:23gives me four for the price of three,"
9:26she said.
9:27"This one hasn't been touched."
9:29"I should tell you it's a dollar coffee
9:31in case you're used to better."
9:33He took it and sat down on the sill with
9:35his knees up.
9:37"I'm used to a silver pot that somebody
9:39carries in," he said. "It's never hot."
9:42He drank. "This is hot."
9:45She waited for him to bring up the
9:46morning.
9:48He looked at the wooden water tanks on
9:49the roofs instead.
9:51"Where is this card shop?" he asked.
9:54So, she told him about Millbrook because
9:56it was easier than sitting in silence
9:58beside the owner.
9:59She told him about the rack that
10:01squeaked and how Aunt Ruth read every
10:04card before she would stock it.
10:06"People stood at that rack for 10
10:08minutes over a card that cost $2," she
10:10said.
10:12She had watched grown men move their
10:13lips.
10:15"Did she stock ours?" he asked.
10:18"Half the rack was yours," Hazel said.
10:21"She said an Ashby card knew how to
10:22behave in a house." He laughed, one
10:25short surprised breath, like a man who
10:27had not done it lately.
10:30Then he finished the coffee and folded
10:32himself back through the window.
10:34"Thank you for the coffee, Miss
10:35Whitfield," he said.
10:37"And for this morning."
10:39Tessa had seen the two of them through
10:41the window.
10:42By Tuesday noon, the whole floor knew
10:44that the new girl had told the owner to
10:46wait and had him out on the fire escape
10:48by 4:00.
10:50"She's aiming for the ninth floor,"
10:52Tessa said at the paper cutter, loud
10:54enough to carry.
10:56Hazel kept her eyes on the screen. Her
10:58ears burned so hot that she thought they
11:00must show through her hair. On Thursday,
11:02Vivian Marsh came down to the floor
11:04herself.
11:06She walked the length of it in her white
11:08suit, stopped at the last table, and
11:10picked up the sample with the gold line
11:12by one corner.
11:14"How charming," Vivian said in a voice
11:16the whole floor could hear.
11:18"We haven't lettered with a brush in
11:20this building since 1998, dear.
11:23We own 400 typefaces and none of them
11:25takes a coffee break on the fire
11:27escape."
11:29Somebody laughed by the paper cutter.
11:31"The next time your aunt has thoughts
11:33about my line, she's welcome to put them
11:35in a card.
11:36She laid the sample down on the wet side
11:38of the blotter and walked away.
11:41A gray stain came up through the paper
11:42into the last letter.
11:44Hazel said nothing.
11:46Her throat had closed and anything she
11:48said would have come out in a squeak.
11:51She washed a brush that was already
11:52clean for a long time with her back to
11:55the room.
11:56She thought about the 66 days she had
11:59left and the squeaking rack. Then she
12:01took a fresh sheet and lettered the line
12:03again.
12:04And it was better the second time.
12:07On Friday evening, the floor emptied at
12:10half past five.
12:12Hazel stayed because the later trains
12:14had seats.
12:15She was cleaning the gold out of her
12:17brushes when the third step of the fire
12:19escape rang and somebody knocked on the
12:21glass beside her.
12:23Graham Ashby climbed in over the sill
12:26with two blue and white cups.
12:29I came to ask you something, he said.
12:31Then he stopped.
12:33He was looking past her at the corner of
12:35the table behind the jar of brushes.
12:38He picked up the snow globe in both
12:40hands slowly as if it might be hot and
12:43turned it over and read the stamp.
12:46Hazel saw the knot of his tie move when
12:48he swallowed.
12:50Where did you get this? He asked.
12:53It stood on my aunt's counter, Hazel
12:55said.
12:56Your firm gave them to the shops that
12:58carried your cards the Christmas of '79.
13:01I wound it every morning before school.
13:03It was the thing I wanted most in the
13:05world and she gave it to me the day I
13:08came here.
13:09We gave away 400, he said. My mother
13:12kept one on the kitchen windowsill. She
13:15made that pond, Miss Whitfield. She
13:17built it out of clay on our kitchen
13:19table and the factory cast it from her
13:21model.
13:22Her name was Eleanor. She drew cards
13:25here for 25 years.
