Read Online American Dreams by John Jakes - Free Book Online

later.'
    'You'll be here for Christmas, won't you?' Fritzi asked with a curious look of expectancy.
    'Through the holidays, but that's all,' Carl said.
    "This is wonderful news,' lisa exclaimed. Only Joey, leaning against the door jamb at the dining room entrance, looked indifferent. It maddened Joe.
    'Come in, come in, there's plenty of food left,' lisa said, fairly bubbling.
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    'Could use some,' Carl said. 'No dining-car service on the boxcars.'
    'You could be killed riding that way without paying,' lisa said.
    'Oh, no, I had an expert teacher. Paul. He learned to do it in Berlin.'
    38
    Dreamers
    'Glad you're home, Carl,' Joe Junior said as the others trooped back to the dining room. 'But I'm bushed, we'll talk tomorrow.' He limped to the staircase with his crippled right foot scraping, scraping - Joe clenched his teeth as he watched his son drag himself up the long staircase.
    He called for a bottle of schnapps and another place setting, lisa and Fritzi and Carl chattered away while he alternated sips of coffee and schnapps. Soon he felt much better. Carl had given them a grand Christmas present.
    Joe observed Fritzi from the corner of his eye. With Carl's life unexpectedly going in a new and more positive direction, it was time to concentrate on her. He needn't leave matchmaking entirely to lisa. He would start looking among his well-to-do friends for eligible bachelor sons who might be interested in a fine match with a millionaire's daughter.
    Fritzi needed a proper husband and a good home right here in Chicago. He wouldn't permit Fritzi to follow any other course.
    What a happy holiday season this was turning out to be!
    8 Courage from Carl
    Next morning everyone rose early. After eating Friihstiick - breakfast
    -- big enough for two, Carl took himself out of the house to shop for Christmas presents, extracting a promise from Fritzi that they'd play some ball later. It was a pastime they'd enjoyed together when they were children.
    The morning's burst of sunshine and warmth quickly melted an inch or two of snow from last night. Nicky drove lisa to a board meeting of the Orchestra League. Left alone, Fritzi drew up her own Christmas list, then leafed through the mail that Leopold brought to the music room. Eagerly she opened a letter to the family from Julie.
    She caught her breath when she read Julie's description of her treatment at the hands of London policemen in the Whitehall demonstration.
    Fritzi admired Julie's devotion to the cause of woman suffrage. She shared Page 48

    Julie's enthusiasm for it, though so far she'd never taken part in any marches.
    Julie's letter concluded with a paragraph about cousin Paul.
    Courage from Carl
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    For years, since that evil Jimmy Claws went to prison, he has carried and handled all his heavy equipment by himself. On his African trip he severely strained his back and suffered for weeks. Lord York has offered to hire an assistant, but Paul refuses. When I tell him a helper would be no reflection on his manhood, he turns a deaf ear. Germans can be maddeningly stubborn
    -- and none more so than my dear husband!
    Sending you all much love ...
    Fritzi left the letter on a silver tray for her mother and, as the winter morning wore on, sat down to write a reply of her own. She asked Julie to use wifely persuasion in another area: Paul must write a book.
    Why not? He's intelligent. His letters are lively and literate (when he takes time to put pen to paper!) -- I should think many people would like to read about all the fascinating sights and events he's photographed -- the difficulties and dangers he's faced and overcome. I lis friend Richard Harding Davis does very well with such books. Won't you convince him to make an effort? Say that if he doesn't, he will sadly disappoint his favorite cousin!
    Carl smacked his fist into his fielder's glove. 'All right, Fritz, let's see if you have anything left in old age.'
    Fritzi squinted against the afternoon sun. Across Nineteenth, a