“For readers who will begin to look for what real people and places are described here under false names, I would advise you to look around you and look into your own soul, as this novel tells about what is happening today almost throughout America.”
On a golden April morning, Iten Allen Hawley wakes up in a beautiful family mansion in the town of New Baytown. He has a beloved wife and two beloved children. But there is no money. A descendant of the city’s once richest family, a Harvard graduate, he works as a seller in a grocery store with a Sicilian Alfio Marullo. The salary is barely enough for a living. The tiny inheritance of Iten's wife Mary left for a rainy day. Iten does not know how to get rich honestly. He is unable to change his position. Ruin crippled him and does not allow to straighten. Today is Good Friday. Iten always does not tolerate this day. He does not think about the torment of the cross, but about the intolerable loneliness of the Crucified, when darkness became over the whole earth ...
Day after day, the life of a small town is unchanged. Iten knows exactly who and when will pass the shop, who will make what purchases. Every morning, he goes to work with Joey Morphy, the cashier of the local branch of the First National Bank. The side door of the bank is opposite the entrance to the shop, and Iten knows very well that it does not lock during the day. Today, on the road, Joy and Iten are talking about bank robberies. Joey has some reasons why criminals tend to come across. Iten carefully listens to these peculiar robbery rules.
When Iten sweeps the sidewalk near the shop, the director of the bank, Mr. Baker, walks past him, like every day at the same time. Baker hints to Iten that there is some opportunity to profitably put the money Mary who is in this bank. But Iten is afraid to take risks, although he promises to think.
After Baker left, the first customer appeared in the shop - Mrs. Margie Young Hunt, a friend of Iten's wife Mary. This is the lone lady that her ex-husband contains. Flirtatious with Iten, she informs him that her acquaintance salesman, Mr. Bokker, or Byakker from the company B. B. D. and D. is about to enter the store on business.
In the afternoon, the owner of the shop, Marullo, comes. He is always amazed at Iten’s honesty, which cannot be taught to work on the principle of “you can’t deceive, you cannot sell” As soon as he leaves, a traveling salesman from B.B.D. and D. appears. His last name is Biggers. He offers Iten to order products at his company at a discount. This discount in the form of a cash amount will settle in Iten’s pocket, not reaching Marullo. Iten refuses - this is some kind of darkness! When leaving, Biggers leaves a leather wallet with a gold monogram of Hawley and a bribe invested in it - a twenty-dollar piece of paper on the counter. Upon learning of this incident, Joy Morphy tries to persuade Iten to accept Biggers' offer - after all, everyone does it.
On this day, Margie divines Mary on the maps and predicts that Iten will very soon become rich and become an important person in the city. Itena is annoyed by these conversations. At the same time, as if by chance, family members constantly reproach Iten for being poor. To this, he jokingly replies that he is going to rob the bank.
In the morning, Iten goes for a walk and comes to his favorite place in the harbor - a cave in the rock, Shelter, as he calls this place. He loves to come here when he needs to calm down and reflect. Here Margie has guessed wealth for him and for some reason demands that he not give up his fate. Of course, cards cannot order a person to act, but perhaps they incline him to action. Iten himself does not need money, he muses, but his family needs it.
Returning home, Iten meets his childhood friend Danny Taylor. Danny is also from a wealthy, but now ruined family. Now Danny is a pauper drunkard. He doesn’t even have a house, he lives in a shack. The only thing left is the old Taylor estate with a meadow, which Danny does not want to sell. While he is the owner of this estate, he feels like a man. He does not listen to Iten's advice. He only asks him for a dollar for a drink.
The next day, Iten returns twenty dollars to Biggers. Biggers thinks Iten wants to increase the percentage of discounts. Iten later tells Marullo about Biggers' offer and a bribe. Marullo is amazed at Iten's honesty. Iten agrees that honesty is his racket. That day, Margie dines with Hawley and reads the cards again. She is well versed in human psychology, and her cards predict people what they expect. They prophesy wealth to Iten.
Iten begins to feel that a change is taking place somewhere deep in him.
On Sunday after the church, Iten and Mary go to visit the Bakers. Baker tells Iten that there is a project to build an airport in the city. But the only suitable place in the vicinity of the city is a meadow owned by Danny Taylor. It is in the construction of the airport that Baker offers Iten to invest Mary's money. Iten realizes that a group of far-sighted citizens, including Baker, will support the current city authorities until they take control of all the New Beitown landscaping activities. The town is in hibernation. For a long time the mayor, municipality, judges, policemen have been unchanged. They no longer notice minor violations of the letter of the law and do not see anything immoral in this. Elections to the municipality are scheduled for July 7th. Then thunder will strike. New people will come to power, and now Baker wants to give Iten a piece of the common pie.
In the evening, Iten goes to Danny Taylor and offers him a loan of money without any guarantees. With this money, Danny should be treated for alcoholism. A treatment costs a thousand dollars. Danny understands this subtle calculation. It is unlikely that he will be treated. Most likely, such a quantity of whiskey - for a thousand dollars - will kill him, the Taylor estate will go to secure a loan, and Iten will fall into the hands of the airport. Iten assures that he just wants Danny good. At home, he asks Mary to withdraw this money from the bank account, allegedly for household needs, but does not reveal her true purpose.
