World of Tomorrow

Hurrying to the subway entrance through the lightly falling snow, Evelyn paced beside Lily on the busy New York sidewalk. Listening as her friend hummed a song from the radio show they’d heard together during dinner the night before, she joined in with the bouncy countermelody at the song's chorus, smiling in amusement. “It’s catchy, that tune.”Slipping ahead of Lily through a narrow space in the rushing crowd, they descended the hard cement stairs into the subway, single file. Fishing in her purse, an expensive black leather drawstring with round bracelet handles that her aunt had purchased as a gift for her upon her graduation from the Fifth Avenue Secretarial School, Evelyn quickly found a dime, and dropping it into the turnstile, moved with the shuffling masses onto the platform.Along the tracks amid teeth clenching squeals, a cold rush of wintry air and the echoing thunder of the cars, the subway train drew alongside the platform. Stopping completely, with an almost hermetic his

Andrew James stood ramrod straight before the Trust’s president, Mr. Melton, his hands tucked behind his back. “You asked to speak to me, sir.”Looking up from his document review, Mr. Melton smiled, his spectacled, gray eyes genuinely pleased to see Andrew, and gestured to a chair. He laced his thin bony fingers, leaning forward onto the ornate mahogany desk in his lavish office. “Andrew, what are you doing here?”Confused, Andrew’s brows drew together slightly. “You asked to see me, sir,” he reiterated. “Is there something amiss?”“Why are you not home with your family?”Unable to hold the president’s gaze, Andrew glanced away, releasing a quiet sigh as he focused out the wide windows, across the rooftops of other nearby buildings. “You’ve met my mother. There’s nothing

Standing numbly beside his mother, the stoic Andrew took little comfort from her through Russell’s public service, heard little of the words spoken on his brother’s behalf. His blank eyes wandered from one face to another in the sea of invited mourners and he felt miserably alone. Familiar strangers, not one of them the kind of friend his brother had been in life. He loathed their ingratiating superficiality, resented their pandering crudeness, expensively cloaked as civilized high society when actually they were barely above savages, kissing each other's cheeks in public and viciously shredding each other in private. “I am the resurrection and the life, says the Lord. Those who believe in me shall live, even though they die…” How am I to do what they ask, brother? Andrew voiced his agonized thoughts to the voiceless nothingness, the dismal gray day another stifling pressure seeping into his already burdened core, dragging him down like a swamped boat. It swallowed up any miniscule s

Evelyn followed Lily across the trust’s lobby towards the lifts. Her head throbbed dully and her heart pounded, products of the deep-seated, unshakeable dread she’d been harboring since Russell James’ death a week before. She waved with a weak smile as the doors to Lily’s lift closed, sighing heavily at the soft chime of her arriving one. Just make it to your desk, Evelyn urged herself mentally. After that, you can figure out the next step. She repeated the mantra over and over as the doors opened releasing passengers, closed, and the lift lurched upwards again. When they reached the ninth floor, she hesitated, almost missing her stop.As usual, the office was empty. Evelyn was nearly always the first one here. A heavy rock fell into the pit of her stomach, as memories of the previous week flashed into her head. Breathing in small pants, she moved slowly to her desk, tucked her belongings into her drawer, then stood, lost.She stared at the low stack of papers on the desk—work she’d c

Working for the vice president Mr. James was much different than working for the financer Mr. James had been. Though Andrew James’ schedule was often full from the moment he walked in the door until the end of business hours, the meetings were seldom in his office or required anything afterwards from Evelyn.She handled phone calls, and with some simple direction, assumed responsibility for Mr. James' schedule, then retrieved records for his review prior to his meetings. Aside from boxing and moving account records, the most strenuous part of her day consisted of sorting his incoming mail and getting him fresh coffee in the few minutes between meetings before he was off again. On her own desk, her typewriter was growing dusty, and she couldn't recall the last time she'd had need of her notepad.To make herself more useful, Evelyn began studying Andrew James carefully. Attempting to anticipate his needs, she grew attuned to the rhythms of his life and body quickly. Within a couple weeks