Chapter 11
Two things happened which completely changed Jim Benton's life and the course of his development. Both occurrences were of equal strength and importance, but. each was in a separate sphere.
In his private life the important occurrence was the joining of the Westchester club-although Jim didn't think of that as a club now. Four days after that first night he met most of the other members of the group. By then, of course, he'd completely acclimated himself to their odd ways and no longer had the slightest compunction about appearing nude and making love before relative strangers. And, naturally, after one session with all the members none of them were strangers any longer.
Jim found that he limited his social contacts only to group members. At first he was like a fiend. He couldn't get enough. He couldn't do enough wild things. If someone jokingly suggested trying to make love standing on a hammock Jim was the one to make the actual attempt. Once his suggestion was that they all blindfold themselves and turn out the lights in the room. The lights remained off throughout the entire evening and no one was allowed to ask the name of the person whom he found in the dark.
Once the initial period passed, however, Jim calmed down. Spring and sumrnei melted away to autumn and his life was wonderful Several evenings each week, and every week end, Jim would go up to Westchester and join his friends. They were like one great big family and he was a member. Bed was no longer the prime motive. Sometimes members spent week ends together doing nothing more than talking and reading and sunbathing.
That was marvelous to be able to put a book aside, walk over to the nearest woman, smile at her, and make love with her on the spot. During the summer those members with children all sent their kids away to summer camp, so there was no worry in that department. One of the members had a fifty foot cabin cruiser and the group went cruising several week ends. Once they were out of sight of land they stripped away their clothing and enjoyed themselves.
Jim felt he had friends for the first time in his life. He was relaxed and comfortable in their homes and on their beds. Their children called him Uncle Jim. He knew them, and in turn was known by them, more intimately then most human beings ever know one another. Many husbands and wives never reach the state of intimacy that Jim had with every member of the group.
And it no longer became necessary for the group to have regular meetings as far as he was concerned. If he was overtaken by a sudden surge of desire all he had to do was make a phone call before he went to a member's house. Of course, this worked two ways. More than once his phone had rung late in the evening to warn him that a couple of the girls were on their way over. That always seemed to happen when two or three of them came into town to spend an evening at the theater. After the performance one or two of them would arrive at his place for some loving. And he gave willingly, even eagerly.
For the first time in his life he was almost content. The only area of complaint in his life was his job. He liked the work but the salary was atrocious. A man with his responsibilities should be earning a minimum of ten thousand a year and he was only earning five.
In this area was the second great occurrence. Actually, it was a combination of several small things happening at once. Cleaning up the apartment one day he ran across the material he'd received from the correspondence club He laughed to himself as he prepared to throw the papers away, then caught himself.
Once, long ago, an idea had been working in the back of his mind. Now that idea solidified and sprang to his consciousness. He spent the rest of the night shaping and altering the idea and the next day he was ready to put it into action.
The first step was to make a list of all the names in the remaining file at the office. Because he had to do it without anyone finding out, and because he wanted the list to include all advertiser'-for the past three years, both active and inactive, the project took more than three weeks.
During that period Jim also put to use his after hours time. He was so busy, in fact, that he had no time for his friends and several of them called to see if he was all right. He wrote many letters and made many phone calls and at the end of a month he was ready. His familiarity with printing and production costs had stood him in good stead.
On the day he was ready. Jim strolled into Harry Conklin's office, sat down, lit a cigarette, and leaned back in his chair.
"It's time we had a little talk," he told Conklin.
"What about?" the older man asked.
"About me and about more money."
"What!"
"Don't start with the shouting," Jim said quietly but firmly. "Let me finish first. In the last six months you've given me more responsiblity until now I'm almost running the whole show here."
"I'm still the boss," Conklin snapped.
"Hear me out! I'm going to make you one proposition and you have five minutes to give me a yes or no answer. Now, the responsibility I have and the kind of work I'm doing is worth at least ten thousand a year. That's what I want, and I want it in a five year contract."
Conklin was so enraged he couldn't speak for a moment. His face reddened and his cheeks puffed out and he bit right through the end of his cigar.
"You're crazy, you know that?" Conklin said when he had himself under control once again. "Out of a clear blue sky you walk in here and demand I double your salary and give you a contract to boot. Boy, you need a good psychiatrist."
"I'm not going to let you rant and rave and call me names," Jim said. "It's very simple. You say yes and I go back to work. You say no and I walk out of here."
"Then get out!" Conklin screamed suddenly. "I got along fine before you came along. You think you're such a big man all of a sudden? Who needs you? Go on, get out of here before they come for you with the nets and the straight jacket. You think you find hundred dollar a week jobs laying in the streets? Who in hell do you think you are, you can come in here and make demands like this?"
Jim refused to let himself become excited. He didn't say another word He nodded at Conklin, rose from his chair, and walked out of the office, making sure to leave the office door open.
The other employees had heard the shouting and looked at him as he made his way to his desk. He didn't say anything to any of them but only smiled as he began to remove his personal things from the desk drawers and pile them on top.
Conklin came to the doorway of his office and continued to scream at Jim. Jim worked at a slow and deliberate pace. When be had his desk cleaned out he stuffed the things into an attache case, put on his coat and hat, and walked out of the office without a word to anyone.
There was a moment's uncertainty when he reached the street, but he took a deep breath, squared his shoulders, and took a taxi back to his apartment. Secretly, he realized, he'd been hoping Conklin would turn down his request. He had all the necessary confidence that his plan would succeed.
His idea, his plan, was a relatively simple one. He was going to organize a correspondence club. In the preceding month he'd researched the project thoroughly. The initial capital required was minimal, about a hundred dollars for office equipment and supplies, the rental fee for a box at the oost office, a couple of hundred dollars for printing and mailing, another hundred and fifty to two hundred dollars for advertising, and enough money to cover his personal expenses while he waited for the thing to get rolling. Now, for the first time, he was glad he'd never moved out of the cheap apartment. And if things were a little slow in the beginning he felt sure he could borrow a little money from Brooks, or Jackson, or one of the others.
His opening campaign was two-fold. There would be advertising in the cheaper men's magazines and in the newspapers like the Gotham Whisper. These ads would offer free information and particulars to anyone interested enough to write, so he didn't expect any money immediately.
The other part of his plan concerned the three thousand names and addresses he'd stolen from Harry Conklin's files. He made up a form letter to all those people offering them charter membership in the organization at only two dollars per individual or three-fifty per couple. And he emphasized the advantages of the club over the newspaper.
The form letter was finished by early afternoon and Jim took it out to a printer to have four thousand copies made. On his way to the printer's shop he stopped at the post office and rented a box for three months. Then he went back to the apartment and worked on the several advertisments.
He'd done his research well and felt sure he could corner a big part of the correspondence market. His membership was cheaper, his remailing charges were only fifty cents a letter instead of a dollar, and he planned to issue a bulletin once a month instead of every two months, or quarterly, the way the other clubs did.
He finished the advertisements that evening, and the next day placed them with the various publications. Now there was nothing to do but wait. The ads wouldn't appear for a week and it would take at least that long for there to be any responses to his letters. After finishing with the advertising he picked up the material at the printer's and spent two days folding the letters and addressing envelopes.
When everything was in the mail, he locked up the apartment and went up to spend a few days with Larry and Josie Brooks.