When everyone in the house falls asleep, Iten sees how his daughter Ellen, who often walks in her sleep, approaches a glass slide and picks up the mascot of the Hawley family. It is such an opal-colored mound, either from quartz or from jasper, a little rough to the touch and always warm. On it there is a gyrus without a beginning and an end. It does not glow, but as if incorporates the surrounding light. By tradition, it is allowed to touch, but you can’t take it out of the house. When the girl puts the stone in place and leaves, Iten picks it up, feels Ellen's warmth and understands how close she is to him.
On Monday, Joy Morphy tells Iten about his suspicions about Marullo. Apparently, he is in the United States illegally and does not go to his homeland because he cannot receive documents for a return trip.
The next day, the postman brings Iten an envelope from Danny Taylor. In an envelope - drawn up in the form and certified testament and debt receipt. In a state of some numbness, Iten brings cleanliness to the shop, getting to the most dusty nooks and crannies, washing the sidewalk in front of the entrance with a hose. While working, he sings a quote from Shakespeare: "The winter of our anxiety is behind ..."
... June is coming. Iten’s children are preparing for an essay competition on the theme “Why I Love America.” Danny Taylor disappears from the city. Marullo is rumored to be going to Italy, although he doesn’t speak directly about it. At the same time, state authorities are beginning to become interested in the affairs of New Beitown, an audit has been appointed. Mr. Baker pretends to be extremely worried and afraid of it. One day, Iten calls from New York to the Immigration and Naturalization Service of the Department of Justice of the United States of America. A few days later, a man comes into the shop who has called himself a federal agent. He asks Iten simple questions regarding Marullo. All this time, thoughts about Danny Taylor haunt Iten. In memory of him, Iten's heart aches.
Fourth of July is approaching - Independence Day. Iten knows that Mr. Baker is leaving town for a holiday. According to Joey Morphy, banks should be robbed on the eve of major holidays.
On Thursday, June 30, Iten takes the remaining money from the bank. He explains to Mr. Baker that Marullo is in trouble and that he supposedly leaves the shop to Iten, if Iten pays five thousand in cash - the cost of all the property.
The first of July. This is a milestone. Tomorrow Iten will be a completely different person. He should give up his usual looks, but, having reached the goal, he will return to the previous norms of behavior. After all, war does not make a soldier a soldier,
At dawn, Iten leaves the house for the first time taking a talisman with him.
He himself does not know when a game ceased to be a game. Joy with his rules of bank robbery, the upcoming holiday ... The plan is developed to the smallest detail. As for the crime of this plan, it’s a crime against money, not against people. As for Danny and Marullo, much worse.
Saturday, the second of July. Everything is accurately calculated and should happen in a few minutes. But at the moment when Iten is already ready to cross the threshold of his shop, a car pulls up. And the bank robbery breaks down. This is the official who, at the request of Marullo, brought Iten documents for the ownership of the shop. Marullo wants to transfer the shop to Iten free of charge. Marullo himself was deported. Iten is the only person in this country who has never tried to deceive him. Therefore, he wants to support Iten. It’s like a down payment for electricity, so that the lights are not turned off, so that the fire does not go out.
Iten destroys the attributes of a robbery and forever forgets about his plan.
On July 4th, the Hawley family receives good news - Iten Allen Hawley II receives commendation for the competitive essay. Together with other laureates, he will appear on television.
On Tuesday, July 5, Danny Taylor was found dead in the basement of his abandoned estate. Iten immediately goes to Baker, shows him Danny's receipts and claims most of the profit from the future airport. Mr. Baker is in shock - it turns out that Iten is not the pretty fool for whom he is mistaken.
High officials in New Beitown and Wessex County are already testifying in a jury for alleged misconduct, and city officials say Iten will be the new mayor.
On this day, the Hawley family celebrates Allen’s victory in the competition. Saying a toast, Iten recites: "The winter of our anxiety is behind ..."
Late in the evening, Iten goes for a walk and visits Margie. She knows perfectly well about Iten's betrayals and realizes that Iten will be tormented by conscience all her life. Now, after the death of her ex-husband, Margie was left without a livelihood. And she offers Iten her friendship for some small percentage. Without giving her an answer, Iten leaves.
Near his house, he sees a chic car. Someone from New York is urgently looking for Itena. It turns out that an anonymous postcard was received on television, which states that Allen’s competitive essay was not written independently, but consists entirely of the sayings of great American figures. This is true, and now Allen cannot receive the prize. Having risen to the nursery, Iten realizes that the scammer is Ellen.
He leaves the house with a bundle of razor blades in his pocket. Ellen tries to keep him, but he promises her that he will return. He goes to the Vault. The tide is already beginning, water floods the Vault. A sailboat swims towards the harbor, a splash of anchor is heard, and the lights on the ship go out. Each person also carries his lonely light. Now Iten’s fire is extinguished, and pitch darkness sets in. But, putting his hand in his pocket to get the blades, he discovers a talisman there. Waist-deep in the water, Iten hardly gets out of the shelter. He must give the talisman to its new owner. So that another light does not go out.
