The Palace Thief Read Free Page A

our national pastime, but a smiling portrait of Eugene Peters wearing his baseball cap began to appear in the corner of these announcements, accompanied by slogans like “Doubleheader Sale” or “All-Star Prices.” One evening, watching the seven-o’clock news, I was startled to see that he had begun purchasing television commercials as well, and that he himself narrated them. Again, he wore the baseball cap. Needless to add, I soonfound his ads on my car radio as well when I drove to work in the morning, although I cannot say with certainty whether he was the narrator of these. It does not take a professional psychologist to observe that he was probably attempting to compensate for his two seasons of high school play, which were stellar neither at bat nor in the field. Within a short space of time a number of retired professional players began making cameo appearances at the end of these ads. These were minor players such as the back-up catcher for the World Championship 1954 Giants and a utility infielder from the team of 1962, and I will not bother with their names. However, I suppose it meant he was hobnobbing with these retired athletes, and although I do not know why, this thought irritated me. I had no desire to know of his successes, yet I found myself reading certain items in the business pages. The thousand dollars he had once asked me for might well have been a small fortune by now, and I myself might have been hobnobbing with these players, but by a simple act of will I was able to put this from my mind.
    At home Scheherazade became pregnant with Naomi. I will remember the day I learned I was to become a father because my wife called me at work, which she rarely did, and because when I came home that day I found that she had purchased for herself an ermine stole. I do not mind saying that the sight of the ermine hanging in our closet when I went to hang up my own raincoat was more than I ordinarily would have tolerated, but given Scheherazade’s announcement, I felt in no position to object. In June Naomi was born.
    It was at about this time that Mr. Peters entered our lives again. We received a letter inviting us to dinner, and I accepted, although the letter had been written by his secretary. I had Naomi’s college education to plan for now and was ready to consider and yet remain prudent about any business offer hemight make. Naomi’s money was in government bonds. Sensing that he would be asking me for another investment, I carefully calculated what I could afford to risk on a venture such as his. I arrived at a sum that, I do not mind saying, would surely have pleased him.
    Scheherazade and I met Mr. Peters at the Carnelian Room Restaurant in the Fairmont Hotel, where we ate an elaborate dinner including a bottle of burgundy dating from the Second World War and a bottle of port dating from the First. Although needless to say I would not have ordered these vintages myself, I nonetheless attempted to pay for them at the end of the meal. Mr. Peters, however, had evidently made a prior arrangement with the waiter. I have gone over in my mind several times what occurred that evening. I had a reasonably pleasant time and I think he did, too. However, at the end of our meal, Scheherazade without hesitation ordered two different desserts, eating only part of one of them and leaving the other untouched. Mr. Peters did not seem to mind, and he even joked about it. However, he made no business offers.
    In short succession Rachel and Abba were born. I had not yet been made partner at the firm because the position of Mr. Emond had been temporarily weakened, yet my own standing was still strong and I was earning in two months what my father used to earn in a year. I had developed a technique that was quite successful in recruiting new clients. I would take them to a meal at a nearby restaurant that had arrangements with the firm, where I would talk about professional sports or, if I could discern a leaning, the