Stradivarius

Earl Jancth was a soldier. In 1942, while getting his socks wet in the trenches, his house was bulldozed to make way for the Plattsburgh Air Force Base. He was fond of the house, and it seemed fond of him. His store on the ground floor kept him out of trouble well into his twenties.

It kept his friend Thomas Finn out of trouble for a while too, before he joined a greaser gang with Earl's cousin, Walt. They kept their hair slicked back with vanilla pomade, and Walt kept a switchblade in his jacket that he once used to dissuade Earl from calling the authorities. This was after Walt had broken into Mr. Berringer's house. Walt had also dissuaded Mr. Berringer from remaining among the living. In his haste, Walt had only succeeded in liberating a few volumes of Mr. Berringer's print of the Encyclopaedia Britannica, volumes S, T-U, and V-W.

Earl and Thomas each had a peculiar fascination with classical music, markedly the works of Vivaldi. As a result, Earl had a violin, longsince packed away in the second floor closet, and a vinyl record of Vivaldi's Violin Concerto in E-major. He played it every day in his store, that quite opposed to Earl's fascination with music, sold tobacco, pipes, and pipe accessories.

Thomas would sit with Earl in the mild afternoons next to the phonograph, greeting customers from his wicker rocking chair with a dumb grin. He would say things like "Good afternoon. Swell to have you!" and to the ladies: "Welcome to The Smoking Jancth. What are you looking for? Can I help you with anything?"

Earl would usually remain silent while the bright, well-to-do women of the area went about. He was always respectful to a lady, and was glad his shop had an open front so that they wouldn't feel uncomfortable in his establishment, as they might in a simmilarly-purposed store. He also kept pansies in a box at the entrance. He said he wanted something "resistant to absent-mindedness," so the man at the flower shoppe told him, "Pansies ain't pansies!" and gave him a bag of seeds. Earl just let the rain at them and they did fine.

Most nights, as the sun set over the Adirondack mountains, Walt would come slinking into the shop, his dingo boots sounding a clud-clud, clud-clud across the linoleum tile floor. He usually would stare at the shelves for a bit, motionlessly scanning with his hands in the back pockets of his Levi Strauss blue jeans. He would always half-heartedly say something like "how's things, Earl?" and Earl would always reply, "Better than Mr. Berringer, but not as well as Mr. Vanderbilt," To that, Walt would buy a pack of no-name cigarettes and look at Thomas with a "Let's go," Sometimes, he would ask in the middle of the concerto, and Thomas would shake his head "No,"

When Walt was angry, his pomade would melt and a lock of hair would fall down in front of his piercing blue eyes. Thomas would wave him on outside while the song finished, and would reset the phonograph before leaving, telling Earl to "have a swell night," and to "stay neat,"

Usually.

On one occasion, Earl was feeling especially bright, and decided to break out the violin that his father had brought to America from Scotland. It was nice enough, and with rosin-white gut strings. It fit none too well in the case, as the case had been purchased at a pawn shop after the fact by Earl's late mother, bless her soul. He took it downstairs and began to play a sweet tune along with the concerto. He was all right, better than Mr. Berringer, but not quite as well as Mr. Vanderbilt, had Vanderbilt been a master violinist.

That day, Walt rose from his wicker chair and turned off the phonograph, intrigued by the sound that Earl was so casually drawing from the strings. He stood cock-headed and amazed for several minutes until Earl stopped playing.

"What's that?" Thomas asked.

"Why this? It's a violin; can't you see?"

Thomas went to Earl to take a closer look. "It's really pretty Earl," he said.

` "Well, it ought to. My dear mother used to take care of it, bless her soul."

Thomas was enthralled, and asked Earl if he could see it, a funny way that people sometimes ask to hold something. Earl obliged and Thomas took it to the light by the pansies, looking the deep umber finish over, undressing the instrument with his eyes.

"Stradivarius, 1721," he read, peering through one of the serpentine apertures in the body.

"Mother said that meant it was lucky."

Later, Walt came in and left with Thomas, and Earl stowed the violin in the upstairs closet.

Later still, the draft was called, and Earl left for France. Walt and Thomas stayed, familiar with the ineptitude of the local authorities. They were caught and prosecuted. Thomas read a great deal about Stradivari, and regretted every minute of it.

While Earl was off getting his socks wet in the trenches, the Smoking Jancth, along with a box of pansies, was bulldozed over to make way for the Plattsburgh Air Force Base. The pansies were never recovered, and Earl missed his Vivaldi record dearly after that.