The Prince of Steel Pier

The Prince of Steel Pier — page 7 — 6 always do and approach the front desk Uncle Sol is there working with an adding machine and a ledger His fingers fly across the keys and the printed tape spills over the counter and curls in on itself like a ribbon on a present present He wears a red sports jacket and a dark blue tie so he looks kind of like the guy who does the play by play for the Phillies games on TV A pin on his lapel announces him Solomon Broder General Manager Here we go Uncle Sol and I fall into the same routine routine every August Sometimes he ends up giving me some money and sometimes he doesn't But we always start with small talk I dread this Uncle Sol He glances up for a moment then returns to his calculations calculations Yes Joey I'm going to ask him some questions I already have the answers to Uncle Sol do you know where my dad is It's Monday Dad's at work back in Philadelphia which is where we Goodmans live eleven months of the year In August when the rest of us are helping out at the hotel Dad goes to work from Monday through Thursday Thursday and then he joins the rest of us down the shore for the weekend He's at work Joey It's Monday Uncle Sol's shirt is too tight and I watch his potbelly expand and contract with his breathing

The Prince of Steel Pier — page 8 — 7 head Oh right I knew that I pick at some pretend lint on my shirt Then You know where my mom is Mom's not here either She drove Ben to Philly for a TV commercial audition He narrows his eyes at me over his glasses like he's thinking Even though we both know that we both know the answer She took Benjamin to an audition She'll be back later Then he gives me his I'm trying to be patient with you look Our shtick is in full swing now Joey do you need some money I pull my kippah off my head and scratch at my mop of curly black hair just to have something to do Maybe a little You know for the arcade Skee Ball or something I know what comes next and I brace for it Money doesn't grow on trees you know Uncle Sol stops pecking at the adding machine He leans across the front desk on his elbows so his face is close to mine The arcade is a waste of money You know that right No return on the investment I chew my bottom lip for a moment I win lots of prize tickets though If I win enough of them I'll be able to get a really good prize He shakes his slowly Like what Those prizes are all junk Uncle Sol isn't married and he doesn't have any kids Dad says Sol has plenty of money to keep him warm at

The Prince of Steel Pier — page 9 — 8 night but my uncle has lonely eyes If he wants to act like he's my father every once in a while I don't mind it so much I really want a camera I tell him I can get a Kodak Instamatic if I win ten thousand prize tickets And how much money do you end up spending to win all those tickets Did you ever think about that What do you want a camera for anyway I didn't have a camera until I was thirty years old This conversation is going south quickly I don't have much of an answer for him I want a camera because I want to take pictures of stuff my friends and baseball games and bugs and nature It just seems like a cool thing to do But cool is not a concept my uncle understands Looks like this is going to be one of those times when I walk away without a cent But in an unexpected turn of events Uncle Sol reaches into his inside jacket pocket and pulls out his billfold His brow is wrinkled as if he wants me to know how troubling troubling this decision is for him He takes out a ten dollar bill and displays it for me holding it with his thumbs and index fingers This ten has to last you all week Joey And you should think about putting some of it aside if you really want to buy a camera Uncle Sol would be a good Jewish parent He really knows how to lay on the guilt I nod Thanks Uncle Sol And he hands me the ten

The Prince of Steel Pier — page 10 — 9 An old man with wisps of powder white hair appears beside me The television in our room isn't working right He has a thick accent Russian or Polish like a lot of the guests My wife can't watch her stories in the afternoon if the television doesn't work Uncle Sol turns his attention to the guest and I back away from the front desk the ten dollar bill heavy in my hand But at least that scene is over Now I have ten bucks and I'm free for six hours The Boardwalk is mostly empty at this time of day The tourists will start dribbling out onto the boards soon with their gargantuan ice cream cones and their sunburned shoulders But for now it's just me a bunch of local boys throwing clumsy karate kicks at each other outside of Woolworth's and the disinterested seagulls I have my favorite book The Once and Future King by T. H. White in one hand and a grocery bag full of my arcade prize tickets in the other hand I've changed into a tank top and shorts but I'm sweating up a storm just putting one foot in front of the other I think they said on the radio that it's going to top a hundred degrees today I already want a soda

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