Shadow of Ashland (Ashland, 1) by Terence M. Green Read Free Book Online Page A

Stanley.
    "Would you like a cup of tea, Mr. Nolani"
    A fragment of Jack's letter from Detroit—the one my father had unearthed in the trunk—floated upward in my mind. I've been working around Royal Oak—Gee, the "Shrine" is beautiful, Marg.
    I smiled. "That'd be nice."
    I sipped the tea. It was hot and strong.
    "Ever hear of Pearl Bergoff?" asked Stanley.
    I set the cup in its saucer with a solid click. "I'm beginning to think I haven't heard of very much, listening to you two."
    "He was the king of the strikebreakers. In thirty-four, it wasn't just Toledo. Was truckers in Minneapolis, tire manufacturers in Akron, longshoremen in San Francisco, millhands throughout the South. Auto industry was shakin' in its boots. Was everywhere. Bergoff ran a multimillion-dollar business recruitin' and providin' scabs for businesses. Worked out of New York. Hired guys to scan out-of-town newspapers for signs of strikes brewin', then he'd dispatch one of his sales staff to peddle his services. He'd ship 'em a small army, outfit 'em with machine guns, billy clubs, tear gas, whatever." He paused. "Jack got caught in his web, up there in Toledo."
    Another piece slipped into place. "I see."
    "Pinkerton Detective Agency was another favorite of the fat cats. Chrysler liked them lots. Places like GM and Chrysler—they paid their top men two hundred thousand dollars each, paid their workers less than a thousand dollars. Would pay millions to Pinkerton and others, though, to keep it that way. Was unbelievable." He looked at me. "You have," he said, his voice tightening, "no idea how desperate we were gettin'."
    No, I realized, I didn't. But I was beginning to see. There was a rough outline taking shape, with my uncle dangling down on a long thread into the dark heart of it all.
     
    "This here's poor country, Mr. Nolan," said Stanley Matusik. "Kentucky, Tennessee, West Virginia. Ohio might be a little better'n most—bit more industry. Nobody gives us nothin'. Back then, it was like the song said: the rich got richer and the poor got children. Simple as that. Somethin' had to be done."
    I waited.
    "Was the Wagner Act. You heard of it?"
    "Yes, I have." It was something I had heard of, finally.
    "It was because of what happened everywhere in the country in thirty-four that it got hammered out and signed in thirty- five. It was a start. Management finally had to bargain with unions in good faith. Couple of years later, there was a minimum-wage law—after more strikes—like the one Teresa got involved in at Woolworth's." He reached, held her hand, squeezed it. "You a union man, Mr. Nolan?"
    I nodded. "Newspaper Guild."
    "Then you know."
    I thought of my father, who had worked right up into the 1950s with no pension, no benefits, working evenings, Sundays. "I think so," I said.
    Another abrasive edge from the past surfaced, scraping soundlessly against what I had been hearing. "Did Jack have a car?" I asked.
    "Car? You must be kiddin'. None of us had cars." Stanley took a long sip of his tea. "Chevy half-ton pickup would've cost six hundred fifty dollars. Could've used one, too. A Pontiac coupé would run about six hundred dollars. Packards were over two thousand dollars." He thought back. "Knew a fella bought a used twenty-seven Lincoln in thirty-four. Paid a hundred tweny-five dollars for it. Nah," he said. "Jack didn't have no car."
    I rubbed my forehead.
     
    That night, alone in Jack's room, I took the letters from my suitcase and reread the parts I had remembered.
    Toledo: lost my car . . . had a wreck and was laid up for a while...
    Ashland: Have my own car now... a Dodge Roadster...
     
    I stared out the window onto the warm streets of Ashland, picturing my uncle, an iron bar gripped tightly in his fist, trying to stand on the right side of the line.
     
     

 
    FIVE
     
    Look ahead into the past, and hack into the future, until the silence.
    —Margaret Laurence
    The Diviners
     
     
    1
     
    When I woke the next morning, I lay in bed for a