Contents of the Dead Man's Pocket (Details)
citation: Collier's, October 26 1956, 138(9):82, 84-88, 90-91
alias: None
teaser: He was gambling his life for a piece of paper. If he lost, not even his wife would understand
summary: Tim Benecke sits at a desk in the living room of his eleventh floor apartment, typing a memo for work. His wife Clare prepares to go to the movies alone. With difficulty, Tom opens a stubborn window.
Seeing Clare off, Tom explains he must work rather than go with her, in the hopes of bettering himself at work. While the door to the apartment is open for Clare to leave, a current of air from the hallway enters the apartment, and blows a sheet of paper out the window, landing it on a ledge below, out of his reach.
The paper contains all the data Tom needs for his memo proposing a new grocery-store display method. It would takes months to duplicate the information, and if his proposal is not enacted immediately, Tom doubts he will get a promotion and pay raise, or distinguish himself at his company. He reasons it would be simple to retrieve the sheet of paper from the ledge.
Putting on a jacket, Tom exits the window of his apartment. Edging along, he reaches the corner where the paper lies. With great effort, he pinches a corner of the paper, but in doing so, he looks down at the street below, panicking. Trembling, he tries to get himself under control, but is paralyzed with fear. He shouts but no one hears him. He imagines the worst, but summons enough strength to inch back to his apartment.
Reaching the apartment window, he stumbles, causing the window to fall closed. He almost falls, then catches the window casing, and pulls himself against it. He can't open the window. He tries unsuccessfully to break the glass with a coin, then, with one of his shoes. Feeling himself weaken, he knows he cannot wait four hours until Clare returns.
He tries unsuccessfully to signal apartments across the street by setting fire to papers he finds in his pockets. He drops coins onto the street below, also to no avail.
He realizes if he falls, he has no identification. The only thing to be found on his person will be the contents of his pockets: the page of data. He regrets the time he has spent away from his wife, working. His life seems wasted.
As a last effort, he decides to punch his way through the window. He is successful. Upon reentering his apartment, he immediately lays the retrieved paper on his desk. As he leaves to join his wife at the movies, he sees that same piece of paper fly out the window again.
words: 6,720
genre: None
similar: None
people: Tom Benecke, Clare Benecke
places: New York, NY: Lexington Avenue, Wholesale Groceries, Public Library. Fifth Avenue, Loew's (theater), Fiftieth Street
notes: Forthcoming