13:27He turned the globe upright and watched
13:29the snow settle on the man with the
13:31scarf.
13:32Ours broke the year she died. I was 14.
13:36I was the one holding it. Hazel did not
13:38say she was sorry.
13:40People had been saying that to him for
13:4221 years, she supposed, and it had not
13:45mended any glass.
13:47You can wind it, she said. The key is
13:49underneath.
13:51He found the key with his thumb.
13:53She watched him turn it and saw his lips
13:55move.
13:56He stopped at 11.
13:58You counted, Hazel said.
14:0111 and stop, Gram said. The 12th one
14:05breaks the spring. She told me that
14:07every single morning.
14:09So did my aunt, Hazel said.
14:12I thought she'd made it up to keep me
14:13from wearing it out.
14:15It was printed on a slip in the box, he
14:17said. My mother wrote the slip.
14:20He set the globe on the table between
14:22them and it played Silent Night in its
14:24small tin voice, slower and slower.
14:28Neither of them moved until it had run
14:30down.
14:31Hazel found that she was holding a wet
14:33brush against her skirt.
14:35There would be a gold mark there for
14:37good and she did not mind.
14:39Come downstairs, Gram said. I want to
14:42show you where she is. Amos went off at
14:446:00, so Gram ran the elevator himself
14:47and stopped it 8 inches too high at the
14:49basement.
14:51The archive was a long, cool room of
14:53flat steel drawers, one cabinet for
14:55every year since 1929.
14:58The key had hung on a hook in Amos's car
15:01and it turned stiffly.
15:03Gram pulled out a drawer at random and
15:05Hazel put her hand to her mouth.
15:08The dog in the muffler, she said.
15:10My aunt couldn't stand him and he paid
15:12our light bill.
15:14And this one, the kitchen window with
15:15the pie.
15:17A man bought that card for his wife
15:19every anniversary for 30 years.
15:22After you stopped printing it, Ruth kept
15:24a box of them under the counter for him.
15:26She had only ever seen them 4 in high on
15:29a rack, and here was the real paint with
15:31pencil notes in the margins.
15:34Her eyes stung, and she let them.
15:37Graham went to the cabinet for 1979.
15:40He stood with his hand on the drawer for
15:42a moment before he pulled it. Under a
15:44sheet of tissue lay a painting in
15:46gouache.
15:48The pond with the lamp and the two
15:50skaters.
15:52In the corner, someone had written in
15:54pencil,
15:55"E. Ashby, October 1979."
15:59"The skating pond," he said.
16:02"Her first card that sold a million."
16:06She painted it from the clay model after
16:08the globe.
16:09"We had that card, too," Hazel said.
16:12"I used to hold it up next to the globe
16:14to see if they'd got it right."
16:17"Had they?" he asked.
16:19"The scarf is longer in the painting,"
16:21she said.
16:22"I thought that was cheating."
16:25"This is what I came to ask," he said.
16:28"The buyers come on the 5th of November.
16:31I want six cards from you to show them,
16:33hand-lettered, the kind your aunt would
16:35stock."
16:37"You'd make them in the evenings and be
16:38paid for the hours, so write them down."
16:41All the delight went out of her, and a
16:43cold weight settled under her ribs.
16:47"I've been here 3 weeks and 4 days," she
16:50said.
16:51"I'm on probation. Miss Marsh has told
16:53the whole floor what she thinks of my
16:55brush."
16:56"I heard," Graham said.
16:59"It's my name on the building, and I'm
17:01asking.
17:02If the buyers don't want them, you've
17:04lost nothing, and I've paid for some
17:06gold ink."
17:08"I'll try," Hazel said.
17:10"But I want it understood that I ride
17:12home on the train."
17:14"I hadn't offered anything else," he
17:16said.
17:17"I know," she said.
17:19"I'm saying it for the paper cutter."
17:21For the next 3 weeks, Hazel stated at
17:24her table every evening until 8:00 and
17:26wrote the hours in a notebook.
17:29Before she lettered a word, she made a
17:31list of the people who had stood at the
17:32rack in Millbrook.
17:34A woman had come in every March for a
17:37birthday card to a sister in Oregon she
17:39had not seen in 19 years.
