by Liz Tyner
His words, not hers.
“So I’m on the wringer?” Jane asked.
They all three had inherited their mother’s blond hair and their father’s blue eyes, and as if Father had control over their size, too, they were like stair steps. Betty the tallest, then Jane and then her, the baby of the family. The shortest.
Betty nodded at Jane. “Yes. It’s your turn.”
Jane nodded in agreement, accepting things were as they were, because that’s what they were required to do.
Or did.
Until the day Father had made them visit a convent. That night, six months ago, Jane had snuck out and visited a speakeasy.
Patsy had been floored to learn what Jane had done, but upon hearing about the fun and adventure her sister had experienced, Patsy had joined her the next night, and had the absolute time of her life!
Betty joined the two of them the night after that.
That night, they’d all agreed if they were going to have to live in a convent the rest of their lives, they’d better have fun now, while they could.
So they’d become flappers. Real, live flappers.
They wore short skirts, fancy hats and feathered headbands and makeup, listened to the new fast-paced music, danced with any man they chose and didn’t care if others thought their behavior was acceptable or not.
And it was so much fun!
Excitement filled Patsy from head to toe. She loved their secretive flapper life. “We’re going to the Rooster’s Nest tonight,” she whispered, even though Father was already at work and Mother was down in the kitchen.
A short time ago, after breakfast, she and her sisters had returned to their rooms for half an hour of “digesting time.” What was that? Digesting time? To her, it was nothing more than another one of Father’s rules. However, it was one that she didn’t mind because it gave her time to sneak articles out of the newspaper her father had finished reading up to her room.
“Haven’t been to the Rooster’s Nest in a while,” Jane said. “I heard they have a new piano player that is really the bee’s knees.”
“Hush,” Betty hissed as they started down the long, curved staircase. “Wait until we are on the back porch.”
“Read something interesting this morning?” Jane whispered.
Betty shot them both a glare, but there was a hint of an enthusiastic gleam in her eyes.
Patsy pinched her lips together and nodded at Jane.
The excitement in her sister’s eyes nearly matched hers, and with new enthusiasm to get their chores completed, they all increased their speed down the wide steps.
Hours later, after the beds had been stripped and remade, they were finally in the back porch, where the hum of the washing machine motor, the sloshing of water and the constant high-pitched squeak of the rollers on the wringer gave them the opportunity to talk without the fear of being overheard.
“Why the Rooster’s Nest?” Jane asked, feeding a white sheet between the rollers on the washing machine, filling the air with the smell of bleach.
Patsy waited until enough material rolled out of the wringer for her to grab and guide the sheet into the rinse tub before answering, “There’s an escaped convict on the lam.”
“Really?” Jane flipped the arm of the wringer around so it was in position to squeeze the rinse water out of the sheet.
“Yes,” Patsy answered while swooshing the sheet about in the water. Her sisters knew about her desire to be a reporter. Jane wanted to be in showbiz, and Betty... Betty just wanted out of Father’s house, to move to Seattle, where she’d once visited their grandmother before she’d died. “I read about it in the Gazette this morning. It appears the convict robbed a train seven years ago, and escaped from prison just last week. The article warned people to keep their doors locked.”
“The Rooster’s Nest will be the place to go, then,” Jane said, feeding the rinsed sheet into the wringer so it could drop in the basket to be hung on the line. “If there are any goods to be had, that’s where you’ll hear it.”
Patsy nodded. “That’s what I figured, too.”
“The Rooster’s Nest means we’ll have to take a streetcar.” Betty pulled a sheet out of the washer and waited for Jane to flip the arm of the wringer back over the washing machine tub. “The red line.”
Patsy bit her bottom lip, waiting for Jane’s reply. Both she and Jane knew that if Father ever learned about their nighttime excursions, they all would be in trouble, but Betty would be in the most trouble. He forever pointed out that she was the oldest and the one responsible. For everything.
“We’ve done that before,” Jane said.
“I know.” Betty looked at both of them with a serious gaze. “We just have to be more careful when taking the streetcar.”
Patsy nodded. The Rooster’s Nest wasn’t that much farther away than some of the other joints they visited. It was just located on a busier street, which meant they had to be more cautious about not being spotted by someone who might know them, or their father.
Jane nodded. “You don’t have to tell us twice. If we ever got caught, we’d be locked upstairs like Rapunzel for the rest of our lives.”
That was the real malarkey. They all knew it. “With our hair cut off,” Pasty added. “So we couldn’t throw it out the window to be rescued by a knight in shining armor.” That was the one step none of them had dared take. Cutting off their long hair. Father thought all women should have long hair.
Jane laughed, but Betty didn’t. Her blue eyes grew sad. Patsy knew why. Their father had announced last month that Betty would marry James Bauer, a man whom none of them liked. He was the owner of one of the companies building houses for their father, and most certainly was not a knight in shining armor. But James was what Father looked for in a man. Rich. That was all he cared about.
“We’ll leave at eight thirty,” Betty said as she pulled out another sheet.
