March 16, 1970
Dear Mr. Croft:
After failing to reach you by telephone this morning (I’ll keep trying), I decided to send the enclosed summons — one copy for you, one for Judd’s parents, and one for me. As stated in the court notice, the balance of rent due is $130 for the month of February, but actually it will be an additional $130 after March 31, covering the month of March.
I have been paying Joshua’s share of the rent myself and sending it directly to Matheson Realty at 1283 Commonwealth Avenue, Allston, Massachusetts. I did this purposely, not only because I’m the one who signed the new lease, but I also wanted to be certain the rent was paid on time, knowing how unreliable young people are. Joshua is now alone in the apartment and he certainly (or me certainly) cannot pay a total of $195 monthly for the apartment.
Joshua is truly upset by all this. He told me he disliked ending his personal and professional relationship with Judd in this distasteful way, especially since they have been roommates since they were still students at Harvard. But he’s alone in the apartment now, and he told me in a letter that enclosed the court notice that if you people (you and Judd’s father in Sarasota) would pay the $130 for February, he will try to find another roommate to pay for March.
I must tell you that I am in no position to be paying any additional rent on the apartment. I am a widow living on a small pension, and it is enough of a burden to keep myself and my son going. I feel we are all responsible for this together, and I feel it would be fair for you and Judd’s father to pay for February and March, and if Joshua is able to get a new roommate (who will pay before he moves) I will see to it that whatever rent money Joshua receives would be returned to you and to Judd’s father in Sarasota — to whom I’m sending a Xerox copy of this letter, which I had made at the bank.
I would appreciate hearing from you as to what decision you come to. I’ll keep trying you by telephone up until March 31st. I do hope I’ll be successful in reaching you so that I can elaborate further.
Sincerely,
Puzzled, he read the letter again, and then went back into the barn, past the darkroom door he’d left open when he’d heard the mail truck outside, closing the door as he passed it, and walking directly to his desk. The telephone was surrounded by a clutter of contact sheets, grease pencils, bills from photo suppliers and custom labs, an illuminated magnifier, a stamp pad, a rubber stamp reading PHOTO CREDIT: JAMES CROFT, another reading PHOTOS, DO NOT BEND OR FOLD, several letters from Lew Barker, and half a dozen uncashed checks. He pulled the phone toward him, through the besieging debris, picked up the receiver, dialed the operator, and asked for Chicago information. When he got a listing for Carol Steinberg at the address on her stationery, he dialed the 312 area code and then the number, and waited while the phone rang on the other end.
“Hello?” a woman’s voice said.
“Mrs. Steinberg?”
“Yes.”
“This is James Croft.”
“Yes, Mr. Croft, I’ve been trying to...”
“I have your letter.”
“Good, I was hoping...”
“What’s this about, Mrs. Steinberg?”
“About?” she said. “It’s about the rent.”
“Yes, I gathered that. But what makes you think I’m responsible for any rent due on an apartment your son is sharing with some other boy?”
“What?” she said.
“I said...”
“Yes, I heard you. But I don’t know what you mean.”
“I mean I don’t know any of these people you’re talking about.”
“Joshua, do you mean? Judd?”
“Yes, Joshua and Judd, this is the first I’m hearing of them.”
“Oh,” Mrs. Steinberg said.
“So would you mind...”
“I’m sorry, I didn’t realize. I thought you knew.”
“Knew what?”
“I thought your daughter had permission.”
“My daughter? Permission for what?”
“Well, to... to share the apartment.”
“My daughter’s sharing an apartment with a girl named Judy Gordon, now perhaps you can explain...”
“Is that what she told you?”
“That’s not only what she told me, that’s what happens to be the fact of the matter.”
“Judy Gordon,” Mrs. Steinberg said.
“Yes, Judy Gordon.”
“It’s Judd Gordon. Not Judy.”
There was a long silence on the line.
“I’m sorry, Mr. Croft, I... so many young people are living together these days, I thought... I really thought you knew. The reason I wrote is they’ve left for California now, you see. Lissie and Judd. Without paying the February rent. And now the March rent is also coming due...”
“Lissie will be home before Easter, I’m sure the March rent...”
“Well, that’s not the impression Joshua got. My son.”
“What do you mean? What impression did he get?”
“That it was indefinite.”
“What was indefinite? I’m sorry, Mrs. Steinberg, but I find this entire situation...”
“I can understand...”
“What did he find indefinite?”
“Whether or not they planned to come back.”
“From California, do you mean?”
“Well... yes. That’s where they went, didn’t she tell you she was going to California?”
“Yes, she told me, of course she told me.”
“Then... well, I don’t know what to say. My son had the distinct impression they planned to... well... stay there.”
“Your son is mistaken,” Jamie said flatly. “My daughter has every intention of returning to Boston after the spring break.”
“Well, if that’s what she told you.”
“That’s what she told me, and I have no reason to doubt her.”
“Well,” Mrs. Steinberg said, and the single word said all there was to say. Lissie had lied to him about the apartment, she had told him her roommate was a girl named Judy Gordon; how in hell could he believe anything else she’d told him! The silence lengthened.
At last, he said, “I’ll send you my check for... what is it?”
“Her share is sixty-five for February, and sixty-five for March. But if she plans to come back, maybe...”
“She plans to come back, but she won’t be living in that apartment anymore,” Jamie said.
“Then I’d want the sixty-five for March, too.”
“I’ll send you my check for a hundred and thirty.”
“You understand that Joshua will refund the March rent the minute...”
“Yes, I understand that.”
“Mr. Croft, please forgive me, I had no intention of...”
“That’s quite all right.”
“The way things are nowadays, a parent doesn’t know what to do. If I’ve caused any trouble...”
“No, that’s all right.”
“I worry about Joshua day and night. I don’t know where it’ll end, Mr. Croft, I just don’t. And I realize how you, with a daughter...”
“That’s all right, Mrs. Steinberg,” he said.
“I’m sorry if I’ve caused any problem between you.”
“No, no problem at all,” he said.
They had known, of course, that Lissie was headed for California, had in fact argued fruitlessly against the plan from the moment she’d proposed it, astonished when they realized she wasn’t asking permission to go, but was simply filling them in as a matter of courtesy. It was Connie’s contention now that nothing so terribly drastic had happened; their daughter had simply lost her virginity, something that had to happen, anyway, sooner or—