17:42So, the first card said,
17:44"I still set a place for you in my
17:46head." A farmer had once stood for a
17:48quarter of an hour over the sympathy
17:50cards and left with nothing.
17:52Every one of them used the word loss and
17:56he said he hadn't lost her. He knew
17:58exactly where she was.
18:00For him, Hazel wrote,
18:02"I don't know what to say, so I'll come
18:04and sit with you."
18:06The sixth was the Christmas card and she
18:08kept it for last because it frightened
18:10her.
18:11She set the globe in front of her and
18:12drew the pond as she had looked at it
18:14for 24 years from a child's height with
18:17the lamp very tall.
18:19She drew the scarf the length it was in
18:20the glass.
18:22Under it, she lettered in gold, "Come
18:24home if you can. If you can't, here is
18:27the pond."
18:28Graham came down most evenings around
18:306:00 with coffee from the cart.
18:32Dolores mopped around his shoes without
18:34comment and on the third evening, she
18:36brought him a cushion.
18:38One night, he asked to try the brush.
18:41She put it in his hand and lifted his
18:43wrist off the paper. She felt the starch
18:45of his cuff and the warmth under it and
18:48took her fingers away a little too fast.
18:51He wrote his own first name.
18:53It looked like a fence after a storm.
18:57"My mother said I had a banker's hand,"
18:59he said.
19:00"She was being kind to bankers," Hazel
19:03said.
19:04Then she saw his sleeve.
19:06"You've put your cuff in the gold.
19:08Cold water and dish soap tonight. If you
19:11use hot, it sets." He looked at the gold
19:14smear on the white cuff and did not seem
19:16in any hurry to save it.
19:19She was careful all the same.
19:21She kept the table between them, and at
19:238:00, she put her coat on herself.
19:26But she caught herself listening for the
19:28stairs at 10:00 to 6:00, and she did not
19:30like finding that out.
19:33She finished the sixth card on the last
19:35Friday of October.
19:36When they came out onto 26th Street, it
19:38was snowing, weeks early, in big, wet
19:41flakes that melted on the pavement.
19:44A long, dark car stood at the curb with
19:46its engine running.
19:48"Let me have you driven home," Graham
19:50said. "It's snowing." "I've paid for a
19:52monthly ticket," Hazel said, "and I mean
19:55to ride every mile of it."
19:57"The month ends tomorrow," he said.
20:00"Then I've got one day left to get my
20:01money's worth," she said.
20:04He sent the car away and walked her the
20:06seven blocks to Penn Station in the
20:07snow.
20:09At the top of the station stairs, he
20:11said good night, and he stood there
20:13until her dark head had gone down out of
20:15sight. Hazel knew, because at the
20:17bottom, she turned around once.
20:20The buyers came on Thursday, the 5th of
20:23November.
20:25The showroom was on the second floor,
20:26and the tree went up there the first
20:28week of November every year, hung with
20:30red glass balls.
20:3312 buyers sat at the long table with
20:35China cups from the silver pot.
20:38Vivian was to show them the spring
20:39editions to Ashby now.
20:42Then Hazel had 10 minutes for her six
20:44cards, and Graham had insisted she show
20:46them herself.
20:48She had put on her one good blouse,
20:50cream-colored, with a bow at the neck,
20:53and ironed it twice.
20:55Her peach cardigan was upstairs on her
20:57chair.
20:58The six cards lay in a row at her end of
21:00the table, beside her blue and white cup
21:02from the cart.
21:04At 10 minutes to 10:00, Vivian came down
21:07the room in her white suit with a full
21:09China cup.
21:10"Your bow is crooked, dear," she said.
21:13"Hold still."
21:14She reached for the bow with her free
21:16hand, and the cup in the other hand
21:18tipped. All of it went down the front of
21:20the cream blouse, from the collar to the
21:23waist.
21:25"Oh, honey, look at you," Vivian said.
21:29Behind her, Tessa and Brent each had a
21:31hand over their mouth.
21:3312 buyers had turned in their chairs.
21:36"You can't stand up in front of these
21:37people like that. Sit down and get your
21:39breath. I'll show your cards for you."
