THE CHILD IS THE MEANING
263
"You can call me whatever you want," he announced, " but it
will take some time before Mamma calls me anything but Sammy."
The shift from Samuel to Seymour took years to complete, but
Seymour went forth to a new job with his new name and for a time
it seemed that the new name might mark the beginning of a new life
for him. He was given a job by a real estate dealer who admired
his mother and his sister, and he went to work promptly each morn–
ing to collect the rents and the installments on real estate purchases
which constituted this business. He played poker on Saturday nights,
but his luck was good for a time. But this reform lasted only until
the end of winter and the beginning of the baseball season. Three
months of good behavior made Seymour think that his luck had
changed. He went to the opening game of the National League pen–
nant race and bet the money he had collected that morning on the
team he wanted to win. Thus he lost more than he had ever lost
before, and once again the money had to be made good from Re–
becca's bank account.
"How did I know I was going to lose?" he said to Rebecca
when she told him that he must stop being dishonest. Seymour be–
lieved that since he was sure he was going to win, he had not been
dishonest in betting his employer's money.
"You will always lose," said Rebecca, "can't you understand
that? You're not the type of person who makes a good gambler."
This seemed an irrational argument to Seymour. After all, he
might have won the bet.
"I can't lose all the time," he said with some meekness, knowing
that as soon as Rebecca was involved in an argument about the
nature of gambling her first anger was over and she would resign
herself to paying the boss back.
"This is the last time," said Rebecca, "the very last time. I am
not going to do this again. You can just go to jail."
Seymour knew very well that his mother would never let him
go to jail, not as long as there was a cent in the bank. She became
angry with him too and shouted at him and told him that he was
good for nothing, but when he stalked from the house and did not
return for dinner, she became so upset that she sent Rebecca to try
to find him. The bet and the loss were concealed from Seymour's em–
ployer, but Seymour fell back on his old habits of sleeping late and
staying up late. The employer began to call up each morning to ask
Rebecca when Seymour was coming to work, and he told her that
this was unhea rd-of behavior.
