by Mary Monroe
“What do this Wally Yoakum look like?” Ruby wanted to know.
Maureen let out a cackle first. Then she sucked in some air, like she was about to reveal a deep dark secret. “Moon-faced, potbellied, a mustache that looks like a longhorn steer’s horns, but his looks don’t matter! As long as a man is payin’, he can look like an aardvark and we, I mean you, should still be happy. Now go make that money, honey!”
As soon as Ruby entered the bedroom in the middle of the hallway upstairs, she got a bad feeling. But she closed and locked the door behind her anyway. Then she slowly opened the pink negligee that she had borrowed from Fat Fanny and forced herself to smile.
The man sitting on the side of the bed didn’t smile back. He was naked except for his baggy white shorts and his knee-high socks, which were held in place by black garters. He looked at Ruby and frowned.
“What the hell is goin’ on here?” the man demanded, rising off the bed with his hands already on his hips. “Who the hell are you, gal? What the hell are you doin’ in this room?”
“Miss Mo’reen didn’t tell you that I was colored?” Ruby asked dumbly, trying to look and sound demure. The forced smile was still on her face.
By now Wally was on his feet, and there was a severe scowl on his face. “Are you the same wench that was here last month?”
“Huh? Oh, I ... I don’t know what you mean, sir.”
“Uh-huh. Last month I came here with a friend. I couldn’t hang around long on account of I had a previous engagement. But later on that same night, my buddy told me all that went on with him after I left. He described you to a capital T!”
“But, sir—”
Wally darted across the floor and lunged at Ruby, grabbing her by her wrist and holding on to her so tight, she couldn’t move.
“Now look, gal. Don’t you stand yourself here and tell me that Maureen got two colored gals like you in this place. As a matter of fact, there can’t be that many sluts that look like you in this whole area. YOU ARE NO VIRGIN!”
“Huh? Uh—yes I am! You can stick your finger up in me and tetch my stuff!” Ruby reared back on her legs. She snatched open the negligee all the way, exposing her naked body. “That’s what all of them other men did so they could make sure they was gettin’ a virgin before they stuck their peckers in.” Ruby was nervous and frightened. That was why she didn’t realize her last statement was the wrong one, until it was too late. She had just cooked her own goose. “Oh shit!” she hollered, stomping a bare foot so hard on the floor, the perfume bottles on the dresser by the bed rattled.
“Nobody makes a fool out of me!” Wally hollered.
He slapped Ruby’s cheek so hard she hit the floor like a rock, holding the side of her face. But that wasn’t enough for him. He sprinted back to the bed where he’d left his clothes draped across the headboard. Without a word, he removed his wide, thick leather belt from his pants. Before Ruby could get off the floor and compose herself, Wally attacked her with his belt. He beat her on her back, her arms, her head, and her face. He was cussing loud, and Ruby was screaming even louder. Within minutes, Maureen was banging on the door with both fists.
Wally didn’t stop beating Ruby until he got tired. While she lay in a heap on the floor crying hysterically, he quickly got dressed, still cussing and spewing threats of more violence.
Maureen was still outside banging and kicking on the door, screaming for Wally to unlock it. But he ignored her. When he did finally open the door, Othella, Fat Fanny, and Marielle, all three half dressed, rushed in with Maureen.
“What in the hell is goin’ on in here?” Maureen demanded, eyeing Wally with a horrified look on her heavily made-up face. She let out a yelp when she saw Ruby on the floor, still struggling to rise.
“Ask your virgin!” Wally roared, shaking his fist at Maureen. “Woman, by the time I get through with you, you won’t be able to pimp a nanny goat to a horny billy goat in this town!” Wally spat on the floor. Then he ran out of the room, still cussing and fussing at the top of his lungs.
Maureen waved her arms high above her head in exasperation as she ran over to Ruby. She attempted to help Ruby up off the floor, but Ruby was so dazed she could barely move, let alone stand up straight. The other prostitutes had to help Maureen lift Ruby and hold her in place to keep her from falling. She had numerous welts on her body, even her neck and ears.
