The Patch of Blue

[vintageromancereader]

Chris Walton, the son of a wealthy, distinguished family, knew his future was set. He had the position, friends, and possessions he had always dreamed of. His life couldn't be more perfect.

Then his father's bank failed. Suddenly everything that Chris had always thought was his by right was snatched away. Hurt and angry, he dismissed his parents' faith as useless. Why should they be thankful when they were faced with such undeserved suffering?

Humiliated and rejected by his college friends, Chris turned to quiet, sweet Natalie Halsey - a girl totally unlike any of the other girls he had known. A girl who had next to nothing, yet who seemed to glow with happiness and contentment. What did Natalie have that Chris didn't? He vowed to find out, no matter what...

Original Publisher: J.B. Lippincott
Original Year of Publication: 1932 [1992 reprint]
Page Count: 183


Or, the one in which pride goes before the fall.

As the book opens, Christopher Walton Jr is sitting in church with his mother, looking for all the world as if he is concentrating and attending to the pastor's sermon, when in reality he is daydreaming about the new car his father has promised to buy him, for his upcoming senior year at college. He's actually picturing it zooming up and down the aisles of the church. He's also thinking about how content he is with his life: son of a local banker, all-around athlete, heading back to college with a brand new roadster. When the words of the sermon do pierce his consciousness, he is surprised to hear about how people should thank God for all the bad things that happen in life. Where is the use in that, Chris thinks.

So we all know what that means, LOL.

The next week, Chris's idyllic life is shattered. It's pre-FDIC, and there's a run on his father's bank. There is actual violence at the bank building itself, which Chris tumbles headlong into. He can't believe it when his father tells him what's happened, and that he holds himself personally responsible for the depositors' losses. Though proud to stand by his father in that moment, when he vows to repay his loyal customers every penny they've lost, it doesn't quite hit him just how far they've fallen until that evening. The family is having to give up their home and sell their land to make the first repayment. The new car was totaled during the visit to the bank. Chris won't be able to return to college.

That night, someone shoots Chris Walton Senior at his home and nearly kills him. During the convalescence period, Chris Junior is surprised and perplexed about how calmly his parents are taking their shocking reversal in personal fortune. His parents are fervent (if quiet) Christians, and seem to be leaning on God in this, their time of need. The words of the minister's sermon come back to Chris Junior, and he's as confused as ever about "thanking" God for hard times.

Chris doesn't wallow in misery for long, especially after his father is shot. He is determined to get a job and contribute to his family's wellbeing, if not their reparations to depositors. He is not prepared for how hard it is to find a job - his father's name isn't opening any of the doors he expected that it would. The family moves to a small house on the shabby side of town, and Chris is desperate to find paying work. He's sent to the local grocery to pick up some bread, and runs into his old classmate, Natalie Halsey, who is the cashier at the store.

Natalie's family has always been poor. Her father died years ago, and her mother is very sick. Her mother and her sister take in sewing when they can. They are literally squeezing every penny they can earn, so Natalie's full-time position at the store is welcome news, as is her employee discount. Natalie was so busy scraping together money during her school years that she barely had a presence in the social scene. Chris recognizes her all these years later, and when he rues the fact that he can't find work, she tells him there is an opening at the store.

Chris jumps at the chance to be an errand boy at the store. Work is work, and every little bit helps. He works hard to impress the manager long enough to be taken on permanently. He suffers humiliations, as friends from his previous social set visit him while he's working and make a big scene, but he endures as best he can. He spends his free time getting to know Natalie and wondering at the fact that he never noticed her in high school. She eventually invites him to a Bible study meeting, and his mind is blown. Words he had to memorize as a child are suddenly explained to him, in plain language, and he begins to understand the sort of faith that has carried his parents through this sea change.

The flavor of Christianity is born-again, which I have little tolerance for, and it's slathered on fairly thickly in the last third of the book. Natalie is eager for him to convert because he's already a kind soul, and if he gives his life to the Lord he'd be even better. Chris is hesitant, at first, until Natalie is held up one night at the store and it's up to him to save her. He starts praying as he lobs apples at the burglar, trying to disarm him, and realizes that yes, Virginia, he does believe in God after all.

Chris and Natalie are hailed as heroes for saving the store's funds; both receive promotions in title and salary. They confess their love to each other, and Chris vows to work hard and advance at the store so that Natalie won't have to work if she agrees to marry him. There is a deux es machina bit of an ending, as one year after their fall from grace, several prominent friends return from Europe and restore the bank (and the Walton family social standing along with it), but Chris has decided that he wants to manage the grocery store instead of going into banking like his father. He and Natalie marry at the end and bring their families together on the little street on the shabby side of town, and two members of his formal social set spend the last few pages all agog at the fact that they didn't immediately move back to the good side of town and take up their former lives.

This is a simple, quiet little book. Though I did not care for the proselytizing, it was a lovely little read and just the bit of calm I needed. I got what I came for, even if I wasn't bowled over.

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