Excerpt: Backstage at Diamond Lil’s Melodrama Theater

Edwin’s voice lowered somewhat. “My charming brother Matthew was two years older than me, and always the favorite son. I don’t know why. I was the steady one, the dependable one. But both my parents loved Matthew fiercely. Sent me away to college so I could get a real jump in business, they said, but I think it was so they could quell their guilt at their much too obvious delight in Matthew.” (Jessie was scribbling furiously in her small notepad. She now regretted her decision not to ask to record the interview. She knew the sound of raw jealousy when she heard it, and it was too good not to have captured on tape. Drat, she thought.)

“Did Matthew get involved with the theater?” she asked, and wondered just what made him so appealing to his parents. Somehow she doubted she would get an unbiased answer on that from Edwin.

“Did he! Even though I loved Diamond Lil’s, my parents just gave it over to Matthew totally when he got back from serving in World War II. We both served, you know, me in France and Matthew in the Pacific. My mother was nearly wild with worry over his enlisting, so when he returned without a hair out of place, she and my Dad were so pleased they gave the theater to him!” Edwin was increasingly worked up. A thin trace of spittle was edging down from the corner of his thin-lipped mouth.

Mark looked alarmed. “Dad, relax. That was a long time ago, and you rightfully ended up with the place, don’t forget,” he said, trying to be soothing.

“Twenty plus years later, you mean! And just barely in time; Matthew almost ran Diamond Lil's into the ground,” fumed Edwin.

“What did he do wrong, if you don’t mind me asking,” said Jessie, still writing furiously. (Her coded notes included: why so angry? Wronged son? Mama's boy?)

“I can’t go into all the things he did wrong, it would take me a week!” said Edwin. “But he got his comeuppance! He had a heart attack sitting at this very hotel bar during a birthday party for his fiftieth birthday!”

Jessie caught her breath at this twist in the Hanlen family saga. “Were you here when it happened?” she said, imagining for a wild moment that Edwin has somehow murdered his wayward brother.

“No, I was living in Seattle in those days with my wife Nessie,” he said, calming down somewhat. “My parents were in their late seventies by then. It nearly killed them. They called me right away and begged me to take over. They lost the heart to run the place, even though right up to the night before Matthew died, they were both acting in the plays, working the hotel desk and everything!”

“Matthew didn’t have any offspring who challenged you coming back to take over?” asked Jessie, thinking fast.

“Matthew never married, the better to devote himself to my parents, I suppose,” sniffed Edwin. “Always a party boy, always a charmer. Everybody loved him. The whole damned town turned out for the funeral.”

“You know Dad, I think you should call it a day on this interview,” said Mark Hanlen, who had been looking increasing uncomfortable as his father got more empassioned. “Jessie, you don’t mind, do you?”

Jessie did mind. This was really getting good. But she knew better than to push the old man. “Not at all, I don’t want to tire you out,” she said. “Edwin, you’ve been so open and generous to speak with me, I really appreciate it.”

Edwin had slumped back in the chair and once again closed his eyes. “Mark, you’re a good man, and a good son,” he said in his faint rasp. “I do get carried away, I know. I guess I do need to take a break. But I’d love to talk again.”

“I’d really like that, Edwin. I’m eager to hear about the role you played in Diamond Lil’s history. It’s too bad we have to stop now, but I’m guessing your story is an entire session in itself!” Jessie was laying it on thick, because what she really wanted to know was more about Parker and Lucille, and definitely more about the charming never married Matthew and how he supposedly ran the operation nearly into the ground. This was good stuff, and she knew it.

She stood up as Mark threw his arm around his Dad and helped him up. Edwin once again lightly shook Jessie’s hand, then tottered off towards his suite in the hotel.

“Thanks again, both of you,” she said. “I’ll see you soon,” but she didn’t leave the hotel right away. Instead, she relaxed in the high backed chair and just thought about the interview: the overdressed old man, his weird grating voice, his courtly mannerisms and yellowed antique white gloves, his checkered vest, his obvious passion and sense of having been wronged. She felt like her little history project was turning into something quite unexpected: A window into a cauldron of seething roiling passions, fueled by Edwin's unwillingness to forgive a long dead rival brother.