The Second-Story Man | Page 5

. . I was married. My wife is dead.
MRS. AUSTIN. Any children?
JIM. Two. Both dead.
MRS. AUSTIN. Oh!
JIM. It ain't a pretty story, ma'am. It's a poor man's story.
MRS. AUSTIN. Tell it to me.
JIM. All right. It'll spoil your sleep for the rest of the night, I guess, but
you can have it. [A pause.] A year ago I was what they call an honest
working man. I had a home and a happy family; and I didn't drink any

too much, and I did well . . . even if the work was hard. I was in the
steel works here in town.
MRS. AUSTIN. [Startled.] The Empire Steel Company?
JIM. Yes. Why?
MRS. AUSTIN. Nothing . . . only I happen to know some people there.
Go on.
JIM. It's no child's work there, ma'am. There's an awful lot of
accidents . . . more than the world has any idea of. I've seen a man sent
to hell in the snapping of a finger. And they don't treat them fair . . .
they hush things up. There are things you wouldn't believe if I told
them to you.
MRS. AUSTIN. Tell them.
JIM. I've seen a man there get caught in one of the cranes. They
stopped the machinery, but they couldn't get him out. They'd have had
to take the crane apart, and that would have cost several days, and it
was rush time, and the man was only a poor Hunkie, and there was no
one to know or care. So they started up the crane, and cut his leg off.
MRS. AUSTIN. Oh, horrible!
JIM. It's the sort of thing you couldn't believe unless you saw it. But I
saw it. I didn't care, though. I was a fool. And then my time came.
MRS. AUSTIN. How do you mean?
JIM. A blast furnace blew out, and a piece of slag hit me here, where
you see that patch. If it wasn't for the patch you'd see something that
would make you sick. It was a pain you couldn't tell about . . . it was a
couple of days before I knew where I was. And the first thing when I
came to my senses . . . in the hospital, it was . . . there was a lawyer
chap with a paper waiting for me.
MRS. AUSTIN. [In agitation.] A lawyer?
JIM. Yes, ma'am. Company representative, you know. And I was to
sign the paper . . . it was a receipt for the hospital expenses . . . the
operation and all that . . . you see they had to take out what was left of
my eye. And of course I couldn't see . . . I had to sign where he told me
to. And when I got well, I found they had trapped me into signing a
release.
MRS. AUSTIN. A release?
JIM. I had accepted the hospital expenses as a release for all the
company owed me. And I couldn't get any damages . . . and my eye

was gone, and all the weeks without any wages.
MRS. AUSTIN. My God!
JIM. And they turned me out so weak I could hardly walk; and . . .
MRS. AUSTIN. [Greatly excited.] Who was this man?
JIM. Which?
MRS. AUSTIN. This lawyer?
JIM. I never heard his name. He was a young fellow . . . handsome . . .
smooth- faced . . .
MRS. AUSTIN. [Whispering.] Oh!
JIM. Ah, they don't mind it . . . they're smooth. They do that all the
time. It's what they get their pay for.
MRS. AUSTIN. [Covering her face with her hands.] Oh, stop!
JIM. What's the matter?
MRS. AUSTIN. [Looking up with white face.] Nothing. Go on.
JIM. It was two months before I could work at all. And the rent came
due, and they turned us out . . . it was winter-time, and my wife caught
a cold, and it turned to pneumonia, and she died. That's all of that.
MRS. AUSTIN. Go on.
JIM. And then, you see, the panic came . . . and the mills shut down . . .
sudden as that. The lawyer told me the company would see I always
had a job, but that was only to get me to sign.
MRS. AUSTIN. [Feverishly.] Did you try him?
JIM. I went to the office and tried; but they wouldn't even let me see
him.
MRS. AUSTIN. I see. And then?
JIM. Then I went out to look for work. I had the two babies, you
know . . . and God only knows how I loved those babies. I said I'd fight
and win out for their sakes. But Amy . .