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Tom was dozing away in the car. I stepped on the gas. I had to take him to the main Hne stop at Murchison Junction, where he'd take the streamHner up North. He'd decided to go back to New York. He was a nice guy, Tom was. A nice guy but too sentimental. Too meek and resigned.
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IX
I got back to town the next morning and went back to work without having slept at all. I wasn't sleepy. I was still waiting. It finally came about eleven o'clock in the shape of a phone-call. Jean Asquith invited me and Dex and other friends up to her place for the weekend. I accepted of course, but tried not to appear too eager.
"I'll try," I said.
"Please come," she urged me.
"You don't need men that bad, do you," I kidded her. "Or are you really out in the desert there."
"The men around here don't know what to do with a girl that's had too much to drink."
That left me cold. I guess she felt it, cause I heard a little burst of laughter.
"Really do come, Lee. I want to see you. And Lou will be glad too."
"Give her a kiss for me,' I said, "and tell her to give you a kiss for me too."
I went back to work feeling better. My morale was up. That night I went to the drug store to meet the gang, and then I took Judy and Jicky in my Nash. Maybe a car isn't the most comfortable place in the world, but you can always find a new angle. That was anoth-
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er night I slept well.
Next morning, to fill in some things I needed, I went and bought a set of toilet articles and brushes in a leather case, a valise, a new pair of pajamas, and some other little items I didn't have. I didn't want them to think I was a nobody, and I knew just about what was needed to keep from giving that impression.
Thursday evening that week, I was just finishing my records for the day and filling in the necessary forms when, around half past five, I saw Dex's car stop out at the curb. I had already locked up so I went to open up for him and he came in.
"Hiya, Lee," he called out to me, "How's things?"
"Not bad, Dex. And how's your school-work?"
"Oh, I manage. I'm not enough of an athlete to make a real first class alma mater man, you know."
"What brings you around?"
"Oh, I thought I'd take you out to supper somewhere and then take you along to see how you like some of my favorite amusements."
"Thanks, Dex. Just give me about five minutes."
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"I'll wait out in the car."
I stuffed my forms and the cash into the safe, pulled over the iron grillwork and then went out the back way carrying my jacket on my arm. It was very sticky, much too hot for that late date. The heavy, moist air made everything stick to your skin.
"Should I take the guitar along?" I asked Dex.
"No, not necessary. Tonight I'll arrange the amusements."
"Okey Doke."
I got in up front, next to him. There was no comparison between his Packard and my Nash, but he just didn't know how to drive. You've got to be really lousy to race the motor of a Packard "Clipper" in low gear.
"Where are you taking me, Dex?"
"First we'll go eat at the Stork, and then I'll take you where we're going."
"I guess you're going up to the Asquiths Saturday, aren't you."
"Yep. I'll take you along, if you like."
In that way I wouldn't have to show up in my Nash. A front like Dexter was always a good bet.
"Thanks. Glad to."
"Do you play golf, Lee?"
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"Have you got the right clothes, and a set of clubs?"
"Of course not. Who do you think I am, J.R Morgan?"
"The Asquiths have a private links. I'd advise you to say your doctor ordered you not to play."
"Do you think anybody'd believe that?" I muttered.
"And how about bridge."
"Oh, pretty fair."
"Fair, or good?"
"Just fair."
"Then I'd suggest you say that bridge is bad for your heart or something."
"But after all," I insisted, "I can play..."
"Yes, but can you afford to drop five hundred bucks just like that?"
"That wouldn't be so nice."
"Then you'd better follow my advice."
"You're just full of nice suggestions tonight, Dex." I said. "If you took me along tonight just to let me know that I'm too damn broke to go visit those people, just say so and I'll get out."
"I think you'd do better to thank me than get huffed up, Lee. All I'm doing is giving you some advice that might help you put up the proper show when you do go visit
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those people, as you call them."
"I wonder why it concerns you so much."
"Oh, it interests me."
He said nothing for a moment as he suddenly braked for a red light. The Packard swung us forth on it's springs for an instant, and then settled back,
"I don't see just what interests you."
"I'm just wondering what you intend to do with those girls."
"Any good-looking girl is worth doing something with."
"You've got dozens of girls at your feet who are just as good-looking, and much easier to get."
"I don't think you're right on the first account," I said, "nor, as a matter of fact, on the second."
He gave me a look as though he were cooking up something. I liked it better when he kept his eyes on the road.
"You surprise me, Lee."
"Frankly," I said, "those two girls are just what I go for."
"Yes, I know that's just what you like," Dex said. I was sure that wasn't all that he meant.
"I don't think it should be any harder to
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lay them than either Judy or Jicky," I said.
"Is that all you're after, Lee?"
"Just that!"
