Polistra's dream, 3
Part 3 of Polistra's Dream.

Read Part 1 and Part 2 first.

June 1939, Ponca City.


Fran: Come on!

Polistra: Just a minute ...

Fran: We need to get on the lake before the mosquitos take control.

Pol: Hold your horses; cartoon girls need more time for vanity.

Fran: Why cartoon girls especially?

Pol: Haven't you noticed that cartoon characters are ageless?

Fran: Yes... Orphan Annie has been 12 forever. By the way, is she still around in your time?

Pol: No, Annie died in 1968. She was made of honesty and common sense, and when those qualities began to wither in America, she couldn't hold. I miss her. But she stayed the same age to the end, like all of us 'toons. Thing is, it takes a lot of work to stay the same age.


Fran: Oh. I guess that makes sense.... somehow.

Pol: Okay, I'm ready now.


Pol: Pretty fancy apartment hotel, this Arcade.

Fran: Yes, and a pretty important place. Mrs. Annie Rhodes built the middle part of the hotel up in Newkirk around 1910, then took it apart and rebuilt it here when Ponca started to boom. She added the Spanish outer parts later.


Pol: Cute car!

Fran: I love it. Brand new, bought on the installment plan. Six hundred dollars, and worth every bit.

Pol: Six hundred a month?

Fran: No, you silly. Six hundred altogether. Is six hundred a month typical in your time?

Pol: Yes, but wages have inflated too, so it's not as bad as it sounds. What kind of car?

Fran: American Bantam. The company started out making a British Austin, and gradually Americanized it.

Pol: I've heard of the Bantam. It sort of turned into a little military car called the Jeep, that became famous in the war that's coming up shortly. The Jeep basically replaced the horse for the Army.


Pol: You were telling about Mrs Rhodes and the hotel. Is she still in charge?

Fran: Yes, but Lew Wentz owns the place now. He was just another one of those wildcatters who came to Ponca to drill. He showed up here, broke and full of vinegar. Mrs Rhodes decided he had something special, so she grubstaked him and boarded him until he struck a gusher.

Pol: So he bought her out and built himself a mansion?

Fran: Nope, that was E. W. Marland who built the mansions and the monuments to his mistress. He also came here poor and got started by Mrs Rhodes. Marland built Continental, then went broke after the J. P. Morgan interests bought him out. Mr Wentz owns the Arcade and still lives on the third floor. He's a quiet man, bachelor, doesn't like showing off. He puts his money into parks and recreation for Ponca's poor folks and kids. Gives the WPA a real run for its money, though it's building here too. I don't know if any other town of this size has so much beauty and so many services available for everyone.

Pol: Interesting comparison. Two rags-to-riches men who started in the same place at the same time, and chose to use their riches differently.

Fran: What do you have in 2008? Lots of Lew Wentzes or lots of Marlands?

Pol: All Marlands. All ostentation, constantly rubbing their unattainable riches in the face of the ordinary folks.

Fran: It was like that in '29. Then after the crash even the Marland types began to realize the danger of the "Let 'em eat cake" approach to life. I don't think they understand words like unbecoming or inappropriate but they do understand survival.

Continued in Part 4.
  ¶ 11:38 PM