BENEFITS OF AMERICAN LIFE
21
bank. But he looked ahead to the day when he would become
like Americans, talk like them, wear their clothes, ride in auto–
mobiles just as they did, go out with pretty American girls.
In time, Takiss learned thing·s. He learned American
words, but never how to speak them like an American. He
learned that he was a dirty Greek greenhorn, and that many
Americans would have been just as pleased if he and many of
his countrymen had never come to their country. And he learned
that American girls laugh sardonically at a young Greek green–
horn. Also, he learned of places where for two dollars he
could go and find American girls who did not laugh at Greek
greenhorns, at least for a period of five or ten minutes. And he
learned how to buy cheap American clothes on time, to wear
a purple silk shirt, purple socks, and an orange tie. And in time,
he learned also that in the store, he could put some of the money
he took in into his pocket instead of the cash register.
Eventually the relative employing him discharged him in
anger, branding him as a crook, a robber, and a traitor. In
the heated quarrel, T akiss asked him why, if he wanted honesty,
he paid him only six doll ars a week wages, when he made so
much money himself, selling such bad products.
Takiss was employed by other of his countrymen, in fruit
stores, soda parlors, at hot dog stands, and in restaurants. He
acquired additional American knowledge, and more American
words. And sometimes when he was dressed up, wearing his
purple silk shirts, with socks to match, and an orange tie, he
walked in the parks or along Halsted street, seeing American
girls, wishing that he had one of his own, a blond girl with a
beautiful pink-white complexion. And sometimes, he longed for
his Grecian mountains, he dreamed of going back there, taking
with him, American money, and perhaps one of these pretty
young American girls with a pink-white complexion.
Time slid from under Takiss, and he was a young man
in his twenties, with his first citizenship papers. He had worked
like a dog, and he was still working at the same jobs, doing the
same tasks and chores he had always done since he had come to
America. He earned fifteen dollars a week, and worked twelve
ho4rs a day in a candy store. He cleaned, and he mopped; he
scrubbed, he polished; he washed; he waited on trade. And
often when he was alone in the store, he pocketed money from
the cash register. Every week, he deposited money in the bank,
and almost nightly, he looked at his bank book, proud of his