"Well all I can say is you'd better look out. I don't know just what you did to Jean, but talking with her just about five minutes on the phone, she managed to mention your name at least four times."
"Well, I guess I made quite an impression on her."
"They're not the kind of girls you can lay unless you marry them. At least I think they're like that. You know, Lee, I've known the family for all of ten years."
"Well then, I guess I can call myself lucky,' I replied, "because I don't expect to marry both of them and I can tell you right now that I expect to lay both of them."
Dexter didn't say another word, but just looked at me. I wondered if Judy had told him about our business at Jicky's house, or didn't he know a thing. I felt that he was quite capable of guessing lots of things you didn't tell him and didn't want him to know.
"O.K., you can get out now," he said.
I suddenly realized that we had stopped in front of the Stork Club, and I got out.
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Dexter followed me in, and we left our hats with the check girl. A waiter in formal dress who I knew quite well led us to our reserved table. They tried to imitate big-town style in this joint, and sometimes it was very funny. I stopped to say hello to Blackie, the band-leader, as we passed. Lots of people were having cocktails and the band was playing some dance-music. I knew most of the customers by sight. But I was used to seeing them from the orchestra platform and I now got that usual funny feeling I got when I was on the other side of the fence, with them.
We sat down, and Dex ordered a couple of double Martinis.
"Lee," he said, "I don't want to talk about it any more so I'll just say once and for, look out for those girls."
"I'm always careful," I said. "I don't know just how you meant that, but in general I know just what I'm doing."
/>
He didn't reply to that. Two minutes later he started talking about something else. When he let himself drop his supercilious manner, he could really be an interesting talker.
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X
Both of us were pretty well tanked up by the time we got out, and I took the wheel over Dexter's protestations.
"I just want to make sure I still have my pretty face for next Saturday. You never look at the road when you drive, and I always feel that we're going to hit something."
"But you don't know the way, Lee."
"So what!" I said, "You can tell me where to turn."
"It's in a part of the town you've never seen, and it's pretty complicated."
"Oh, don't be silly, Dex. What's the name of the street?"
"Well, OK. Take us to the thirteen hundred block on Stephen Street."
"It's over there, isn't it?" I asked, pointing vaguely in the direction of the western end of town.
"Yeah,- you know where it is?"
"There's lots of things I know," I told him. "Hold tight, I'm taking off."
The Packard was a joy to drive. Dex didn't think much of it and would rather have had his old-man's Cadillac. But compared to my Nash, it was a honey.
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"The place we're going to is right on Stephen Street?"
"Near by," Dex said.
In spite of the heavy drinking we'd been doing he looked pretty sober. You could hardly tell he'd had anything.
We ended up right in the middle of the rundown part of town. Stephen Street started out all right, but after about number 200 or so we ran into some chap boarding houses, then some one-story shacks, looking more miserable the farther we went. When we reached 1300, they looked as though they could hardly keep standing. There were some old jalopies parked about, mostly model T Fords. I stopped Dex's car where he told me to.
"Come on, Lee," he said. "We'll do a stretch on foot."
He locked the car and we started out. He turned down a side street and we covered a couple of hundred feet. There were scraggly trees and tumble-down fences about. Dex stopped in front of a two-story structure, the top half of which was made of rough boards. The iron fence, surrounding a mass of debris which constituted the garden was miraculously in fairly good condition. He went in without ringing. It was almost dark already and peculiar shadows gave an eerie aspect to
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the place.
"Come on, Lee," he said. "This is it."
"I'm coming."
There was a rosebush in front of the house, just one, but its perfume was enough to mitigate the unpleasantness of the garbage that was lying about on all sides. Dex hopped up the two steps leading into the house on the side. A fat colored woman answered when he rang. She turned around without a word and Dex followed. I shut the door behind me.
On the first floor she stood aside to let us pass. We went into a little room with a couch, a bottle and a couple of glasses, and two little girls about eleven or twelve years old. One of them was a red-head, chubby and very freckled. The other a colored girl, a little . older than the other, it seemed to me.
They were sitting very properly on the couch, both dressed in a blouse and a very short skirt.
"Here are some gentlemen who will give you some money," said the colored woman. "Be very nice to them."
She shut the door, leaving us alone. I looked at Dexter.
"Take your clothes off, Lee," he said, "it's very hot in here."
He turned to the red-head.
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"Come and help me, Jo."
"My name's Polly," the child said. "Are you going to give me some dollars?"
"Sure, sure," Dex said.
He took a crumpled ten out of his pocket and gave it to the girl.
"Come and help me take my pants off."
I hadn't even moved. I watched the red-head get up. She must have been a little bit over twelve years old. Her can was nicely rounded under her too short skirt. I knew that Dex was looking at me.
"I'll take the red-head," he said.
"You know that they're jail bait, don't you?"
