"Yeah." Irving nodded. "They don't want to strike but the commies are moving in. And they're stirring up a lot of trouble about how the picture companies are keeping all the gravy for themselves. A lot of people are listening. They hear about the high salaries stars and executives get and it looks good to them. Why shouldn't they get a little of it?
And the commies keep them stirred up."
"What about Bioff and Brown?"
"They were pigs," Irving said contemptuously. "One side wasn't enough for them. They were trying to take it from both.
That's why we dumped them."
"You dumped them?" David asked skeptically. "I thought they got caught."
Irving stared at him. "Where do you think the government got its documentation to build a case?
They didn't find it layin' around in the street."
"It seems to me you're trying to use us to put out a fire your own people started," David said. "You're using the commies as an excuse."
Irving smiled. "Maybe we are, a little. But the communists are very active in the guilds.
And the entire industry just signed new agreements with the Screen Directors Guild and Screen Writers Guild calling for the biggest increase they ever got.
The commies are taking all the credit.
Now they're starting to move in on the craft unions. And you know how the crafts are.
They'll figure that if the commies can do it for the guilds, they can do it for them.
The craft-union elections are coming up soon. The commies are putting up a big fight and if we don't come up with something soon, we're going to be on the outside looking in.
If that happens, you'll find they're a lot harder to deal with than we were."
David looked at him. "What you're suggesting, then, is for us to decide who we want to deal with – you or the communists.
How do the members feel about it?
Haven't they got anything to say?"
Irving's voice was matter-of-fact.
"Most of them are jerks," he said contemptuously. "All they care about is their pay envelope and who promises them the most." He took out a package of cigarettes. "Right now, the commies are beginning to look real good to them."
David was silent while his friend lit a cigarette. The gold lighter glowed briefly, then went back into Irving's pocket. His jacket opened slightly and David saw the black butt of a gun in a shoulder holster.
Gold lighters and guns.
And two kids from the East Side of New York standing in a warm spring night under the California stars talking about money and power and communism.
He wondered what Irving got out of it but he knew better than to ask. There were some things that were none of his business. "What do you want me to do?" he asked.
Irving flicked the cigarette into the gutter.
"The commies are asking an increase of twenty-five cents an hour and a thirty-five-hour week. We'll settle for five cents an hour now, another nickel next year and a thirty-seven-and-a-half-hour work week."
He looked into David's eyes. "Dan Pierce says he hasn't the authority to do anything about it. He says he can't get to Cord.
I been waiting three months. I can't wait any longer.
You sit on your can, the strike is on. You lose and we lose. Only you lose more. Your whole company goes down the drain. We'll still get lots of action other places.
The only real winners are the commies."
David hesitated.
He had no more authority than Dan to make this kind of deal. Still, there wasn't time to wait for Jonas.
Whether Jonas liked it or not, he'd have to back him up.
He drew in his breath. "It's a deal."
Irving's white teeth flashed in a grin. He punched David lightly on the shoulder.
"Good boy," he said. "I didn't think I'd have any trouble making you see the light.
The negotiating committee has a meeting with Pierce tomorrow morning.
We'll let them make the announcement." He turned to Rosa. "Sorry to bust in on your party like this, Doc," he said.
"But it was good seeing you again."
"That's all right, Mr. Schwartz."
They watched Irving walk over to the curb and get into his car, a Cadillac convertible.
He started the motor and looked up at them.
"Hey, you two.
Yuh know what?"
"What?" David asked.
Irving grinned. "Like your Mama would say, yon make a nice-looking couple."
They watched him turn the corner, then David looked at Rosa.
It seemed to him that her face was slightly flushed.
He took her arm.