“Eight thirty it is,” Jane said, feeding the sheet through the wringer.
Patsy grinned at both of them and nodded while swooshing around the sheet in the rinse tub. Eight thirty was hours away, but excitement filled her nonetheless. Despite the fact that she was nineteen, Jane was twenty-one and Betty twenty-two, they were sent to bed at seven thirty every night just like they had been when they were small children. She’d hated that for years. Right up until Jane had showed them what could happen after their parents were sound asleep. Now she was glad that Father lived by such a strict schedule. One that included his own bedtime, as well. And that their big house meant their parents had a large bedroom downstairs, while the three of them had the upstairs rooms all to themselves.
By 8:31 that evening, Patsy had climbed down the ivy-covered trellis that extended to the second floor, right outside the upstairs bathroom window. Jane climbed down next, and then Betty. They all had their blond hair tucked up beneath floppy brimmed hats, bright lipstick shimmering on their lips and thick layers of mascara on their eyelashes. The shin-length, long-sleeved, paisley-print dresses they’d worn all day had been changed into fashionable A-line sleeveless dresses with hems that stopped above their knees.
Her dress was dark blue with two layers of fringe on the hem, Jane’s was red-and-white-striped and Betty’s was deep purple with silver lace on the hem and neckline. Sewing was another household skill they were well versed in, and one they each put to good use regularly. Their parents only ever saw the simple paisley-and-gingham-print dresses each of them sewed. These ones, their flapper dresses, were made of silk, satin and other enticing materials that had been secretly slipped in the house and sewn in secret for this. Their late-night excursions.
Once on the ground, Betty gave both Patsy and Jane a thorough once-over, then, upon her satisfied nod, they were all three off, running across the backyard like the house had just been raided.
They darted through the line of trees tha
t separated the backyard from a dirt road that led up the hill, where houses would someday be built, and then followed the road downhill, all the way to an abandoned house on the edge of the development. It was a fairly new house that had once been owned by the mob, but the government had confiscated it. Their father had tried to buy it, because it butted up to property he already owned, but it wasn’t for sale. That suited them fine because they could walk through the yard without the fear of being seen, and then onto the street where the red line of the streetcars rolled by.
“Perfect timing!” Jane exclaimed as they all hurried to the edge of the street where they could climb aboard the city trolley ringing its bell. “I can’t wait to hear that new piano player.”
Patsy agreed, mainly to be nice. She enjoyed music, but Jane loved it. Jane even dared sneak into the living room and listen to the radio. Of course, that was only when Father wasn’t home, but Mother was home. So far, she hadn’t gotten caught, and Patsy hoped things stayed that way.
“We have to leave before midnight,” Betty whispered once they were aboard the streetcar. “No later than eleven forty-five or we’ll miss the last car home.”
Patsy and Jane agreed with nods. Other than that, they didn’t speak to each other, or do anything to draw attention to themselves or each other. There were hundreds of thousands of people in LA and the chance of their running into someone who knew them was unlikely, considering other than shopping and church on Sunday mornings, they rarely left the house, but they’d agreed long ago to be extra cautious on their excursions.
They leaped off the streetcar as it stopped a block away from the Rooster’s Nest, which was located beneath a laundromat. Others were going that way, too, and the sisters walked along with the others as if they didn’t even know each other.
The entrance was in the front of the building, except that once they were in the entranceway, everyone took an unmarked brown door on the left that led down a lighted flight of stairs. Jane was several steps ahead and Patsy grinned at how her sister’s head bobbed to the music emitted into the stairway.
At the bottom of the stairs, the first person in line knocked on another door. The small sliding peephole opened, and upon hearing the password, the door was opened for all of them to enter. The password was simply the speakeasy’s name, but it was still a security measure. If the person who opened the slide saw a police officer’s uniform, he would signal the bar, and all of the alcohol would be dumped or hidden so the place couldn’t get busted for selling it.
Patsy’s grin increased as she stepped through the door at the bottom of the stairs and rounded the corner. The large room was full of bright sparkling lights, music and people. All sorts of people.
She loved the thrill that filled her every time she entered a room like this. It was as if she was instantly transformed into an entirely different person.
Tonight that thrill was even bigger. This was it. Her chance to write an article that would get printed and launch her into the world she read about every day. She wanted to see all the things written about in the newspaper, from the ostrich rides at Lincoln Park, to the jazz bands playing music along the beach boardwalk and a gazillion things in between. Being a reporter would allow her to do all that, and there wasn’t a thing her father could say about it.
She rubbed her hands together, ready to learn all she could about the escaped convict. Rex Gaynor was his name. The newspaper had said as much. Her attention zoned in on a trio of men sitting at the end of the bar. No fancy jackets covered their work shirts or the wide suspenders holding up their britches. Hot dawg! Those were the type of men who talked, a lot, once they drank enough, especially to a flapper.
Happiness bubbled inside her. She loved this. Being someone other than dull, boring Patsy Dryer. Here, she was anyone she wanted to be.