"Maybe it's the dark meat that's bothering you!" he said harshly.
So that's what he was driving at. He was still looking at me, with his damn lock of hair hanging down over his eye. He was just waiting for me to say or do something. I think I didn't show anything. The two kids just sat there, a bit terrified.
"Come on, Polly," Dex finally said. "How about a little drink."
"No please, thank you,' she said. "I can help you without drinking."
In less than a minute he had his clothes off and had taken the child on his knees and
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lifted up her skirt. His face had become flushed, and he was breathing harder.
"You're not going to hurt me, are you?" she said.
"You keep quiet," Dexter repHed, "Or you don't get any money."
He pushed his hands between her legs and she began to cry.
"Shut up!" he cried, "Or I'll make Anna beat you."
He turned his head toward me. I still hadn't moved.
"Is it the dark meat that's bothering you," he said again. "Would you rather have this one?"
"No, it's alright this way,' I said.
I looked at the other girl. She was scratching her head, quite indifferent to what was going on. Her body had already taken the shape of a woman.
"Come over here," I said to her.
"You can let yourself go, Lee. They're clean," he said to me. Then, to the girl: "You stop that whimpering!"
Polly stopped crying and just sniffled for a while.
"You're too big for me," she said, "That hurts!"
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give you another five dollars."
He was panting like a dog on a hot day. He grabbed her by the thighs and moved rhythmically on the chair.
Polly's tears rolled down without a sound. The little colored girl looked at me.
"Take your clothes off," I said to her, "and lie down on the couch."
I took my jacket off, and loosened my belt. She uttered a slight cry when I went into her. She was as hot as an oven.
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XI
Saturday came, and I hadn't seen Dexter again all week. I decided to take my Nash and go as far as his place with it. If he was going too, I'd leave it in his garage. Otherwise I'd use my own car.
He was as sick as a dog when I left him that evening. He must have been a lot drunker than I thought, cause he started pulling some funny tricks. Little Polly would probably always have a scar on her left breast because the hound had gotten it into his head to bite a chunk out of her. He thought his money would be able to calm her down, but when the colored woman Anna ran back in, she threatened to never let him come again. I was sure it wasn't the first time he'd come to that place. He didn't want to let Polly go-I think the smell of her freckled skin had a special effect on him. Anna put a sort of bandage on her, and gave her a sleeping pill, but she had to leave her with Dex, who tongued her from top to bottom, uttering some strange sounds from his throat.
I could guess what he felt like, since, as far as I was concerned, I could hardly get myself to get out of that little black girl. Still, I tried not to hurt her in any way, and she didn't
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complain even once. She just closed her eyes.
That was why I wondered whether Dexter would be back in shape by Saturday for the trip to the Asquiths. I myself was not quite myself when I got up after that night. I went to Ricardo's to recover: at nine in the morning he served me a double Zombie and that's enough to put anybody back in shape. I'd never done much drinking before I came to Buckton, and I now realized what a mistake that ha
d been. All you've got to do is drink enough, - there's nothing that'll straighten out your head as well as that. That morning everything went fine, and when I stopped in front of Dex's house, I was in rare form.
Contrary to my expectations, he was all ready for me, freshly shaven, dressed in a light gabardine suit, and a swank, sharpy shirt.
"Did you eat yet, Lee? I hate stopping on the road, so I'd prefer to get that over with now."
In some ways. Dexter was as simple, clear and innocent as a kid. But maybe a kid who knew too much for his years. His eyes showed it.
"I wouldn't mind some ham and eggs, and maybe some bread and jam," I replied.
The butler served me well. I hate to have a man stick his hands on everything I eat,
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but it seemed quite natural to Dexter.
We left right after I'd eaten. I carried my things from the Nash to the Packard, and Dexter got in on the right.
"You drive, Lee. That's a good idea."
He gave me a side glance. That was his only reference to that night. The rest of the way he was in excellent good humor and told me a lot of stories about Mr. and Mrs. Asquith, a fine pair of crooks who had inherited a lot of money, which is alright, but they used it to exploit people whose only crime is that they have a different color skin than theirs. They owned a flock of sugar-cane plantations in the West Indies and, according to Dex, all they ever drank in their place was rum.
"That's as good as Ricardo's Zombies any day, Lee."
"Well then I'll have no kick to make," I replied.
And I pressed even harder on the gas pedal.
It didn't take that car much more than an hour to make the hundred miles to Prixville, and Dexter directed me once we got there. It was a little town, not as big as Buckton, but the houses were swankier and their grounds bigger. There are towns like that, where everybody seems to be in the upper
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brackets.
The big gate to the grounds was open and I went up the driveway to the garage in second, but with no complaint from the motor as when Dex was driving. I pulled the Clipper in behind two other cars.