“And he gives me fifty dollars.”
“No. I give you the fifty dollars.”
“Why you?”
“Because it’s crass the other way.”
Annie mentally walked herself through an evening with a stranger.
“What if I don’t like him?”
“You still have to be with him for the evening. That’s what they’re paying for, a pretty girl to escort around. It makes them look good. And feel good.”
“And that’s it. He picks me up and takes me home, and that’s it?”
“He doesn’t even pick you up. You meet him at a restaurant. It’s the easiest money you’ll ever make. Hell, there’s people in this country who sweat a month from dawn till dark for that kind of jack. If you take advantage of your looks, you’re sitting on a gold mine. Don’t be a fool, Annie. Try it just once, and I promise you’ll like it, but if you don’t, you’ll never have to do it again.”
The two sat quietly in the room. Annie observed dust motes spinning in a shaft of sunlight.
“I’ve got a friend in the lumber business who comes into town every few weeks. He’s a nice fellow and he won’t pressure you. In fact, you know him. That’ll make the first time easy.”
Annie looked at Nevers apprehensively. There weren’t many men she had met in New Orleans she wanted to spend an evening with.
“Here,” Herald said, pulling a snapshot from the inside of his coat.
Annie saw a balding man in his mid-thirties striking a pose against a column in front of City Hall. He wore a two-tone pullover sweater and baggy gabardine slacks.
“Why, that’s Arkie Burk,” she exclaimed.
“See,” Nevers said. “Totally harmless.”
“Does he know I’ll be his . . .”
“Friend. They’re called friends. You’re working this up in your imagination into something it’s not. And, no, he doesn’t know he’ll be with you.”
“Can I have a couple of days to think about it?”
Nevers shook his head from side to side as if he couldn’t believe anyone would reject such an offer.
“Take a week. Take a year. The world’s not going to stop spinning if Annie Beatrice turns down a gold mine.”
* * *
What Annie wanted to do was talk with Nausica about the arrangement. She rang her up that evening and asked if they could meet at Solari’s lunch counter the next day.
Annie saw Nausica first but, before calling out, inspected her as if she had never seen the woman. Nausica wore open-toed high heels and a dark green dress with a costume necklace of pearl-colored beads the size of golf balls. Annie ordered a hamburger and Coke. The bill was fifteen cents. Nausica chided her with good humor.
“Honey, you ought to live a little. I know Herald’s paying you more than that.”
Annie smiled weakly. “That’s what I wanted to talk to you about. I’ve got more money saved up than I know what to do with and yet . . . Herald wants me to make more.”
Nausica sobered instantly. “This sounds serious.”
Annie explained the arrangement outlined by Nevers.
Nausica nodded. “See a picture show, have a nice meal. What’s the big deal? Listen.” Through a straw, Nausica vacuumed up the small pool at the bottom of her soda. She licked her top lip and looked at Annie. “What you want to watch out for is the hundred-dollar deal.” Nausica slapped Annie’s thigh. “For fifty bucks, they want a fun night on the town. For a C-note, they want it to wind up in bed.”
Annie closed her eyes and leaned forward as if she had a stomachache.
“I knew it,” she said.
Nausica put her arm around Annie’s shoulder.
“Now, honey. It ain’t as bad as all that. You don’t have to do anything you don’t want to.”
Annie straightened herself and sighed. “What do you think I should do?”
“I think you’d be a fool not to take some rich man’s fifty bucks.” Nausica had fished a compact from her purse and was touching up her lipstick. “He ain’t gonna miss it, and he gets a pretty girl on his arm.” Nausica grabbed Annie’s hand affectionately. “Just be careful, you hear?”
Annie hesitated before asking the next question.
“Have you—. Don’t be offended, Nessie, but have you ever made a hundred dollars?”
Nausica laughed. She threw the compact and lipstick into her purse and snapped it shut. “Lots of times.” Nausica eyed her curiously. “I thought you knew. My, my. I knew you were green, but I didn’t think you were that green.”
When Annie finished her lunch, Nausica took her leave by repeating her earlier caution.