That had been scary at first, to break out of the quiet, shy girl she’d been her entire life, but once she had, an entire new world had opened up for her.
Tonight, she was going to be Libby, short for Liberty. That was her favorite, the name she used the most, because that’s what she was, liberated.
Libby wasn’t shy, or quiet, she was bold and vivacious, and knew how to get what she wanted.
She glided up to the bar, planted one foot on the rail near the floor and an elbow on the bar. Cupping her chin, she winked at the men. “Hello, fellas. What’s the news on the dock today?”
All three laughed, and the one closest to her, an older man with thinning gray hair, asked, “Don’t know, bearcat, you got any chin music?”
She giggled, loving everything about being a flapper, about being Libby, and laid a coin on the counter to order a fruit drink without alcohol. Betty had warned them all, numerous times, about how dangerous some homemade alcohol could be, and how they shouldn’t drink it. The Volstead Act prohibited the manufacturing and sale of alcohol, not the consumption, which meant people who wanted to drink, drank anything. And people wanting to sell alcohol made it out of anything at hand.
She had tasted several types of cocktails over the months, but ultimately, agreed with Betty. Most of it tasted awful and burned her throat. So did cigarettes, which she had also tried, and decided she didn’t need either whiskey or cigarettes in order to have a good time.
Once her drink arrived, she took a little sip and set the glass back down. “Well, the only chin music I’ve heard is from the newspaper, something about an escaped convict.”
The man farthest away from her, wearing a squat leather hat and boasting a big, black mustache, shook his head. “Ain’t read any papers lately, doll, but that guy over there is who I’d talk to if I wanted to beat gums over what’s printed in them.”
Patsy glanced across the room, toward a table where a man with brown wavy hair, parted on the side, sat alone.
“Why?” she asked.
“That’s Lane Cox,” the mustached man added. “He owns the LA Gazette.”
The air locked in Patsy’s lungs. Lane Cox. The very one who had sent back every article she’d submitted to his newspaper. He not only owned the Gazette, he was the best reporter in LA. She tilted her head to see past people mingling about, to get a better look at him. Odd. She’d expected him to be old, and gruff looking. Not young and dapper. However, seeing him meant she was at the right place. He must be investigating the Rex Gaynor story, too.
“If you want the news on the dock, ask that man.”
Patsy turned back toward the three men. It was the middle one who’d spoken this time. A younger man, with short-cut black hair. He was looking across the bar, at a man wearing a red shirt and black suspenders and puffing on a cigar. That man had a mustache, too, and therefore instantly earned the nickname Charlie. After Charlie Chaplin, a very popular actor with a black mustache. “Who is that Charlie?” she asked, loving being able to use popular lingo.
“Don’t know his name, but if something is going on at the docks, he knows about it,” the middle man answered.
“How do you know that?” she asked.
The man shrugged and took a long draw on his drink. “He’s been cruising the docks for weeks.”
That cigar-puffing Charlie wasn’t dressed like a dockworker, which meant something, that was for certain.
Letting things settle for a moment, Patsy picked up her drink, and while sipping on it, glanced across the room, toward Lane Cox, wondering if he knew who that Charlie was. But Lane was no longer at the table. A scan of the room said he wasn’t anywhere to be seen.
She pinched her lips together to keep her smile secretive. If that Charlie knew anything, she’d find out before Lane Cox even. She could almost see the little drawing that would be printed along with her article, that of a man in a striped suit being hauled back to jail. She’d be a hero and a reporter.
Bee’s knees, this was so exciting!
She set her glass on the bar and sashayed along the length of it, to the
other end where the man was talking to the bartender. Without waiting for the conversation to end, she laid a hand on Charlie’s arm. “Hey, big-timer, care to cut a rug?”
The man turned and looked at her with a cool eye.
He wasn’t very handsome. In fact, the long scar next to his left eye was rather frightening.
Patsy would have run from this man, but being Libby from head to toe, she brightened her grin and batted the lashes she’d carefully coated with black mascara. “One dance to please a gal?” She patted his arm. “Please, a handsome man like you?”
The man grinned. “Who can say no to a little billboard like you?”
Her heart thudded at how well she could play the part, and she whirled about, looking at the man over her shoulder, knowing he’d follow her to the dance floor.
The man at the piano was pounding on the keys, filling the room with the fast tempo of the ragtime song.
Charlie followed her, all right, and took a hold of her hands to pull her to his side as he started to move along the dance floor.
Being Libby and not Patsy, she controlled the icy shiver that rippled her spine at being so close to the man, and told herself that the Peabody was one of her favorite dances. It truly was and she was good at the fast one-step, as well as the long gliding strides that went along with quick steps. It was also a dance that kept enough space between partners.
As they circled the dance floor, he asked, “You come here often, doll?”
“Every so often.” She pulled up her best frown. “But I guess I’ll have to stop.”
“Why?”
“Because of the escaped convict.” She looked across her shoulder at the man, hoping her expression made her look scared. “The chin music is that folks should stay home and keep their doors locked. That’s frightening. He could be anywhere.”