21:42The coffee was only warm, as coffee from
21:45the silver pot always was.
21:47Her face was what burned.
21:49The heat came up from her collar and
21:51over her scalp.
21:53The wet cloth clung to her skin, and
21:56every eye in the room was on the brown
21:58stain spreading between her buttons.
22:01Her legs wanted the door.
22:03The washroom was 20 steps away, and she
22:05could be in it before the first tear.
22:07And then Vivian would pick up the
22:09farmer's card by one corner and read it
22:11to the buyers in the voice she had used
22:13for the gold line.
22:15She looked for Graham.
22:17He was standing by the tree with his
22:18arms crossed, and he had not said a
22:20word.
22:22But he was holding his own sleeves so
22:24hard that his knuckles were white,
22:26and he did not take his eyes off her.
22:29She could not read the look.
22:31She understood only that nobody was
22:33coming, and that the next thing in this
22:35room would be done by her.
22:37Hazel sat down.
22:39She picked up her blue and white cup,
22:41which was still half full, and drank it
22:43to the bottom without hurrying.
22:45"It's good coffee," she said to Vivian.
22:48"It would be a shame to leave it."
22:50Then she stood up and walked to the head
22:52of the table with the stain on her.
22:54"Good morning," she said.
22:56"My name is Hazel Whitfield.
22:58This blouse was cream when I left
23:00Queens, so you know I've had a full day
23:02already.
23:04Somebody laughed and the chairs turned
23:06back toward her. I grew up behind the
23:08counter of a card shop in Millbrook, New
23:10York.
23:11I'd like to show you six cards and tell
23:13you who bought each one.
23:15She told them about the sister in Oregon
23:17and the farmer.
23:18Her voice held.
23:20Somewhere around the third card, she
23:22forgot the blouse.
23:24At the far end of the table sat Harland
23:26Dobbs, the oldest buyer in the room.
23:29He was 78 and had 11 card and gift
23:32stores in Ohio.
23:33He asked to hold the sympathy card.
23:36He read it and took off his glasses and
23:38read it again without them.
23:40"I buried my wife in March," Mr. Dobbs
23:43said.
23:44"I got 200 and some cards.
23:47This is the one nobody sent me.
23:49Put me down for all six in every store.
23:53Can I have the Christmas one this year?"
23:55"The press on the fourth floor can have
23:57it out in 10 days," Graham said.
24:00It was the first time he had spoken.
24:02"Then I'll take 2,000 boxes by
24:04Thanksgiving," said Mr. Dobbs.
24:07"And young lady, don't you let them set
24:09that in type." It was the largest order
24:11written in the room that morning and
24:13four other buyers followed him.
24:16The spring additions to Ashby now were
24:18received politely as people receive a
24:20casserole they do not mean to eat.
24:23At 7:00 that evening, she sat in a booth
24:26in the diner on 8th Avenue across from
24:28the station with a grilled cheese
24:30sandwich and 40 minutes until her train.
24:33She had buttoned her peach cardigan to
24:35the chin.
24:36The door opened and Graham Ashby came in
24:39out of the cold with a flat parcel in
24:41brown paper. "Amos told me where you eat
24:44on late nights," he said.
24:46"I've been writing orders with the
24:47buyers until now.
24:49This is from the closet in my office.
24:51You have a train ride ahead of you."
24:54It was a white shirt, laundered and
24:55folded.
24:57She meant to say no,
24:58but the cloth under the cardigan had
25:00been cold against her since 10:00 that
25:02morning.
25:03"It's a loan," Hazel said.
25:05"You'll have it back washed and ironed
25:07on Monday."
25:09She changed in the ladies' room.
25:11She had to turn the cuffs back four
25:12times.
25:14On the left one, faint as a watermark,
25:16was a smear of gold.
25:18He had not used the cold water.
25:21She stood looking at it with the bad
25:22blouse rolled up in her hand, and
25:24something in her chest turned over.
25:27When she came back, he had ordered
25:28coffee and two pieces of apple pie.
25:31"You may buy the pie," she said, sitting
25:33down.
25:35"I've paid for the sandwich."
25:37"I thought that would be the
25:37arrangement," he said.