“Just be careful, honey, you hear? Tootle-loo.”
* * *
Arkie Burk didn’t treat the matter so casually. Annie Beatrice was the last person he expected to see at the corner table-for-two at Antoine’s. At first, Arkie didn’t recognize her because the lights were low and her hair was black-brown. It was an uneasy moment for them both.
“Waiter,” he nervously called. “Drinks over here. A Scotch and soda and—.” He pointed to Annie.
“Bourbon and Seven,” she said.
The waiter placed menus before them.
“Annie, I had no idea I’d be seeing you here. I swear to you. I feel so awful.”
Annie emitted a feeble laugh to ease the tension.
“You look nice,” she said.
Burk glanced down. He wore a navy blue wide-lapeled suit with grey pinstripes and a burgundy four-in-hand tie sprinkled with light yellow dots. He placed his elbow on the table and planted his forehead on the heel of his palm.
“Good Lord, Annie.” He shook his head. “Don’t you realize where you are?”
Annie tried to cheer him up.
“Antoine’s. Don’t you know where you are?”
“Annie-Annie-Annie.” Burk expelled a half-laugh. “Tuh!” He skipped his chair closer to hers. In a voice pregnant with dark meaning, he said, “You ever heard of the demimonde?”
Annie thought for a moment.
“Is that like the Café du Monde?”
Burk was taken aback by the utter innocence of her reply. After staring at her briefly, he burst out laughing. Recovered, he tried to explain in words delicate enough not to offend her.
“The demimonde is the middle world. It’s somewhere between respectable society and the underworld. You see what I’m getting at?”
Annie gazed at him blankly.
“Look.” He put one hand above his head, salute-fashion. “Up here, you’ve got the legal business world. Down here,” he made the same motion near the tabletop with his other hand, “you’ve got the underworld, men who deal in illegal goods and services—unlicensed liquor, gambling, numbers, rigging horse races, that sort of thing.”
Annie helped him out. “And prostitution.”
Burk bent over as if he had been punched.
“Right,” he said. “Now, the demimonde, the middle world, is here.” He made a gesture midway between where his two hands had been. “The businesses aren’t exactly illegal, they’re just not—what’s the word?—respectable, I guess. And the women who go out with men of the demimonde are called demimondaines. And this here,” he pointed back and forth from himself to her, “is one of those things.”
“In other words, I’m a demi—.”
“Mondaine. Demimondaine.” Burk nodded.
“But Herald said all I had to do was go out with . . . whoever. You.”
“I know, Annie,” Burk said. “But—.”
He was interrupted by the waiter setting their drinks down.
“Can I take your order?”
“Give us a few minutes.”
“No problem, Mr. Burk.”
“Next he’ll be disappointed if you don’t do the other thing.”
“But it’s not that way with me and Herald.”
Burk was growing impatient with her naïveté.
“Annie. I know what you’re thinking. ‘It won’t happen to m
e.’” He reached across the table, gripped her arm firmly, and shook her. “Annie, listen to me. Don’t kid yourself. You don’t know Herald like I do. I’ve known him for years. He seems to be a nice enough guy, and he can show everybody a good time, but he’s kind of a shady character. You need to watch out for Herald. He’s dangerous. Nausica, Bliss, Lilly. You know them?”
“I know Nessie and Bliss.”
“Well, they used to be where you are.”
“Meaning?”
“They were Herald’s girlfriends at one time.”
A pang of jealousy constricted Annie’s heart and she closed her eyes. “Something told me that, but I didn’t want to admit it, so I kept pushing it to the back of my mind.”
“I thought you were different, Annie. I really did. When I saw Herald with you, I said, ‘He’s finally got a real girlfriend. This gal is something special.’” Burk shook his head. “I don’t know. Maybe he’s got a problem. It’s like he goes around with these beautiful young women for a while and then gets tired of them.”
The waiter spoke from behind him.
“Ready to order?”
Burk twitched. “Uh, yeah,” he said, opening the menu. “Give us a number five and a number . . . eight. Five and eight, okay?”
“Very good, Mr. Burk.” The waiter took the menus.
