Chapter 3: Getting To Know John

"Hockley…where have I heard that name before? Oh well, I guess it's just a fluke." Emily said as she thought back to when her grandmother was talking with her parents one time. She was six years old, but remembers it nearly crystal clear.

The Dawson family had gone back to Denver to visit Rose's mother. Rose and Ruth had gone into the parlor to talk, while everyone else went down to the local park. When everyone got back, Emily could hear her grandmother's voice raised slightly, shouting things like "If you would have just gone along with the marriage, we all would have been a lot better off. The Hockley's were willing to take care of us Rose. We had nothing and yet they were willing to take us in. Provide for us." Emily remembers her mother's anger rising as well as her voice. Jack had immediately noticed what was going on and tried to lead the girls out of the room so they wouldn't hear what was being said.

Emily shook off the memory and turned back to John. "So, did you just move to New York recently?" John asked as they started to walk towards the door and down the hallway.

"Yes. I'm brand new to the city. My parents used to live here in New York, right before I was born. It really is a great town. So much to see. How about you?"

"Brand new myself. I'm from Philadelphia. We almost had to move to Boston, due to money problems, but my father ended up selling a few things and was able to save our house. You see my father tried to commit suicide a few years back, a couple of months after the depression started. I don't know if you remember reading it in the papers or not." Emily shook her head. "Well any ways, I found him right before he pulled the trigger."

"Why did he want to kill himself?"

"It's kinda hard to explain. My family's rather well off you might say. My father's a businessman, or so he'd like to think. He owns a company called Hockley Steel. He invests a lot in the stock market as well. Well, when the stock market crashed, the business failed within months, we lost hundreds of thousands of dollars and everything just went for the plunge. My father felt that there was no way out of the mess other than to just end his life. Luckily, I found him before it was too late."

"Oh, how awful."

"Ah, I don't really look at it that way anymore. It's pretty typical of my father to do something so stupid like that. He's a real nut case some times. Sometimes I wonder if I'm even related to him." Emily giggled.

"Well, I hope the best for you and your family. I really do."

"Thank you. Uh…listen, since we're both new to the city, why don't we go grab a bite to eat later and take a look around New York. Might be fun. Whadya say?"

Emily thought about it for a while. She didn't want to venture too far, being new and all, but she decided that the only way to discover things is to explore yourself. "Sure. Sounds like fun."

"Great. When is your last class?"

"Let's see….History at 4:30."

"Hey, me too. Except I've got my foreign language at 4:30."

"What language are you taking?"

"French. It's a beautiful language." John said in a poor French accent. Emily smiled.

"I've got French next actually. So I'll see you later then?"

"Yeah, meet me…um…let's see, where would the best place to meet be? Oh, I know! If you turn out towards this left hand hallway, you'll find yourself at the bottom of some stairs. There's a clock right above it. You can't miss it. Meet me at the clock at around 4:30."

"Sounds great. I'll be there"

"Great. Until then, you have a good day."

"You too Mr. Hockley."

"Oh please, call me John."

"Alright then. You have a good day John. I'll meet you at the clock at 4:30."



Chapter 4
Story Index

This page hosted by Get your own Free Home Page