Hookers Part 13

"I've been thinking about that myself--and I'm afraid it wouldn't work out. First, I don't care a thing about him, and he would be so jealous of me my life wouldn't be safe, if he caught me talking to anyone else, and knowing what I've been, if he ever got mad at me he would be sure to throw it up to me--and I'm afraid I couldn't stand that."

"Well, if I'm not mistaken, you do care for somebody else, don't you?

And if my guess is right--it's Harry, ain't it?"

"Yeah--you're right, all right, it's Harry. He don't even know my name, and I don't know a thing about him, but Jees, how I love that kid--Ah, nuts, one would be as bad as the other; I would be so jealous of Harry every time he was out of my sight for five minutes, I'd think he was with some other woman, and what's more, I'd be right--second, he is not the marrying kind, that is, he don't marry my kind--that's d.a.m.n certain.

Ah--to h.e.l.l with both of them, I'll take 'em all on that's got the price. What the h.e.l.l am I mooning about? Let's have another drink."

"O. K., we will have another drink, but Pearl, you are only fooling yourself--you may say to h.e.l.l with them for now, but when you get up today, you will feel different about them. I know--I've said the same thing every night for the past five years. You can't settle it like that--if it were only possible to settle one's feelings like that it would make a lot of difference in people's lives--tomorrow you will go on thinking you can see Harry every night, and how you can chisel Big Boy at the same time, without the other being positive of just what you are doing--Honey, I know what I'm talking about. Five years ago, when I came to this border, I was the toast of the town--I know I don't look it, but I was sure a looker in those days, and I had my way any time I wanted it--but I was just like you--I was going to make a pile of dough, and make a getaway while I could, and marry some good, honest, quiet guy that would never suspect me of having been what I was. Yeah--I was foolish, but--I guess we are all foolish like that at times--Oh, G.o.d, if I could only call back those five years, what wouldn't I give, but what's the use, I've drawn my own cards, it's up to me to play them.

You say you want to get out of this--then you take the money you have, and what I've got, and you catch the first train--don't wait--don't wait for anything--most of all, don't wait for your own thoughts to catch up with you--just go and go quick, but you won't--what's the use--Oh, what's the use."

"You're right, Ev, what's the use? But there's one thing--I'm going to do the thing I originally planned; I'm one Hooker that's going to get the dough and make the getaway. I'm going to do just what you suggested--I'm going to see Harry every time I can, and I'm going to get all I can off Big Boy--come on, let's get some sleep."

"Honey, I'm for you hook, line and sinker. I'll also take the bottle and put it under the pillow in case I wake up thirsty."

"You know, Ev, I've only known you for a little over twenty-four hours, but it seems I've known you for years, and you're a d.a.m.n good scout--good night."

"Good night, kid," said Evelyn, as she took a nip from the bottle.

They went to bed, to sleep the sleep of the just, and the hours slipped by as though they were seconds, until--

"My G.o.d, what is that, a fire alarm?" asked Evelyn, as she raised up in bed.

Pearl was still sleeping.

"It's that d.a.m.n phone," growled Mickey, as she stumbled to it. "Who the h.e.l.l could be calling at this time of night--or day? h.e.l.lo--what do you want? What? Oh, it's you, Tony--what's up? Oh, yeah, have they been able to trace the car, do you think? Do you think they will trace you?

Thanks, Tony, I'll see you later," as she hung up.

"What's up," yelled Evelyn, from the bed.

"Well, for one thing, there's headlines in the papers about the shooting last night, and Tony said the police were down there this morning, and questioned everybody on the place, and the boss lied and said that Tony hadn't left the place between twelve and six this morning. He says he don't know if they suspect him or not, and the police said there was only one woman in the car--so they must be all balled up--what do you think?"

"What's all the trouble, and what time is it?" said Pearl, as she raised up in bed.

"It was Tony called," answered Evelyn. "What time is it, Mickey, or is your time-piece working?"

"It's one-thirty," called Mickey from the kitchen.

"Oh, good Heavens, I must get to the room, I don't even remember what time I had the date with Big Boy."

"It don't matter what time you had the date with him--he'll wait if you are late," from Evelyn, as she climbed slowly out of bed. "Oh, my, I'll never be the same. I'm so stiff I can hardly stand up."

"You spent all of last night getting that way," said Mickey.

"Getting how?"

"Getting stiff."

"I know, Mickey dear, but the stiff I mean is not the kind of stiff you mean."

"You better be careful, Ev," said Pearl. "You might catch pneumonia from being in that river."

"You are wrong there--the only thing you will catch from being in that river is hydrophobia, and I think I had that when I was a virgin,"

laughed Evelyn.

"Good Heavens, Ev," said Mickey, "Was you ever a virgin?"

"Well, there has always been a doubt in my mind about that--you see, if I ever was--it's been so long ago my memory fails to recognize the fact."

"It must be grand to be a virgin," from Pearl.

"Yeah--but think of the fun you miss," said Mickey. "I sure remember the time I stopped being a virgin, and do I remember the one who put a stop to it!"

"What was he like?" asked Pearl. "And--what was you like?"