“Now where was I?” Burk rubbed his chin. “He was with Nausica a year, then discarded her. Maybe they start looking too old.”
“I can believe that,” Annie said. “I look in the mirror after a weekend with him and my face seems like it’s aged five years.”
“And . . . you’re not going to like this.” Burk looked at Annie.
“Tell me. I’ve heard it all in the last few weeks.”
“You’ve seen his odd little collections at his house?”
Annie nodded.
“It’s the same with women. It’s like he collects them and then . . .”
“And then?”
“And then he farms them out.”
“You mean, like Bliss and Nessie?”
Burk nodded. “They’re still his in a way.”
“He pays them to go out with men,” Annie said flatly.
“He’s the middle man, the finder. They need him to locate the better class of men. The men give him an order, and he fills it. Blonde, brunette. Tall, short. Slender, buxom. He’s a favor broker, made-to-order experiences, you know. That sort of thing.”
Annie nodded up and down in understanding, then side to side in a rejection of what she understood.
“Not me,” she said. “Not even this anymore. Not now that I see the way it works.”
“Be careful, Annie. You’ve got to be real careful.”
* * *
Over the telephone, Annie said to Nausica, “You didn’t tell me the whole story.”
After a long silence, Nausica said, “It would take a lifetime to explain how I got to this point. Can you meet me at the St. Regis tomorrow at noon?”
“On Royal?”
“Yeah. You can take the Desire streetcar right to the doorstep. But listen.”
“Yes?”
“Don’t go inside.”
“I’ll be there.”
Annie didn’t question her. She knew Nausica would have a good reason for asking her not to go inside.
* * *
Annie was surprised to see Nausica in casual clothes.
“I don’t work every day, honey. Shoot, sometimes I work only one or two nights a week. This business has its advantages, too. It ain’t all bad, you know. If it was, you think there’d be so many of us?” Nausica slapped Annie and laughed, then cased her over from head to foot. “But I can tell it ain’t for you.”
They milled about in the crowd gathered for the next streetcar. Nausica talked while striking a match.
“You think Herald’s out of town, right?”
“That’s what he told me.”
Nausica’s cheeks collapsed as she drew on the cigarette and squinted one eye against a plume of smoke.
“Rule number one,” she said. “Never believe what he tells you. Understand?”
“I’m beginning to,” Annie said.
“And you don’t have to do something he asks just because you think he’ll be disappointed. He’ll get over it and he’ll like you just as much. Let’s get out of this sun.”
The two walked to a nearby awning. Nausica continued to talk while scanning the street.
“Let me tell you how a man treats you that you’ve done a favor for. Herald tell you he’d seen the blue devils?” Annie frowned. “The d.t.’s, from too much booze. Hallucinations. Rats and snakes.”
“He told me. Is it true? You said don’t believe what he says.”
“This one’s true. I was with him. He was a barker at a joint I was dancing at a few years back. I stayed at his flat once or twice when I needed to flop. I found him lying on the street in front of his place. Somebody had rolled him, took everything he had except his underwear. And, honey, if you’d seen them, you’d know why they hadn’t taken those. You never seen anything till you seen a man screaming about roaches all over him and there ain’t nothing there. He was down to skin and bones, yellow as baby poo. Poisoned with alcohol and begging me to get him another drink.”
“Did you?”
“Nope. I did it for his own good. Handcuffed him in the bed and sat up with him like a sick child. Turned his head when he puked so he wouldn’t drown.”
Annie’s sympathy for the man she loved came out in a moan of pain. Her eyes teared up and she blinked and looked around to regain her composure. Nausica touched her on the arm.
“I know, honey. I was there. He begged me for three days and all I’d give him was water. And why? Because I loved him. Ha! Had to hold the glass for him his hands were shaking so bad. Then I gave him juices. Then soft food. Just like a newborn baby.”
Nausica suddenly dipped her head down and gripped Annie’s arm. “Turn this way. He’s coming down the walk.” Nevers pushed through the doors of the St. Regis cafeteria. “Let’s sit tight for a while.”
