Chapter V

Over a late supper, George told Mary about Gable.

"I always took him for a tintype of Potter, but I guess I was wrong," he said.

"I barely know Mr. Gable, but I've met him a few times around town," she replied coming from the stove with a steaming teakettle and filling George's teacup from it, refreshing the teabag in it. "I always thought he seemed a lot less secure than he made himself out."

"Anybody working for Potter would be that way." He shook his head. "Gosh."

"What?"

"Remember before Tommy came along, when Potter tried to offer me a job? That could have been me…no, that could have been us. I'm glad I turned him down cold. If I hadn't asked him about the Building and Loan, I'd be in Gable's worn shoes right now."

"Don't think about what could have been, think about what comes next."

A heavy knock at the outside door interrupted Mr. Potter's breakfast.

"Go see who that is," Potter ordered over his coffee cup. Fletch went to answer it.

He came hurrying back a moment later, Bert the cop, the pink-faced rookie and Cole the detective at his heels.

"I hate to interrupt yer breakfast, Mr. Potter, but yer under arrest."

"For what? On what charge?" Mr. Potter started to say. But his eye went a think envelope lying on the mantelpiece. Cole followed his gaze and stumped over to the shelf.

"I think it has something to do with this," Cole said, opening the envelope.

Bert eyed the envelope as he and the rookie strode over to put the cuffs on Potter. "Hot dog! Looks like George's missing cash."

"Yup, looks like seven thousand smackers to me," Cole said, putting it in an evidence bag. "Wish I had that kind of cash to leave it just lyin' around."

"Not if you have to get it by stealing it from the poor to feed the rich," the rookie said. "Shades of Robin Hood!"

Mr. Potter put up his hands in surrender. "Don't hurt me," he whimpered.

"We'll put a nice 'handle fossil with care' sticker on you," Cole said. Bert slapped the cuffs around Potter's wrists. He and the rookie hoisted up Potter's chair and lugged it out to the waiting van.

"So what happened to Mr. Potter?" Clarence asked Joseph, his Supervisory Archangel.

"He did something right in his life: he pled guilty to embezzlement when he was arraigned in the district court the next day. But he never served time."

"He didn't!" Clarence cried, clutching at his wings.

"No, he died of a stroke in his cell in the Bedford Falls lockup ten days later. Harold Fletch, his bodyguard, was sentenced for five years for refusing to comply with authorities and for accessory to the crime."

Clarence looked down from the heights. "But what about Joseph Gable? Did George give him the job? What about his son?"

"Look and see."

Clarence looked down at Bedford Falls, glowing in the darkness of a winter night. He saw into Ma Bailey's kitchen, where the Baileys and their friends had gathered for a New Year's Eve party.

George had just stood up with a glass of champagne (courtesy of Mr. Martini). "Everybody, everybody, I'd like to make an announcement and propose a toast." The chatter and laughter among the guests died down. "I'd like to announce that the Bailey Brothers' Building and Loan Association, as of January 2, 1946 will have a new name and a new junior partner. From now on, we'll go by the name Bailey and Gable Building and Loan now that we're taking on Mr. Joseph P. Gable."

"Former slave to Potter," Joseph growled, lowering his deep voice an octave.

"Who's now slaving in his proper place in hell!" Uncle Billy cried out.

"Sancta Maria!" Mr. Martini cried, blessing himself.

"In which case, I guess I have something to do," Joseph said, setting down his drink on the sideboard and pulling himself to his feet. He knelt in front of Violet, who sat in the chair next to his. "Vi, now that we've both got a future…will you marry me?"

She blushed and looked away with a mock pouty face. Then suddenly she turned, leaned down and kissed him. Everyone laughed and clapped.

Joseph tore his face from Violet's "Rrraow! I guess that's a yes."

"Oh my!" Ma Bailey cried, laughing in spite of herself.

Annie the maid trundled off into the kitchen shaking her head. "Matches may be made in heaven, but so are thunner an' lightnin'," she groused.

"You still got that toast, big brother?" Harry teased George, as Violet helped Joseph up off the floor.

"Well, I had it in mind for s-somebody else, but I think I'll rededicate it…to the happy couple!"

They drank to the lovers. As the other guests crowded around the couple to wish them well, George took Mary aside.

"You were going to propose that toast to Mr. Potter," she said.

"Guilty as charged," he replied with a sheepish smile. He laughed low in his throat, but it sounded almost like a sob.

"What?"

"When I was running home Christmas Eve, I ran by Potter's office and banged on his window to wish him a Merry Christmas, and he wished me 'a happy New year to you—in jail'."

"And now the shoe is on the other foot."

"Yeah," he said, gathering Mary to his heart. He looked up and said in the silence of his heart, Put in a word for that old buzzard, will you Clarence?

The End Afterword:

As I began to write this I researched the Internet Movie Database's file on It's a Wonderful Life, partly for information, partly for inspiration. I discovered that there is a scene missing from the film: in the last ten minutes of the film, after George bangs on Potter's window and wishes him a Merry Christmas, Clarence appears to Potter and drags him over the coals for being so nasty to George for so long. I don't know if this scene was never filmed or ended up on the cutting floor because of time, but if anyone has the COMPLETE original script, could they let me know?