U.S.A_ - John Dos Passos [49]
"Suppose a fel er didn't want to get rich . . . you know what Gene Debs said, 'I want to rise with the
ranks, not from the ranks,' " said Mac.
Maisie and Bil laughed. "When a guy talks like that
-118-he's ripe for the nuthouse, take it from me," said Bil . Mac flushed and said nothing. Bil pushed back his chair and cleared his throat in a serious tone: "Look here, Mac . . . I'm goin' to be around this town for a few days lookin' over the situa-tion, but looks to me like things was pretty dead. Now what I propose is this . . . You know what I think of Maisie . . . I think she's about the sweetest little girl in the world. I wish my wife had half what Maisie's got . . . Wel , anyway, here's my proposition: Out on Ocean View Avenue I've got several magnificent missionstyle bunga-lows I haven't disposed of yet, twentyfivefoot frontage on a refined residential street by a hundredfoot depth. Why, I've gotten as high as five grand in cold cash for 'em. In a year of two none of us fel ers'l be able to stick our noses in there. It'l be mil ionaires' row . . . Now if you're wil ing to have the house in Maisie's name I'l tel you what I'l do . . . I'l swop properties with you, pay-ing al the expenses of searching title and transfer and balance up the mortgages, that I'l hold so's to keep 'em in the family, so that you won't have to make substantial y bigger payments than you do here, and wil be launched on the road to success."
"Oh, Bil , you darling!" cried Maisie. She ran over and kissed him on the top of the head and sat swinging her legs on the arm of his chair. "Gee, I'l have to sleep on that," said Mac; "it's mighty white of you to make the offer.""Fainie, I'd think you'd be more grateful to Bil ," snapped Maisie. "Of course we'l do it."
"No, you're quite right," said Bil . "A man's got to think a proposition like that over. But don't forget the advantages offered, better schools for the kids, more re-fined surroundings, an upandcoming boom town instead of a dead one, chance to get ahead in the world instead of being a goddam wageslave."
So a month later the McCrearys moved up to Los An--119-geles. The expenses of moving and getting the furniture instal ed put Mac five hundred dol ars in debt. On top of that little Rose caught the measles and the doctor's bil started mounting. Mac couldn't get a job on any of the papers. Up at the union local that he transferred to they had ten men out of work as it was.
He spent a lot of time walking about town worrying. He didn't like to be at home any more. He and Maisie never got on now. Maisie was always thinking about what went on at brother Bil 's house, what kind of clothes Mary Virginia, his wife, wore, how they brought up their children, the fine new victrola they'd bought. Mac sat on benches in parks round town, reading The Appeal to Reason and The Industrial Worker and the local papers. One day he noticed The Industrial Worker sticking out of the pocket of the man beside him. They had both sat on the bench a long time when something made him turn to look at the man. "Say, aren't you Ben Evans?""Wel , Mac, I'l be goddamned . . . What's the matter, boy, you're lookin' thin?""Aw, nothin', I'm lookin' for a master, that's al ." They talked for a long time. Then they went to have a cup of coffee in a Mexican restaurant where some of the boys hung out. A young blonde fel ow with blue eyes joined them there who talked English