"Well, I was a big, green, corn-fed country girl, in the corn and Bible belt in Kansas, wasn't hard to look at (of course, that's before I had all these scars on this pan of mine)--and the guy--was the son of the rural mail carrier, who had just come out of the Navy, and what he knew was plenty, and I had always read what devils sailors were with the women--I guess I was just as curious as he was ambitious. Come on in the kitchen and I'll put the coffee on the stove, and finish my confession."

"For G.o.d's sake, make that coffee strong--I sure need it," said Evelyn, as she and Pearl followed Mickey in the kitchen, and sat down at the table. "Oh, I forgot--I'll get the cups and saucers," as she rose from the table and went to the cupboard.

"Go ahead with that dirty story you started to tell us," said Pearl.

"One of my pet weaknesses is the true story of How, Why, and Where Trollops like us three came from, and what caused it."

"Well, as I was saying, I was as green as they come, and I had already spurned, so to speak, the advances of the hired hand, which he made to me one day in the barn. We drove to church as usual on Sunday, in the G.o.dd.a.m.ndest rig you ever saw, a buckboard buggy with two horses. Dad and Mother sat in the seat, and me, being the only child, I stood up in the back and held on to the seat, and there I was, with my skirt and underskirts and drawers starched so stiff that when I sat down it sounded like somebody breaking macaroni in a cooking pot, hair done up in the latest, two big buns over each ear--when I look back at that now, I have all I can do to keep from screaming with laughter at the way I must have looked. Well, I was introduced to Jerry at the church, and he asked me if he could take me home in his buggy--that is, it was his old man's buggy that he had borrowed for the purpose. Mother and Dad thought it would be lovely if he drove me home, so they went on ahead when church was over, and left me with Jerry. Of course, him having been places and seen and done things, I was a pushover for him. When I look back at it, I must have been a panic. He drove off the main road, and said we should tie the horse, and go for a lovely walk under the trees.

I was timid at first, as we sat on the ground under an old pine tree. He kissed me, and I wasn't so keen on it, then he took me in his arms, and it done something to me, and I came right back at him. In my ignorance I decided that I would show him that us country girls was just as up to date as any of those girls he met in foreign countries, and I stopped at nothing--well, that was the memorable time when I stopped being a virgin."

"I bet that was a sight," said Evelyn.

"And how," from Pearl.

"Ah, d.a.m.n, that coffee would boil over--hey, Ev, get the cream out of the ice-box, will you?"

"I'll get it," said Pearl, as she rose from the table. "You haven't told us what happened after that afternoon."

"There's not a lot more to tell. Jerry got an awful crush on me, so I thought--he came after me every evening or so, and took me for a drive--and a walk, as well, and three months after that first Sunday afternoon I began to blow up like somebody had been using a bicycle pump on me, and then Jerry decided to re-enlist--which he did do, without even saying good-bye--shortly after that my father found out all the dirt, and he literally put his foot against my dainty behind, and kicked me out, that being the proper thing to do to a wayward daughter in the Bible belt, and me, I went from bad to worse, and then to Kansas City--and by that time I had learned to step, and did I use to burn Twelfth Street up. I'd start at the old Gaiety Theatre, on 12th and Wyandotte Street, and on down 12th to McGee Street, then back on the other side of the street. Sometimes I'd be a long time making the round, but I made the money. That was in the days when Kansas City was good--a girl could easily make twenty bucks in a night of hard labor, besides what you could roll a guy for when he went to sleep--but eventually the police gave me the works in the form of a floater out of town, and I floated to Denver. Boy, Oh boy, will I ever forget Denver? Many's the pair of heels I wore off on Curtis Street and many's the dollar I've earned there--and from there to many places, till I arrived here, and this will probably be my finish--but what the h.e.l.l, drink your coffee."

"In that case, you blame the cause of your--well--the cause of this life, on a man, then," from Evelyn.

"I can't say I do--I'm what I am because I wanted to be--I need men.

When I went to Kansas City, I could have found a job of some kind, and worked like thousands of girls do, but I didn't want to. I've never wanted to be what is called decent. I think that a life like that would be d.a.m.n slow, and it's not in my nature to live like that. I love all this excitement--all this uncertainty, and most of all, I could never be true to one man, because--well, because when I see a man that arouses my interest, I could never resist the impulse to satisfy my curiosity, so--what good would I be with a husband--I'd only make the poor guy miserable, or else cause him to kill me--I know me, like no one else does."

"You are right there, Mickey," said Pearl. "No girl ever went the wrong way unless she wanted to--she may cry and say that a man made her what she is, and that she would never have been so unless some man tricked her--but down deep in her heart she wanted to be what she is. No girl was ever really raped--unless she helped the process along a little. The girls who have been raped, and really in their hearts didn't want to be, were the only ones that have been found dead, after an awful fight. No man can really rape a girl who doesn't want to be raped just a little. I know from actual experience."

"You're both right," said Evelyn, as she reached for the coffee pot, for her second cup of coffee. "This coffee hits me right where I sit this morning--it sure tastes good."

"Well, I gotta get dressed and start for town. I gotta date with Big Boy, but I can't for the life of me remember what time it was for. What are you going to do tonight, Ev?"

"I suppose I'll do the usual thing--go over the bridge."

"Do you suppose there will be anything said to us about last night?"