“That man beat me,” Ruby whimpered, tears sliding down her bruised face. Most of her injuries were on her arms because she had used them to try and defend herself and to shield her face.
“Othella, run get a wet cloth and some salve,” Maureen ordered. “Fat Fanny, trot downstairs and make sure he’s gone. Tell Buster I said to guard that door like this is the White House, and don’t let Wally back in here until I sort this mess out.”
When Fat Fanny returned ten minutes later, Wally was with her.
“I couldn’t stop him from comin’ back up here, Miss Mo’-reen !” Fat Fanny hollered. “And Buster wasn’t nowhere to be found so he could help stop him!”
Without a word, Wally shoved Fat Fanny to the side, and then he rushed over to a terrified Maureen. She stood in the middle of the floor with her eyes stretched open wide, her jaw twitching, and a scream trapped in her throat.
“YOU BITCH!” Wally roared. He knocked her to the floor with his fist. Then he kicked her repeatedly, like he was kicking a mad dog. He left no stone unturned. He kicked Maureen in the head, the stomach, on her legs, her butt, and on both sides of her torso. Even with all of the other women in the room beating him on his back, and trying to pull him away from Maureen, he managed to beat her so severely she passed out.
Ruby was still too dazed to be of much help. She sat on the bed the whole time that Wally was stomping Maureen to a pulp. By the time he’d satisfied his need for revenge, Ruby had wiped the blood from her own face and composed herself. But by then, Wally was gone.
Fat Fanny took charge. She ordered Marielle to escort Maureen to her room downstairs where she could take care of her injuries with wet ammoniated pads and Epsom salt. After that, as the madam’s “representative,” Fat Fanny closed the house down for the night. She explained to the seven disgruntled clients and the piano-playing Maurice that there had been a “freak accident” upstairs involving the madam.
Othella had discretely escorted Ruby to her room downstairs. As soon as she had Ruby calmed down, she sat down next to her on the bed. Mazel was still in the kitchen cleaning up, but she came into the bedroom unexpectedly, horrified to see Ruby’s face covered in welts and bleeding from several spots.
“What in the world happened? Mama Ruby, I guess you done finally crossed the line and sassed the wrong one of them white folks. I hope to God Miss Mo’reen get rid of you after this! This house ain’t been the same since you and Othella came here!” Mazel hissed, glaring from Ruby to Othella. “You two pickaninnies give the rest of us colored folks a bad name! Shame, shame, shame!”
Ruby cleared her throat and sat up straight on the bed. Then she rose, as ramrod straight as a lamp post. She looked at Mazel like she was seeing her for the first time. “Mazel, if you don’t get your black ass out of this room right now, you will get the same thing that that peckerwood Wally Yoakum is goin’ to get... .”
CHAPTER 45
MAZEL’S JAW DROPPED, BUT SHE DIDN’T SPEAK AGAIN. SHE muttered something unintelligible under her breath and then she stumbled backward out of the room. Ruby and Othella heard her frantic footsteps running toward the kitchen.
Othella looked at Ruby. “Mama Ruby, you can’t be thinkin’ about doin’ nothin’ to that white man. Let this thing go. Let Miss Mo’reen handle it,” she pleaded, shaking as she dabbed at the bloody wounds on Ruby’s face and neck.
“Other than my daddy, or one of my uncles, ain’t a man alive goin’ to beat me and get away with it,” Ruby stated, her voice sounding more like the bray of a mule.
“Now, Mama Ruby, you listen to me. Don’t do nothin’ stupid. Like I just said,
Wally Yoakum is a white man. You don’t want to mess with him!” Othella insisted, her hand on Ruby’s shoulder.
“Jesus was a white man, and look what they done to him,” Ruby reminded, pacing the floor.
Just then, the door opened again and Fat Fanny walked in, looking disheveled and nervous. There was a large glass of whiskey in her hand. With a desperate look on her face, she mumbled some gibberish, and then she lifted the glass to her lips and took a long drink. Her bloodred lipstick was all over her mouth, chin, and even on her teeth. Her mascara had melted and slid down both sides of her face. She looked like a clown. As soon as she finished swallowing her long drink, she slurred, “Listen up, y’all. Uh, this is the thing: Miss Mo’reen put me in charge, and I just shet the house down for the night. Y’all can go to bed and get some rest. Miss Mo’reen said she might have to stay closed tomorrow, too. If that happens, we’ll all be sure enough busy when she reopens for business.”
