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his mind, and also
because the Depression made earning a living in New Bern almost
impossible. He went first to Norfolk and worked at a shipyard for six
months before he was laid off, then moved to New Jersey because
he�d heard the economy wasn�t so bad there.
He found a job in a scrap yard, separating scrap metal from
everything else. The owner, a Jewish man named Morris Goldman,
was intent on collecting as much scrap metal as he could, convinced
that a war was going to start in Europe and that America would be
dragged in again. Noah didn�t care. He was just happy to have a job.
He worked hard. Not only did it help him keep his mind off Allie
during the day, but it was something he felt he had to do. His daddy
had always said: �Give a day�s work for a day�s pay. Anything less is
stealing.� That attitude pleased his boss. �It�s a shame you aren�t
Jewish,� Goldman would say, �you�re such a fine boy in so many
other ways.� It was the best compliment Goldman could give.
He continued to think about Allie at night. He wrote to her once a
month but never received a reply. Eventually he wrote one final letter
and forced himself to accept the fact that the summer they�d spent
with one another was the only thing they�d ever share.
Still, though, she stayed with him. Three years after the last letter, he
went to Winston-Salem in the hope of finding her. He went to her
house, discovered that she had moved and, after talking to some
neighbours, finally called her father�s firm. The girl who answered
was new and didn�t recognize the name, but she poked around the
personnel files for him. She found out that Allie�s father had left the
company and that no forwarding address was listed. That was the first
and last time he ever looked for her.
For the next eight years he worked for Goldman. As the years
dragged on, the company grew and he was promoted. By 1940 he had
mastered the business and was running the entire operation, brokering
the deals and managing a staff of thirty. The yard had become the
largest scrap-metal dealer on the east coast.
During that time he dated a few different women. He became serious
with one, a waitress from the local diner with deep blue eyes and silky
black hair. Although they dated for two years and had many good
times together, he never came to feel the same way about her as he
did about Allie. She was a few years older than he was, and it was she
who taught him the ways to please a woman, the places to touch and
kiss, the things to whisper.
Towards the end of their relationship she�d told him once, �I wish I
could give you what you�re looking for, but I don�t know what it is.
There�s a part of you that you keep closed off from everyone,
including me. It�s as if your� mind is on someone else. It�s like you
keep waiting for her to pop out of thin air to take you away from all
this. . .� A month later she visited him at work and told him she�d met
someone else. He understood. They parted as friends, and the
following year he received a postcard from her saying she was
married. He hadn�t heard from her since.
In December 1941, when he was twenty-six, the war began, just as
Goldman had predicted. Noah walked into his office the following
month and informed Goldman of his intent to enlist, then returned to
New Bern to say goodbye to his father. Five weeks later he found
himself in training camp. While there, he received a letter from
Goldman thanking him for his work, together with a copy of a
certificate entitling him to a small percentage of the scrap yard if it
was ever sold. �I couldn�t have done it without you,� the letter said.
�You�re the finest young man who ever worked for me, even if you
aren�t Jewish.�
He spent his next three years with Patton�s Third Army, tramping
through deserts in North Africa and forests in Europe with thirty
pounds on his back, his infantry unit never far from action.
He watched his friends die around him; watched as some of them
were buried thousands of miles from home.
He remembered the war ending in Europe, then a few months later
in Japan. Just before he was discharged he received a letter from a
lawyer in New Jersey representing Morris Goldman. Upon meeting
the lawyer he found out that Goldman had died a year earlier and his
estate had been liquidated. The business had been sold, and Noah was
given a cheque for almost seventy thousand dollars.
The following week he returned to New Bern and bought the house.
He remembered bringing his father around later, pointing out the
changes he intended to make. His father seemed weak as he walked,
coughing and wheezing. Noah was concerned, but his father told him
not to worry, assuring him that he had the flu.
Less than one month later his father died