Only he ended up being nailed to it. I’m no Simon of Cyrene, but I’m not going to let you carry this cross all by yourself.”
Thornton reached into his coat and pulled out a little notebook. “Follow me,” he said to Eugene. They walked to the corner where the callbox was. Thornton finished his conversation with the precinct desk sergeant and turned back to Eugene, who was out of earshot. “The owner of the store, Abe Fineman, is on the way over here. He’ll decide what we should do.”
Abe lived only a block away and was at the scene in minutes. Thornton told him everything. Abe looked Eugene up and down as if he were purchasing a priceless artifact. In fact, he was. He was buying back Eugene’s soul.
Abe removed the store’s keys from his fur-trimmed overcoat and opened up the door. He whispered something in Thornton’s ear and then went to his office to make a phone call.
A truck arrived fifteen minutes later and parked in front of the store after Abe called in a favor, complete with a driver and a few strong bodies. It was immediately loaded with toys and gifts, warm clothing and canned goods from the wealth of the emporium. The fir tree with all the trimmings was also tenderly put into the truck. With a police escort, the truck drove to a small rented house in St. Bridget’s Parish in Philadelphia.
There the woman of the house was awakened from a disturbed slumber in a ladder-backed chair in front of a small coal stove. The tree was installed in the home and a bevy of presents placed beneath its stiff branches. The cupboard of the home was filled with sumptuous tins, the few bureaus stuffed with stockings, long johns, wool sweaters, warm linen, and blankets, the lone closet suddenly lined with mittens, hats, coats, and boots. A twenty-five pound turkey was also delivered to the Quindlen’s front door from parties unknown.
Over the many years that followed, Abe Fineman, Mike Thornton, and Honest John Galloway were always the most honored and welcomed guests at the Quindlen’s Christmas celebrations. Reading his Sunday Philadelphia Bulletin, always looking for opportunities, Eugene made a fortune selling plumbing supplies to post World War II communities called “Levittown.”
REGINA | 101