25:40"You stood there this morning," she
25:41said. "You watched it happen and you
25:43held onto your own arms." "I had to hold
25:46onto something," Graham said.
25:48"I had one foot off the floor.
25:50Then I thought, if I walk over there,
25:53those are my cards."
25:55The owner's favorite shows six cards,
25:57the buyers are polite, and by Christmas,
26:00the whole building says he bought them
26:01for her.
26:03"What you needed from me was to stay out
26:04of your light."
26:06He rubbed his sleeve above the elbow.
26:08"I have marks. It's the hardest thing
26:10I've done in that room."
26:12Nobody had ever stayed out of her light
26:14on purpose.
26:16"Thank you," she said, and it came out
26:18smaller than she meant.
26:20He told her about the archive then.
26:22After his father died, he had gone down
26:25once and opened the drawer for 79, and
26:27there on the back of the board was his
26:29mother's handwriting, a note to the
26:31printer about the blue.
26:33He had shut the drawer and hung the key
26:35in Amos's car.
26:37"People were careful with me that first
26:38year," he said.
26:40"Then it got to be a habit, and I let
26:42it. I knew about the gray cards in
26:44August." She told him about the shop,
26:46the part she had left out on the fire
26:48escape.
26:49The rent had gone up in the spring. Half
26:51her pay went to Millbrook every other
26:53Friday, and it was just enough.
26:56He put down his fork. "I could settle
26:58that tomorrow morning," he said. "The
27:00rent or the building?"
27:02It would take one telephone call. "I
27:04know you could," Hazel said. "Please
27:07don't. If you pay for it, it stops being
27:10her shop and turns into a shop you keep,
27:13like a pony.
27:14Send her cards she can sell.
27:16A card shop can't use any other kind of
27:18help."
27:19"Then I'll send her a salesman," Graham
27:21said.
27:22His hand was lying on the table a few
27:24inches from hers.
27:25She looked at the few inches.
27:27Then she put her hand around her cup.
27:30"On Monday, I'm still on probation," she
27:32said. "I have 5 weeks and 3 days."
27:35"38 days," Graham said.
27:38"I can count to 90, Miss Whitfield.
27:40I've been doing it since the gold line.
27:42I'm in no hurry.
27:44I've been told I can wait."
27:46He walked her across the avenue to the
27:48station.
27:49On the train, she sat with her coat open
27:52in a shirt that smelled of somebody
27:53else's laundry soap.
27:55For once, she did not count anything.
27:59On Monday at 9:00, the whole firm met on
28:02the art floor, as it did on the second
28:04Monday of every month.
28:06Some 60 people stood around the big
28:08layout table. Amos held the elevator
28:10gate open so that he could hear.
28:12Graham read out the Dobbs order and said
28:15the six cards would go on the press that
28:17week, with the Christmas card to lead
28:19the line.
28:20"Before anything goes on a press,"
28:22Vivian Marsh said, "there is something
28:24everyone here should see."
28:26She laid two cards side by side on the
28:28table. One was Hazel's pond. The other
28:31was a printed Christmas card, a little
28:34yellowed at the edges, with a pond and a
28:36tall lamp and two skaters.
28:38The man's scarf was blown out behind
28:40him.
28:41"I bought this on Saturday at a
28:42drugstore on Lexington Avenue for $4,"
28:45Vivian said.
28:46"It is published by Larch and Lowe of
28:48Boston and it has been in print since
28:501986.
28:52It has the same pond and the same lamp
28:54and the same two figures down to the
28:57scarf.
28:58This is theft.
29:00Larch and Lowe will sue us and they will
29:02win.
29:03She has to be out of this building today
29:05before one box ships.
29:0860 faces turned to the last table by the
29:10window. Hazel's hands had gone cold to
29:13the wrist. She had never seen that card
29:15in her life.
29:17Ruth did not stock Larch and Lowe. She
29:20said their envelopes were thin.
29:22But the two ponds lay there side by side
29:24and they were the same pond and her
29:27mouth was too dry to speak.
29:29They will believe it, she thought.
29:32I would believe it.
29:33Graham did not need to look at Hazel. He
29:36had watched her draw that scarf with the
29:37globe in front of her.
