New York - The Novel

at Gorham carefully.
    “You don’t look happy. Something in your life is troubling you.”
    “Maybe.”
    “Would you like to tell me? After all, I was almost your stepmother.”
    Gorham supposed that if he was going to share the information with anyone, this clever older woman who’d loved his father was probably as good a person as he’d ever find. It didn’t take him long to relate what had happened. After he had finished, Sarah was silent for a minute. Then she smiled at him.
    “So,” she said gently, “I see that Charlie failed.”
    “I always felt that, but I thought you told me he succeeded.”
    “No, I don’t mean that Charlie failed to be a banker, or whatever you think he should have been. I mean that he failed to teach you anything.” She sighed. “All those weekends he used to take you from Staten Island and show you New York. All that effort, and you never learned anything about the city at all. That’s sad. Poor Charlie.”
    “I don’t understand.”
    “All the richness of this city. All the life. The newspapers, the theaters, the galleries, the jazz, the businesses and activities of every kind. There’s almost nothing you can’t find in New York, and he wanted to introduce you to all of it. People come here from all over the world, there are communities and cultures of every kind, and you want none of it, except one little thing. To run a bank. That’s not so interesting.”
    “I guess I’ve always wanted the financial success you find in New York. That’s a powerful thing.”
    “You know there has been a dot.com boom—except that it’s turning out to be a bubble.”
    “Probably.”
    “Don’t you know that there’s another bubble as well? An expectations bubble. Bigger houses, private planes, yachts … stupid salaries and bonuses. People come to desire these things and expect them. But the expectations bubble will burst as well, as all bubbles do.”
    “Then you won’t be able to sell the big Picassos.”
    “Come to my gallery and I will sell you beautiful things at a more reasonable price. But the point is that they will have value. Things of realbeauty, things of the spirit. That is art. New York is full of people like me, and you have missed us. You see only dollars.”
    “When I was a boy,” said Gorham, “my grandmother gave me a silver dollar. I guess for me that was a symbol of all the family had been, when we had money. I keep it with me to this day, in my pocket, just to remind me what I come from. The old Master family, before my father’s aberration. I suppose you think it foolish, but I feel as if my grandmother was passing that on to me, like a talisman.”
    “Really? That would be a Morgan dollar, I believe.”
    “Yes. But how did you know?”
    “Because I was seeing your father at the time, and he told me about it. Your grandmother wanted to give you something and she asked Charlie for advice. So he gave her the dollar, which he’d bought from a collector, so that she could give it to you. Your silver dollar actually came from Charlie. The rest is your own construction.”
    Gorham was silent for several moments, then he shook his head. “You’re telling me I’m deluded.”
    “People come to New York to be free, but you have constructed a prison for yourself.” She sighed. “I loved your father, Gorham, but I’m glad I married my husband. And do you know how we’ve built up our marriage? Layer upon layer. Shared experience, children, loyalty. Layer upon layer. Until we have something of more value than anything I can imagine. And we’ve tried to pass that on to our children. That’s all parents can do—try to teach their children how to live. I don’t think you’re doing that by going to Boston.” She looked at her watch. “I have to go.”
    “I guess I do, too.”
    Sarah Adler stood up. “I’ve given you a lecture. Now I’ll give you a present. I know you like it. I gave it to your father once, now I’m giving it to you.” She handed him the Motherwell drawing. “Please go back to your family and have a good life, Gorham. That would make me very happy.” She gave him a quick smile. “I’ll let you pay for the breakfast.”
    Then she was moving swiftly away.
    He was just waiting for the check when an idea occurred to him. He hurried out of the dining room.
    Sarah Adler was just about to step into a taxi on Park when he caught up with her.
    “I want to give you something too.” He handed her the wampum belt.“My father