“Fat Fanny, I need for you to crank up that jalopy of yours so you can carry me out to Wally’s house,” Ruby said calmly.
“What? Why—I don’t know where that man lives! Forget it!” Fat Fanny protested. “He’s a newcomer to the house.”
“You know where Miss Mo’reen’s phone book is?” Ruby asked through clenched teeth.
“Yeah, but—”
“Look up his address!” Ruby ordered.
Othella whirled around so fast to look at Ruby, the bones in her neck cracked. She was speechless.
“I ain’t no fool, and I don’t want you to be one neither,” Fat Fanny told Ruby. “I don’t know what you done to make that man so mad, but I’m sure he’ll get over it. I suggest you let this thing go. Let Miss Mo’reen deal with Wally. I did hear tonight from another client that Wally Yoakum is an important client in the District, and that he’s acted a fool with other madams in the past. We all have to eat a nut pie like him with a real long-handled fork. I heard from another client downstairs before I closed the house down that Wally pulled out his gun and shot a hole in the ceilin’ at Susie Jameson’s house earlier tonight. All because he couldn’t get an all-night session with a redheaded gal he wanted. It don’t take much to set him off real bad.”
Fat Fanny paused and looked at the floor. When she lifted her head, Othella and Ruby could see that she was more angry than she was embarrassed. “That same source told me that last month, Wally got drunk and almost bit that redheaded gal’s titties clean off. She was out of commission for a whole week. A week later, he went back to Susie’s house. He paid double for the next two times that that same girl spent the night with him. And if that wasn’t enough, he took her shoppin’ and let her pick out two expensive frocks from Paris. Y’all seen me in my purple and white calico? That was one of the same pieces that Wally bought that girl that day.”
“I don’t think Wally will be takin’ Ruby on no shoppin’ spree. And I sure enough don’t think he’s goin’ to come back over here and apologize to her,” Othella said. “And what about him beatin’ up on Miss Mo’reen? I don’t think she’s goin’ to let somethin’ like that slide. Not even for ten frocks from Paris.”
“The bottom line is, this is Miss Mo’reen’s call. Y’all need to stay out of it before you end up out of a job, in jail, or the guests of honor in that colored cemetery out by the river,” Fat Fanny said, shaking a finger. “Now like I said, the house is closed down for the night, so y’all need to get to bed.”
After Fat Fanny had left the room, Othella turned to Ruby and shook her head. “She’s right, Mama Ruby.” Othella left Ruby and headed upstairs to her room. She climbed into bed fully dressed.
An hour later, Mazel entered the bedroom that she shared with Ruby, looking and acting as meek as a lamb. Ruby stood in front of the small window that faced the bed, with her back to Mazel. Neither woman spoke as Mazel wiggled out of her uniform and slithered into a flannel nightgown.
Right after Mazel crawled into bed, Ruby eased out of the room. She padded up the stairs to Fat Fanny’s room and entered without knocking.
Fat Fanny was not surprised to see Ruby. She greeted her with a tight smile and a sharp nod. She sat on the side of her bed, sipping a large hot toddy. “Mama Ruby, I didn’t want to say too much in front of Othella; she don’t look trustworthy to me. But I hope you do go out to Wally’s house and straighten him out. Give him a thorough tongue lashin’ so he won’t never misbehave again the way he done tonight. I heard he overreacts for the least itty-bitty thing. But what he done tonight wasn’t fittin’. We can’t tolerate no mess like that. He has to be chastised. If not, other fools will think it’s open season on Miss Mo’reen’s house.”
“You didn’t mean none of that stuff you said downstairs?”