29:39He looked at the yellowed card.
29:41He had seen it once before as a boy on
29:44his father's desk and his father had
29:46been angry for a week.
29:48Then he looked at the elevator.
29:50Amos, Graham said, "Downstairs, please.
29:5479. Bring the whole drawer."
29:57"Yes, sir." Amos said and took the key
29:59off its hook and the gate rattled shut.
30:03It took him 4 minutes. Nobody spoke.
30:06Hazel stood with her hands flat on her
30:08table to keep them still.
30:10She looked at the snow globe behind the
30:11brushes and did not dare look anywhere
30:14else.
30:15Amos carried the flat steel drawer in on
30:17both arms like a tray and set it on the
30:20layout table.
30:21Graham lifted the tissue.
30:23"The skating pond." he said.
30:26"Painted in gouache by Eleanor Ashby, my
30:28mother.
30:29It's dated in her hand, October 1979."
30:33He turned the board over.
30:35"On the back is the stamp of our own
30:36printer.
30:38Received for plates the 2nd of November,
30:401979.
30:42That is 7 years before Larch and Lowe
30:44discovered ice.
30:46Then he walked down the row of tables to
30:48the last one, reached past the jar of
30:50brushes, and picked up the snow globe.
30:53He carried it back and turned it over
30:55under the lamp.
30:56Ashby and Sons, he read, Christmas 1979.
31:01My mother modeled this pond in clay
31:04before she ever painted it.
31:06We gave 400 of these to the shops that
31:08sold our cards.
31:10One of them stood for 47 years on a
31:12counter in Millbrook, and Miss Whitfield
31:14wound it every morning before school.
31:17She drew what she grew up looking at,
31:19and it was ours all along.
31:22He set the globe down beside the drawer.
31:25Larch and Lowe copied our card in '86.
31:28My father thought a lawsuit over a
31:30Christmas card was bad manners.
31:32I am starting to think he was wrong.
31:35Somebody at the back laughed, and the
31:36whole floor let its breath go.
31:39Hazel's knees gave a little, and she
31:41held onto the table.
31:43She had not cried over the coffee, and
31:45now her eyes simply ran over.
31:48She wiped them with the back of her
31:49wrist, and left a streak of gold across
31:52her cheek.
31:53The little glass pond had stood beside
31:55her every morning of her childhood, and
31:58this morning it had stood up for her.
32:01Vivian Marsh had picked up the globe.
32:03She held it upside down for a long time,
32:05and read the stamp, and the color went
32:08out of her face.
32:0911 years I have sold these cards, Vivian
32:12said. I never once turned this thing
32:14over.
32:16She put it down very carefully, and
32:18turned to the last table.
32:20I owe you an apology, Miss Whitfield, in
32:23front of the people I accused you in
32:24front of. And I owe you a blouse.
32:27The blouse I can manage by this
32:29afternoon. Cream, Hazel said when she
32:32could. With a bow.
32:34Ashby
32:36now comes off the list today, Graham
32:38said. I signed for it, so that is my
32:40mistake as much as anyone's.
32:42Vivian, the Chicago sales office has had
32:45no manager since June. You would sell
32:47cards to shopkeepers across a counter.
32:50I think you would be good at it after a
32:52year of standing at a rack.
32:54Marketing here, I will look after
32:56myself.
32:57Vivian looked once more at the globe.
32:59I'll take Chicago, she said.
33:02She went to the elevator with her back
33:04straight.
33:05The blouse came at four in a box from a
33:07good store, and it fit.
33:10In the second week of December, an order
33:12arrived from the Chicago office for 600
33:14boxes of the Skating Pond line with a
33:17note in a firm hand.
33:19Sold out in 9 days, send more.
33:22I have been reading the insides.
33:24The firm's Christmas party was on
33:26Friday, the 18th of December.
33:29Hazel met her aunt under the clock at
33:30Grand Central off the train from
33:32Poughkeepsie. Ruth wore her best knitted
33:35cardigan and carried an apple pie in a
33:37tin because she did not go to other
33:39people's parties with her hands empty.
33:42The showroom held 90 people, the tree,
33:45and three musicians in the corner.
