Chapter 50

The room smells of fish. An elegant blond leans on the back wall smoking a cigarette through a long holder. The blue smoke from it curls upwards making green shadows, thrown by the red from the flashing neon sign of the drug store across the street. The room is hot and humid. Rain lashes down onto the sidewalks. The pavements are fast flowing torrents, carrying all within them. A trash can roles over and over in it, and strikes a fire hydrant with a loud clang. By the window sits a large black man at a piano. He wears a white shirt with a red pinstripe, a red silk waistcoat red bow tie and a brown Derby hat. His fat fingers flow over the keys hardly touching them, but what comes out is loud and exciting. Another blond lays prone on the sofa, her skirt ruffed up showing silk stockings and suspenders. Her moth is open and she is breathing with shallow breaths. Above the elegant blond who has the look of Veronica Lake, hangs a sign that reads

FISH FRY $1

In the kitchen bent over a pan of cat fish stands a black woman wearing a knotted head scarf and a flowered apron. 

In the back room is a group of sailors fresh of the boat playing craps. Their cries rise and fall with the throw of the dice. 

A handsome dude in a zoot suit and large black fedora with a white band around the crown enters and sits himself down on the sofa. He sits with his legs apart, his jacket opens to show a shoulder holster under his left arm. He places his hand on the blonde’s thigh and taps it gently. He is her pimp.

A sailor rolls in from the back room and sways with either too much booze or the memory of the sea. The pimp slaps the blond harder and she sits up. He whispers into her ear and she gets to her feet and goes over to the sailor. She puts her arms around his neck and sways with him. The piano player starts playing a tango rhythm. The couple lean into each other, the sailor puts his arm around her waist and pulls the blonde to him. She hooks her leg around his thighs and he steps back and turns. They are both excellent dancers and the floor is theirs. The sailor’s shipmates leave the craps and come in to the room and form a circle around the dancers. They clap with the rhythm. One by one they cut in and the blonde accepts the change of partner without breaking her step. The sailors  pair up and dance together, the blonde is eventually left without a partner and returns to the sofa. Her pimp slaps her across the face for losing a trick. The blonde with the cigarette holder leans over the pimp and says, that is no way to treat a Lady. He takes the gun from its holster and shoots her twice in the chest. 

She falls to the floor with a red stain on her silk dress. The pimp grabs the hooker and pulls her down the steps and into the rain. The piano player stops playing and cradles the shot blonde’s head on his arm. He kisses her forehead and say’s

‘Stay with us Veronica,’ then adds in exasperation, ‘Where the fuck was Doil?

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