Frederick Reuss - Henry of Atlantic City

HENRY of
ATLANTIC CITY

FREDERICK REUSS

ebook ISBN: 978-1-84982-082-0

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Copyright 1999 by Frederick Reuss: ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
Published by:
MacMurray & Beck
Alta Court
1490 Lafayette, Ste. 108
Denver, CO 80218

Excerpts, as submitted, from THE NAG HAMMADI LIBRARY IN ENGLISH, 3RD, COMPLETELY REVISED ED. by JAMES M. ROBINSON, GENERAL EDITOR. Copyright 1978, 1988 by E.J. Brill, Leiden, The Netherlands. Reprinted by permission of HarperCollins Publishers, Inc. For additional territory contact Koninklijke Brill NV, Plantijnstrasse 2, Postbus 9000, 2300 PA, Leiden, The Netherlands.

All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or any information storage and retrieval system, without written permission from the publisher except for the inclusion of brief quotations in a review.

Reuss, Frederick, 1960
Henry of Atlantic City / by Frederick Reuss.
p. cm.
ISBN 1-878448-89-7
I. Title.
PS3568.E7818H46 1999

MacMurray & Beck Fiction: General Editor, Greg Michalson
Henry of Atlantic City cover design by Laurie Dolphin.
The text was set in Weiss by Chris Davis, Mulberry Tree Enterprises.

Publishers Note: This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the authors imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual events, locales, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.

For my family

Mrs. OBrien was a fat woman with red hair and a red face and two sides to her that Henry saw the minute his father drove off in the Maserati Quattroporte hed won in a bet. She was all smiles when other people were around but when they were alone she turned into a witch. Mr. OBrien worked at night somewhere. Henry never knew exactly where, but it must have been a salt mine or a steel factory because Mr. OBrien was the tiredest, dirtiest man Henry had ever seen. Henry was always glad when he turned up. When Mrs. OBrien yelled, Mr. OBrien would tell her to shut up.

Before he was left at the OBriens, Henry lived in Philadelphia with Sys sister. Before that he lived with his father in Caesars Palace. The Palace was always busy. People said you could hear the noise from the slot machines as far away as Smyrna, which was all the way in Delaware. But even if that wasnt true and you could only hear them as far as Colognewhich was halfway to Philadelphiathat was loud. Caesars Palace was big and people came from all over to play. Henrys father was chief of security. It was sort of like being quaestor of the Sacred Palace and captain of the Blues rolled into one. The Byzantine historian Procopius wrote a lot about the Bluesnot the music but one of the teams that ran in the chariot races in the Hippodrome. In the olden days most of the people in Byzantium were Blues, but there were many Greens too. Procopius said Byzantium was the city where the east toucheth the west. That made it special. When Henry read the old historians books he decided he wanted to live therenot just in Byzantium but in a place where things touchethed like thateast and west, waves and shore, light and dark, past and present. To be in between two touching things meant you were on the spot where they came together. It meant they came together in you, and after all Henry had seen and read and been through, he couldnt think of anything better than that.

Being chief of security was like living where things come together toolike where a rock toucheth a hard place. Thats what Henrys father said all the time after Theodora became general manager of the Palace. Theodora was also the name of the Emperor Justinians wife, and being general manager of Caesars Palace was sort of like being an empress. Henrys father was six feet tall and weighed one hundred ninety-one pounds, so for him being between a rock and a hard place was not very comfortable. There were nights when he came off work so tired that he fell asleep right on the sofa holding a bottle of beer in his hand. Even if Henry took off his shoes and socks and tickled his feet he wouldnt wake up. The only thing that could wake him up was his beeper. When that went off he always said, Jesus Christ, because it meant there was trouble. There was always some kind of trouble going on. Henry liked to go and watch whenever he could. You had to be a grown-up to go most places in the Palace, but that didnt stop Henry. He knew how to sneak into the Bacchus Room and the Gladiator Lounge and had even been backstage at the Forum. His father said he didnt know what was harder, keeping his job or keeping up with Henry.

Then one day his father took him out on the beach. It was the beginning of the summer, and the city was getting crowded. It was the first time Henry had ever been on the beach with his fatheror even seen him wearing swimming trunks. He always dressed in suits because thats how chiefs of security have to dress. It was hot. They walked and walked, past Balleys Wild West and Trump Plaza and the Tropicana and the Taj, past the pier with the Ferris wheel at the end, past everything and everybody until they were alone and there was no one else. Finally his father said, Its time to get you out of here, kid. Time to go to school. He picked Henry up and put him on his shoulders and they walked for a little while longer. First youre going to spend the summer with Sys sister. She lives in Philly. Then he put Henry down. Youre gonna love her, kid. He took his gold chain off and put it around Henrys neck, then picked Henry up again and put him back on his shoulders. Thats so you have something to remember me by, he said, and they headed back to the Palace. I dont want you to worry, kid. No tears. Everythings gonna be fine. Then he had to put Henry down because his beeper went off.

The summer went by fast and slow at the same time, and even though they didnt fall in love, Henry liked Sys sister a whole lot. She was older than Sy and lived in a row house that had stained-glass windows that were left over from her hippie days. In the morning when you came downstairs the living room was filled with colored light. It looked sort of like the pictures in the book about the Hagia Sophia, and in the fall, when his father brought him to the OBriens, Henry brought that book with him to remind him of Sys sister and her house. Of all the things he did that summer, getting books out of the Philadelphia Public Library had been the funnest. It wasnt stealing, either. It was called borrowing.

He was sent to Catholic school. His father said it would be good for him. He never said why. Henry figured that it was all very complicated and probably had to do with appearances. He had learned all about appearances that summer. Henry was a gnostic. He said so on the playground and in religion class and Sister Theresa told the principal, Sister Agnes Mary, who took him over to the rectory. Well just see what Father has to say about these silly stories of yours, young man, she said. Idle minds are the devils workshop. Henry could tell she was angry because she was pretending not to be.

Father Crowley had lots of silver hair and dark eyes that made him look tired. Sometimes he wore a black suit and sometimes he wore a black cassock but he never wore a hat. The priest said he wanted to hear all of Henrys story, so on Saturday he came to the OBriens house in his black Chevrolet Malibu that said CLERGY on the license plate and talked with Mrs. OBrien. She became a jolly fat lady as soon as the priest walked into the house. She put her arm on Henrys shoulder and squeezed him against her thigh and talked a lot and forgot to breathe. Henry could tell when Mrs. OBrien forgot to breathe because her face got red and she made a wiggling motion and said, Lord, oh Lord! all the time. Father Crowley and she agreed that the best thing would be for Henry to spend the day at the rectory, where they could have a quiet talk. Mrs. OBrien said, Dont you worry about the time, Father. Ill keep his dinner warm.