33:47Hazel had on a dark green dress she had
33:49sewn from a remnant.
33:51She stood by the wall with a paper cup
33:53of punch.
33:54Then Graham Ashby tapped a glass with a
33:56spoon.
33:57For 3 years, the people in this building
33:59told me what I wanted to hear, he said.
34:02I liked it very much. It cost us a line
34:05of gray cards. Everyone here has tried
34:08to impress me, and one woman never tried
34:10at all.
34:11She was busy. In October, she told me to
34:14wait until a line was dry.
34:16I waited 40 seconds, and it did me so
34:18much good that I have been waiting ever
34:20since.
34:22There was laughter, and he let it pass.
34:25Her 90 days ended on Sunday.
34:27Mr. Pruitt signed her permanent papers
34:29on Monday.
34:30I kept my hands off them, and I want
34:32that known, because what I say next is
34:35no part of the firm's business. He
34:37looked across the room, straight at her.
34:40"Hazel Whitfield," he said, "I would
34:42like to take you to dinner tomorrow, and
34:44next week, and the week after that.
34:47I am asking in front of everyone so that
34:49nobody has to whisper it at the paper
34:51cutter.
34:52And I would like this dance if the line
34:54is dry."
34:56Her heart was going so hard she could
34:58feel it in her teeth.
35:00For 10 weeks she had kept a table
35:02between them and counted days.
35:04Now he had put it down in the middle of
35:06the room where everyone could read it,
35:09and there was nothing left to be careful
35:11of.
35:12Still, her feet would not move. "Go on,
35:14Hazel," Aunt Ruth said beside her in the
35:17voice that had carried across a shop for
35:1950 years.
35:21"The man's arm is getting tired."
35:24The room laughed, and Hazel's feet came
35:26loose.
35:27She walked across to him.
35:29"The line is dry," she said, and put her
35:31hand in his.
35:33They danced under the red glass balls.
35:36He was not much better at it than he was
35:38with a brush.
35:39Close too, she could see his left cuff.
35:43"You never washed out the gold," she
35:44said.
35:46"No," Gram said.
35:48"And you ironed around it. I noticed
35:50that."
35:51When the music stopped, he took her to
35:53the tree where a carton stood with a red
35:55ribbon on it, and put it in Ruth's arms.
35:58It was the first box of the skating pond
36:00line off the press for the rack in
36:03Millbrook.
36:04"That goes on my account," Ruth said.
36:07"Your salesman came up last week. I gave
36:09him pie."
36:11"And the terms?" Gram asked.
36:14"60 days to pay where he offered 30,"
36:17Ruth said.
36:18"He was a nice boy. He hardly cried."
36:21Then Amos came and asked Ruth whether
36:23she danced, and Ruth said she She been
36:25waiting since 1979
36:27for someone to ask.
36:29By the next December, the Skating Pond
36:31line stood in shop windows from
36:33Lexington Avenue to Ohio.
36:36On the back of every card, in small
36:38type, it said, "Lettered by hand by
36:40Hazel Whitfield."
36:42The shop in Millbrook paid its own rent,
36:45and the wire rack still squeaked.
36:47Amos had retired in October after 45
36:50years, and the firm had given in the
36:52brass handle of the elevator mounted on
36:54a walnut board.
36:56He took the Sunday train to Poughkeepsie
36:57most weeks now. He said it was for the
36:59pie.
37:01Graham had asked her to marry him in
37:02April on the fire escape with two cups
37:05from the cart.
37:07He had stepped on the third step out of
37:08nerves, and she had said yes before it
37:10stopped ringing.
37:12They were married in June at City Hall,
37:14and afterward, 30 people ate lunch in
37:16the back room of the diner on 8th Avenue
37:19with apple pie where the cake should
37:20have been. The snow globe stood on the
37:22windowsill of their kitchen now.
37:25Every morning, while the coffee ran
37:26through, one of them wound it.
37:29When it was Graham's turn, she could
37:31hear him from the next room counting
37:32under his breath, and he always stopped
37:35at 11.
37:36Hazel watched the snow come down on the
37:38two skaters and thought that she had
37:40come to New York to save one small shop,
37:43and somebody had been keeping a place
37:45for her there since 1979.

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