In the Matter of Nikola Tesla by Anthony Flacco

Author:Anthony Flacco
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: FICTION/Historical
Publisher: Diversion Books
Published: 2013-01-06T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter Twenty

Days Later

​New York

Nikola emerged from the flophouse carrying nothing and still wearing his ruined suit. His legs felt heavy, and his steps were daunted by the shock of rising to yet another day filled with the one kind of difficulty he never prepared himself to face. He had been conserving his small wad of pocket cash as tightly as possible over the past three days, but even the cheapest food and lodging took their toll on his dwindling funds. In another day or two he would run out of money altogether. He was already out of time.

The first twenty-four hours after his eviction were wasted in the struggle to find his investors. His efforts got him no further explanation for why a year’s worth of his work was taken from him as easily as a breeze changes direction.

The day after that was filled by his search for decent employment before abject poverty confronted him. He started with places that should logically be able to utilize his extensive education, then broadened the search to any place that might only need some small part of his abilities. By the end of the second day he was knocking on the doors of any place that was somehow related to his wide range of skills. Still there suddenly seemed to be a thousand applicants for every available position.

This third day was his deadline day. The night before, he promised himself when he lay down to sleep that he would begin the day by seeking any kind of work at all, no matter what the job might be. He fingered a few coins in his pocket, wondering if he could allow himself fifty cents for a sturdy breakfast. That would leave him with three paper dollars.

When he passed a large newsstand, the day’s headlines caught his eye, warning of the “Depression of 1886.” He smiled at that notion; until three days earlier, Nikola had no idea that an economic “depression” was going on in America, or that such a thing was even possible in a land where opportunity oozed from the ground.

Cool air blew in from the Atlantic ocean with the unfortunate effect of bringing him fully alert; he would have been more comfortable in a daze. For the past two days, the urgency of his situation had helped him avoid the issue of Karina’s continued absence, but now the question nagged at him. He hated to ponder whether his father was right or even partially right about Karina, but the old fears that she might be a symptom of his madness tormented him again. They mixed with his guilt over doubting her.

His day had barely begun when he passed an alley where a tattered mother hovered over her three small children. The mother’s eyes met his and she extended her palm to him. The ache behind her expression resonated so powerfully with his own that without giving it any thought, he handed her all three of his paper dollars and kept only the coins for himself.

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