Fat Fanny hesitated and sucked on her teeth. “Yes and no. I am still mad as hell about what he done to that other girl; she happens to be my first cousin on my daddy’s side. I wouldn’t be the least bit surprised if her injuries eventually grow into a cancer, or somethin’ worse. I am appalled by what he done here tonight!” Fat Fanny paused and shook her head. She rubbed the back of her neck and blinked back a tear. “But the thing is, I need my job, so that’s why I think we should be real careful with Wally. I suspect that whuppin’ him would cause more harm. He just needs a good talkin’ to, so he won’t do nothin’ else crazy.”
“Can you take me to his house tonight to ... uh ... talk to him? Now. I need to take care of business while things is quiet and Miss Mo’reen ain’t in the way tryin’ to stop me. You can sit in your car and wait while I go straighten him out. Ain’t nobody got to know you helped me.”
Fat Fanny looked at Ruby for a long time, like she was trying to read her mind. She could not have guessed in a thousand years what was on Ruby’s mind.
“I’ll get the phone book and look up Wally’s address. Then I’ll carry you over to his house. But I don’t want to get too involved. Like you said, I can wait in my car. I’ll keep the motor runnin’ in case he gets crazy again and we have to make a fast getaway.”
“I hope he lives alone,” Ruby said thoughtfully.
Fat Fanny finished her drink and set the glass on the floor. “I hadn’t thought about that,” she grunted, releasing a mighty belch. “You want to wait until we can find that out? We don’t need no spectators.”
“I can’t wait. I want to see him tonight,” Ruby growled. “And I want him to see me.”
“Now tell me, just what do you plan on doin’? Just cussin’ him out and callin’ him a few choice names, I hope. That ought to do it. I hear that Wally is a Christian, so I think a real subtle approach might work.”
“Fat Fanny, you let me worry about that,” Ruby replied, removing her switchblade from her bra and caressing it. The only time the weapon wasn’t in her bra was when she was with a client. If she had had it during Wally’s attack on her, he’d be stretched out on a slab in the morgue by now. Or at the very least, missing half of his dick, Ruby thought.
“Sweet Jesus! Mama Ruby, I didn’t know you carried a knife,” Fat Fanny gasped, her eyes on the weapon. She looked into Ruby’s eyes. “My daddy always told me not to possess a weapon unless I had enough guts to use it. You’d cut Wally for what he done to you tonight?”
“I had to chastise two other men with my knife a little bit, for doin’ less than what Wally done. Now, are you goin’ to get his address and crank up that old jalopy of yours, or what?”
Fat Fanny didn’t answer right away. First, she checked to make sure that all three of her children were asleep. Then she changed into a pair of pants, a man’s shirt, and a pair of clodhoppers, the best shoes in the country for running.
“The knife is just to scare him, right?” Fat Fanny asked, her voice cracking and shrinking to a whisper by the time she uttered the last word.
“Uh-huh,” Ruby mumbled. “That’s all.”
“Mama Ruby, if Wally even acts like he’s goin’ to get violent, will you promise me you won’t cut him? Promise me you’ll run like hell out of that house; pro
mise me you won’t stop runnin’ until you get back to my car. Promise me that.”
“I promise,” Ruby muttered.
A few minutes later, Fat Fanny and Ruby eased quietly out of the house and climbed into Fat Fanny’s LaSalle. They headed to the street that the phone book listed as Wally’s address.
CHAPTER 46
IT TOOK FAT FANNY ALMOST HALF AN HOUR TO DRIVE TO THE neighborhood where Wally Yoakum lived. Even in the dark, Ruby could see that this was a location that catered to a very high level of white society. It contained large expensive-looking houses, most appearing very similar to one another, and each one very well tended. Impressive decorations dominated the large front lawns. Expensive cars and even a few buggies occupied most of the driveways.
“Damn,” Fat Fanny mouthed, looking up and down the street where Wally’s house was located. She was glad to see that there were no lights on in his house. “It must take a real pretty penny to live in this neck of the woods.”
“And the right color of skin,” Ruby added, not trying to hide the anger in her voice. “I bet every last one of these crackers got up this high by takin’ advantage of people like me.” Ruby rolled down the window on her side and breathed in some of the night air. “It even smells white over here.”