Shirtwaist Ghosts Chapter 4

4

Laurie agreed to bring the girls to his parent’s house instead of meeting on neutral territory. His parents agreed to keep silent about the reasons for the separation. His mother even pulled him aside and gave Allen a bracelet to give to Laurie as a reconciliation gift. All went well during a home cooked lunch of green chile enchiladas, beans, rice, and tortillas. After Allen lavished affection and gifts on his daughters, he grabbed Laurie’s hand and led her to the manicured back yard.

“Everything is going to be all right,” he said.

“Really?” Laurie laughed softly. “You always could make me laugh.”

Allen took both her hands in his, “I mean it. I’m back on my feet. It’s not Wall Street, but we can make a life here.”
“You want me to just up and leave my job? Allen, how can I trust that you won't let the pressure get to you again? You ran away and left everything behind.”

Allen looked into her warm brown eyes. “I'm sorry. I'm sorry I fell apart and gave up. I let you all down and I am sorry. It’s whatever you want. I need some more time to get the condos leased. After that, the property will pretty much take care of itself and then I can move back and find a new job.”

“I don’t know.” Laurie pulled her hands out of his.

“Everything is going to work out, I promise. I could stand you being angry with me, but I couldn’t stand disappointing you.”

“You didn’t disappoint me.” When Allen tried to look away, Laurie took his face in her hands. “All the stuff doesn’t matter to me. It never did. You got all wrapped up in the prestige, money, status, all the things that didn’t have anything to do with us, as a family.”

“What can I do to make this right between us?”
She kissed him gently. “Asking that question is a good start.”

“Since you’re not interested in stuff, I guess I should give this back to Mom.” Allen took out the silver bracelet inlaid with semi-precious stones.

“Allen, where did you get this? It’s gorgeous.”

“Well, I didn’t think flowers were going to cut it, but if Mom doesn’t see you wearing this, she’s going to think I screwed up.”

She kissed him again as he fastened the bracelet on her wrist. “We wouldn’t want to disappoint her.”

Allen tried to dissuade Laurie from going to the condo with him to collect his things. She asked why they couldn’t just stay there, but he convinced her the condos were intended for businessmen, not families with children. He wasn’t lying, but he didn’t tell her the place creeped him out. Since he couldn't come up with any good reason for not showing her what he’d been working on all this time, they left the happy grandparents watching the kids and headed for the condos.

Laurie loved the third condo Allen had moved to with its cool, pale, wood paneling and cabinets accented with teal, brown and white trim. She admired the embroidered cactus and palm tree throw pillows and asked, “Did you decorate this yourself?”

“Not exactly,” he called out from the bedroom where he was stuffing clothes into a suitcase. “I came up with the color scheme and some ideas to give each condo an individual personality, but an interior designer put it all together.

“Allen, they are beautiful.”

“Thanks, honey. That means a -” He was interrupted by her screaming. “Laurie!” he yelled, running to the living room. He stopped at the entryway where Laurie stood with her back pressed against the sliding glass door leading to the balcony. Her face was turned as far as the glass would allow and her eyes were squeezed shut. “Laurie?”

A figure passed in front of him as the walls seeped away exposing the whole floor in a way Allen had never seen it. Rows of black sewing machines gleamed in a flickering orange light. People, mostly women, ran back and forth, panic-stricken. Some of them, already on fire, leapt out shattered windows while others plunged down the elevator shaft at the far end. Thick, black smoke rolled through the room. Allen started coughing. He collapsed to the floor thinking, Stop, drop, and roll, before blackness thickened all around him.
The blackness turned grey and he could hear his wife crying and yelling his name from far away. When he forced his eyes to open, Laurie's face bobbed up and down. His shoulders throbbed. She must have been shaking him for a while.

“It’s okay.” His voice was rough and shaky.

“No, it’s not! I saw women, girls. And there was a fire. Was there a fire here?”

“I don’t know,” he said. “But since this is the third condo that something strange has happened in, it’s about time I found out.”