Waterbound

1928

"But she gave you your job back," Fabrizio replied. He had been patiently listening to her vent for almost their entire walk home. "All is well now, yes?"

Lelia looked worried. "Not quite," she said. "I can't bring her with me again."

"She say that?"

"She did." She took a deep breath as she prepared for her best Rose impression. "Caroline is a distraction and the Paramount Famous Lasky Corporation is no place for a child...unless they're an actor, of course." Lelia gave him a look. "Apparently, she's looking to use a baby for her next picture. But I told her no. I'm not going to let Rose use our child as one of her props."

His wife's sudden vehemence against Rose caught him by surprise...almost as much as Rose's hesitation in letting her return to work. "You want me to talk to her?"

Lelia shook her head. "I appreciate the offer but I'd rather not have to rely on my husband fighting my battles for me." She wrapped a hand around his arm and smiled. "Also, I'm sure my mother would be more than happy to watch her while we're both working. Of course, that'll mean having to take the subway to Astoria and then from there to work."

"I can always take her to your mother's."

"Absolutely not. You'd have to be up at four to make that work out right. I can do it just fine. I'm really only complaining for the sake of complaining at this point." The baby suddenly yawned and she smiled. "Maybe I can disguise her as a handbag. Or fit her in my handbag. She's pretty small."

Fabrizio laughed. "You might find hard to explain your handbag crying."

Lelia leaned her head on his shoulder. "I'll just say it was me and then everyone will be too uncomfortable to pry any deeper." She sighed. "Except Rose. Nothing makes her uncomfortable."

~~~

Dinah had decided to host a party, inviting everyone in Philadelphia or so it had seemed. Cal had tried his hardest to get out of it, nearly succeeding. But then, she promised to bring Arthur and Victor and he gave in. Naturally, she had lied. The boys were left at her parents' house and he found himself trapped in an seemingly unending gathering with thirty people he didn't like.

All throughout dinner, Cal picked at his food, not really hungry and certainly uninterested in the conversations going on around him. He paid enough attention to know that it had turned to the market and the 'uninformed masses' busy driving it up.

"I cannot view it as anything but beneficial, if you want my opinion," one man said.

"Precisely," a second one replied. "I say let them buy in at the peak and then when the inevitable correction comes, we'll be the ones waiting to snatch up their shares at a fraction of a cost." He shook his head. "This is, of course, why I always say that some people have no business speculating."

"Money is wasted on the poor."

"Maybe not necessarily wasted," the second man replied. "But they certainly wouldn't know what to do with it if they had it," he added with a laugh.

Cal sighed heavily as he disregarded the voice in his head warning him not to join in the conversation. "When the market falls and the majority end up losing their homes and starving out on the streets, what then?"

It took a moment as everyone processed what he said and then the first man chuckled. "There's always bound to be some collateral damage," he said. "It's the inherent nature of free market capitalism. And I certainly don't see any reason why it should trouble me any."

"Of course not." Cal picked up his glass and contemplated its contents. It was surprisingly good wine, despite it being illegal. "You're a conscienceless leech feeding off the misfortunes of those you deem lesser. It doesn't matter to you if the entire world should crumble and burn so long as you and your vast fortunes remain untouched."