Walt
Walt finally came to, looked up at Jim, and said, "Who are you?" Jim, in frightened disbelief at this point, told him, "I was just looking for an old friend, and saw you lying on the floor, you must have hit yourself with the baseball bat while you were practicing swinging for the Denison Baseball Team." Walt never remembered the incident, nor attending the University, or anything much, for that matter.
He dropped out of the University, which at this point he didn't remember attending. Jim, feeling somewhat guilty about the incident, made sure that Calvin Werner was aware of Walt's condition, and gave him a job at a local coal company that he owned. He was able to drive the big rig truck, and follow the directions that were written out for him each morning. Calvin purchased a small house for Walt on Buena Vista, and he lived there until his accident which claimed his life, He never knew the truth, or anything, about his life.
Jim and Jessie's life settled down somewhat after Walt's accident. Jim was always busy at the Arcade, keeping the furnace and the generators working properly. In his off time, and whenever he could, Jim was working with a fascination of his, slight of hand and magic. He was always handling coins or cards, and was an avid reader of John Scarne and other card men and magicians of the day. He never missed Blackstone or Houdini when they were appearing at the Midland. And, then one day, Jim's life was altered by a strange encounter in the Arcade. Jim, as he periodically did, was strolling through the Arcade, checking various things, heat ducts open, air returns working, general cleanliness, temperature and humidity, things like that.
He had a possessive attitude toward the structure, and always wanted the tenants to be happy with "his" .... work. He sauntered through Kresge's, then through the drug store, and some of the other retail outlets. The air was clean, the temperature tolerable, and all was right with his world. As he was walking out of the Arcade Drug Store, he noticed an extremely attractive women walking towards him. She was quite tall, almost 5"9", and she was wearing fashionable shoes of the day which had extremely high heels. The high heels and the stylish broad brimmed felt hat, made her an imposing figure. The knitted bright red dress she wore was not one generally seen in Newark.
She strode up to Jim and asked, "Are you the one who works in the basement here. I've heard a lot about you. Can we go somewhere to talk. I have something you might be interested in.." To say the least, Jim was dumfounded. He uttered a "sure" and the two of them took off for Dooley's Diner located in the Arcade.
She introduced herself as Shaandraa Maateen, from Detroit, and through a mutual friend of theirs, Calvin Werner, she was in a position to offer Jim a job in Detroit at a considerable amount of money more than he was making here. Shaandraa worked for the Chesterfield Club in Detroit, and while talking to a frequent visitor there, Calvin, learned of Jim's love of gambling, and his unique talent with cards and dice. It seemed the Chesterfield Club had a "back room" and the owner, Lincoln Fitzger-ald, was having a hard time finding "honest" people to work in his club.
When he heard of Jim's prowess with cards and dice, he immediately wanted to talk with him. When Shaandaa mentioned she was going to visit a cousin in Marne, Ohio, Fitz, as he was called, wanted her to check him out, and if she felt he could "do the job" .... Offer him a job in the Chesterfield Club. Jim was taken aback, to say the least. "I've never really done anything like that, I just practice with the cards. I have gotten pretty good with them though. I supplement my meager income here with winnings from card games, and I've learned that to be a consistent winner I have to cheat, so I've worked with cards for many years.
My work with the furnace is hard labor, and I work with the cards and the dice to keep my hands limber also. What would you want me to do for that kind of money, Jim asked, "and I was wondering, how did you get the unusual name of Shaandraa Maateen?" "Well," she replied, "for one thing, my mother had a bad stutter.”
The Decision For three days, Jim labored over his decision. He had worked secretly for many years to perfect his skills with cards, and Shaandraa had made him an offer that was greater than anything he had ever expected in life. A chance to work for Lincoln Fitzgerald at the Chesterfield Club in Detroit, and maybe even Reno. But, unbeknownst to anyone, Jim had been secretly working for many years in the privacy of his furnace room ... and after many years of experimentation, he was about ready to unveil his "secret" to the world. If it lived up to his expectations, he would be wealthy beyond belief. He and Jess would have everything that they had ever wanted. A new car, a house up on "the hill" or perhaps, even Granville, near the golf course, someplace near Sally's mansion. Then they could think of children, something they had always wanted. And, perhaps even a dog, a Labrador name Rusty.
Jim's "secret" came about in a most mysterious way, almost like some unseen hand was guiding him to this ... maybe Walt? ... or some other "unseen" force that lived in the basement of the Arcade. There had been rumors and whispers. Jim thought he saw something on a couple of occasions, heard something, some things did get moved ... but .. Jim didn't believe in those things .... Well, maybe a little. For many years, the furnace crew and some other "lookers" who would stop by, wiled away some of their time on the dirt floor of the Auger Room. It was a rather large room, at least 20 x 20, and the dirt floor afforded them the opportunity to practice, play, and get in to some heated games of .... Marbles.
Many hours were spent in competition ... Jim became very proficient, Buford Benson, who worked in the furniture store, got quite good. And, of course, old Curby Riley, who worked in the bakery, was one of the best. Curby's main problem was his temper. On many occasions, he would throw a fit of temper pick up his marbles and generally any on the floor, and toss them in the air, all over the pipes and equipment in the ceiling of the auger room. Well, after all those years, there were many marbles up in the ceiling, in the pipes, and especially in the holding box for the auger, which was up in the back corner of the room. The main function of the holding box was the controlling of the flow of coal that was released in to the auger, and then in the stoker. This was accomplished by a series of radiator type pipes, configured in concentric circles, and interleaved with copper tubing that the moisture adhered to.
Naturally, as the water ran down the pipe, it condensed at the bottom of the ballast reservoir, and when it reached a certain level, the float would trigger the release mechanism, and the auger would turn, and the coal would be conveyed in to the stoker. Over the years, apparently, there were many marbles lodged in the coils. Jim was alone in the furnace room on one occasion, late in the afternoon, and he heard what sounded like many marbles running down a series of pipes. As they went past the ballast reservoir, they ran in to the extremely hot furnace frarner, where they became molten. When they ran over, the molten glass dropped down, past the huge blower, and Jim noticed that it became wool like.
After a time, when it cooled down, Jim picked up a handful, and after picking glass splinters out of his hands, realized that it was wool like. He started using it to insulate around the pipes, and even put some between the floor joists as insulation. After he put the "wool" as he called in between the joists, he got some heavy paper, and nailed it to the joists, to hold it up. Then, he realized it was difficult to tell where he had put the "wool" ... so his next batch, he decided to color it. All he had was some "red lead" which he used on the outer walls of the building, and by adding this, the "wool" became pink, and it was much easier to see. Jim felt this had some wide applications. Perhaps compress some, and make a roof deck, or perhaps even some could be used as an air filter on his furnace, better than the burlap he presently used which was always catching on fire if not enough water was used. This wool was almost fire-proof.
Jim stopped in at the Antler one evening on his way home, Buford had offered to buy him a drink, as was their custom around the five o'clock hour. As they were talking, Jim told Buford of his excitement about his "wool" and all that he thought it could do. "I think we can even turn this into a fiber that would be quite strong, and perhaps even use it to reinforce various items," Jim went on. The whole time they were talking, a man at the next table was listening intently, he was even writing down certain things that Jim said. When Jim was about to leave, the stranger got up and hastened out the door. "Who was that man?" Jim asked. "Do you think he overheard any of our conversation?" "I don't think so," Buford replied, "anyway, I've just heard idle gossip about him, I don't think he is a very serious individual, games ... I guess he always plays games, or something like that, or maybe that was his name.”
