She peered in the Morgan-Fenwick Department Store windows. And she thought of Mr. Bailey. The Sloan Bank, after all, was only a short way farther downtown and she’d heard Netta say Beau was working because they’d kept open a few “cages” for Christmas-rush deposits, and Beau felt he should be there.
She walked down Central, the biggest street, the most important.
The falling snow and the snow on the wide sidewalk made peoples’ voices whispery. It muffled auto horns; even the metronome clank of a loose tire chain sounded fuzzy. Iron bells in St. Mark’s played “Oh, Little Town of Bethlehem,” and the Santa Clauses rang shrill bells; people put money in pots that hung on tripods, and the Salvation Army blared out “It Came Upon the Midnight Clear.”
Bemused by these matters, Nora inadvertently walked past the vaulted entrance of the Sloan Bank and found herself looking in the window of the White Elephant Restaurant, just beyond. At the sight of people eating, she swallowed several times. She pushed her nose against the cold glass and wondered if twenty-seven cents was enough to give her entry. She considered going in, anyway, and ordering, and then telephoning Mr. Bailey or somebody. They could come and pay the bill. Once before, though, Nora had tried that, and the people in the other restaurant had asked to see her money before serving her. So she’d run out, vastly humiliated. It had even made her father sore.
Still, Nora didn’t want to risk such ignominy.
Four very pretty women, not very old women, were eating their lunch right under Nora’s nose. Her magnetized gaze traveled from syrup-dripping waffles to chicken salad. One of the women started watching Nora and soon said something to the others; all of a sudden she jumped up and came out the revolving door to the street, in the snow, without her coat or hat and said to Nora, “You hungry, honey?”
“Yes, ma’am.”
“Haven’t you got any money or any folks around here?”
“I was Christmas shopping,” Nora explained readily. “And I ran out of funds. I thought my daddy was in his office, but he’s gone home already.”
“What’s your name, dear?”