“Did he go back to drinking?” Annie asked.
“Nope. When he was in the d.t.’s, he cursed me. When he was dry, he thanked me. Said he was all washed up and I saved him.” Nausica laughed. “You know who Nausica is? She’s the gal that saved Ulysses when he washed up naked on the beach after a shipwreck or something. I never read it. Herald told me about. Said I was just like Nausica, so that’s what he named me. Ha! I guess that makes him Ulysses.”
“Sounds like a happy ending,” Annie said.
“Until he got well.” Nausica shook her head. “Best I can figure, he couldn’t stand owing somebody for the rest of his life. Whatever he wanted me to be, that’s what I became. When my face started showing the wear, he traded me in for a newer model. His savior, then his slave, I guess.”
“But not now,” Annie offered.
Nausica laughed. “No. Now I do it because it’s the fastest way to make a wad of cash. Believe it or not, you hook up with the right men, it ain’t so bad.” She pulled Annie’s arm. “Here’s what we been waiting for.” She drew Annie to the window. “Watch this.”
The two observed Nevers as a waitress walked by him. He sneezed. The waitress stopped and said something to him with a smile.
“That look familiar?”
Annie recalled how Nevers had gotten her attention that first day in the Time-Out Cafe. She leaned her head against the brick and bit her lip. Nausica was about to speak.
“Stop,” Annie said firmly. “Just give me a minute to take it in.” She pulled a handkerchief from her purse and daubed at her eyes. She took a deep breath and exhaled. “It hurts, Nessie. How can I love him and hate him at the same time?”
“It’s just one of those things, honey. He’s got something you need.” She twirled her cigarette in a small circle. “Psychology, you know?”
Annie looked at her with desperation. Her eyes were bloodshot.
“N
ot ‘want,’ honey. ‘Need.’ I loved him once, too, and look what it got me. The silver lining around this cloud is that he helped me get over him.” She mused for a moment. “Like I helped him get over the booze. You got to hate it to beat it. Well, after taking so much from him, I learned to hate him.” Nausica watched Nevers talking to the laughing waitress. “You’d be surprised how easy it is if you put your mind to it.”
Annie finally broke into full-blown sobbing. “I don’t know if I can do it, Nessie. I guess I’ll try to get along with him without doing all those other things.”
“You can’t do it little by little, honey. You got to rip yourself away all at once if you expect to survive at all.”
Annie imagined herself walking out on Nevers. She would leave him and go back home. She had more money than she ever thought she would need to attend college and become a teacher, a life that now held no attraction for her. She put her head on Nausica’s shoulder and cried.
* * *
The following week, when Nevers pretended to have come back in town, he called several times asking for Annie to go with him to a movie or out to dinner. Making excuses related to work, she knew that Nevers knew the alibis couldn’t have been true. It was December and business had slowed by half.
Nevers would be dropping by on payday, so Annie steeled herself against his presence by reviewing the numerous deceptions he had practiced on her, his meanness and disregard for her feelings. When he arrived, he was as handsome as ever, but she deflected his embrace when he stepped into the kitchen of Terra Incognita.
He apologized for offending her, then said she was taking offense where none was intended. He tried to win a smile from her with a comical quip. Annie held her ground. Nevers coughed and pulled his coat around his throat.
“You should close that window when the wind’s blowing from the north,” he said. “Might catch a cold.”
Annie eyed him suspiciously, wondering if the cough were a variation on the sneeze, a play for sympathy. He talked with her for several more minutes, the full burden of the conversation falling to him. Finally, he gave up.
“Well,” he said. “I guess we’re having our first fight.” She was silent. “Listen, Annie, I know Arkie didn’t get fresh with you. That’s not the way it works. When men ask for a pretty girl on their arm, that’s all they expect. There’s nothing wrong with it.” He looked at her, hoping to engage her in the argument. Finally, he turned and walked to the door. He coughed once and cleared his throat. “Think about it and you’ll see I’m right.” Pushing through the door, he called over his shoulder. “Phone me when you thaw out, hear?”
A Savage Wisdom Page 16