Women

"Oh hell, I can make that. Do they take children? A child?"

"They will. I've got pull. I know the managers."

By Sunday she was moved in. She was right above me. She could look into my kitchen where I typed my things on the breakfast nook table.

49

That Tuesday night we were sitting at my place drinking; Tammie, me and her brother, Jay. The phone rang. It was Bobby. "Louie and his wife are down here and she'd like to meet you." Louie was the one who had just vacated Tammie's place. He played in jazz groups at small clubs and wasn't having much luck.

But he was an interesting sort.

"I'd rather just forget it, Bobby."

"Louie will be hurt if you don't come down here."

"O.K., Bobby, but I'm bringing a couple of friends."

We went down and the introductions went around. Then Bobby brought out some of his bargain beer. There was stereo music going, and it was loud.

"I read your story in Knight," said Louie. "It was a strange one. You've never fucked a dead woman, have you?"

"It just seemed like some of them were dead."

"I know what you mean."

"I hate that music," said Tammie.

"How is the music going, Louie?"

"Well, I've got a new group now. If we can hang together long enough we might make it."

"I think I'll suck somebody off," said Tammie, "I think I'll suck off Bobby, I think I'll suck off Louie, I think I'll suck off my brother!"

Tammie was dressed in a long outfit that looked something like an evening dress and something like a nightgown.

Valerie, Bobby's wife, was at work. She worked two nights a week as a barmaid. Louie and his wife, Paula, and Bobby had been drinking for some time.

Louie took a gulp of the bargain beer, started to get sick, jumped up and ran out the front door. Tammie jumped up and ran out the door after him. After a bit they both walked in together.

"Let's get the hell out of here," Louie said to Paula.

"All right," she said.

They got up and left together.

Bobby got out some more beer. Jay and I talked about something. Then I heard Bobby:

"Don't blame me! Hey, man, don't blame me!"

I looked. Tammie had her head in Bobby's lap and she had her hand on his balls and then she moved it up and grabbed his cock and held his cock, and all the time her eyes looked directly at me.

I took a hit of my beer, put it down, got up and walked out.

50

I saw Bobby out front the next day when I went to buy a newspaper. "Louie phoned," he said, "he told me what happened to him."

"Yeah?"

"He ran outside to vomit and Tammie grabbed his cock while he was vomiting and she said, 'Come on upstairs and I'll suck you off. Then we'll stick your dick in an Easter egg.' He told her 'No' and she said, 'What's the matter? Aren't you a man? Can't you hold your liquor? Come upstairs and I'll suck you off!'"

I went down to the corner and bought the newspaper. I came back and checked the race results, read about the knifings, the rapes, the murders.

There was a knock. I opened the door. It was Tammie. She came in and sat down.

"Look," she said, "I'm sorry if I hurt you acting like I did, but that's all I'm sorry for. The rest of it is just me."

"That's all right," I said, "but you hurt Paula too when you ran out the door after Louie. They're together, you know."

"SHIT!" she screamed at me, "I DON'T KNOW PAULA FROM ADAM!"

51

That night I took Tammie to the harness races. We went upstairs to the second deck and sat down. I brought her a program and she stared at it a while. (At the harness races, past performance charts are printed in the program.)

"Look," she said, "I'm on pills. And when I'm on pills I sometimes get spaced and I get lost. Keep your eye on me."

"All right. I've got to bet. You want a few bucks to bet with?"

"No."

"All right, I'll be right back."

I walked to the windows and bet 5 win on the 7 horse.

When I got back Tammie wasn't there. She's just gone to the ladies' room, I thought.

I sat and watched the race. The 7 horse came in at 5 to one. I was 25 bucks up.

Tammie still wasn't back. The horses came out for the next race. I decided not to bet. I decided to look for Tammie.

First I walked to the upper deck and checked the grandstand, all the aisles, the concession stands, the bar. I couldn't find her.

The second race started and they went around. I heard the players screaming during the stretch run as I walked down to the ground floor. I looked all round for that marvelous body and that red hair. I couldn't find her.

I walked down to Emergency First Aid. A man was sitting in there smoking a cigar. I asked him, "Do you have a young redhead in there? Maybe she fainted… she's been sick."

"I don't have any redheads in here, sir."

My feet were tired. I went back to the second deck and began thinking about the next race.

By the end of the eighth race I was $132 ahead. I was going to bet 50 win on the 4 horse in the last race. I got up to bet and then I saw Tammie standing in the doorway of a maintenance room. She was standing between a black janitor with a broom and another black man who was very well dressed. He looked like a movie pimp. Tammie gri

I walked over. "I was looking for you. I thought maybe you'd o.d.'d."

"No, I'm all right, I'm fine."

"Well, that's good. Goodnight, Red…"

I walked off toward the betting window. I heard her ru

"I want to get it down on the 4 horse."

I got it down. The 4 lost by a nose. The races were over. Tammie and I walked out to the parking lot together. Her hip bounced against me as we walked.

"You had me worried," I said.

We found the car and got in. Tammie smoked 6 or 7 cigarettes on the way back, smoking them part way, then bending them out in the ashtray. She turned on the radio. She turned the sound up and down, changed stations and snapped her fingers to the music.

When we got to the court she ran to her place and locked the door.

52

Bobby's wife worked two nights a week and when she was gone he got on the telephone. I knew that on Tuesday and Thursday nights he would be lonely.

It was Tuesday night when the phone rang. It was Bobby. "Hey, man, mind if I come down and have a few beers?"

"All right, Bobby."

I was sitting in a chair across from Tammie who was on the couch. Bobby came in and sat on the couch. I opened him a beer. Bobby sat and talked to Tammie. The conversation was so inane that I tuned out. But some of it seeped through.

"In the morning," Bobby said, "I take a cold shower. It really wakes me up."

"I take a cold shower in the morning too," said Tammie.

"I take a cold shower and then I towel myself off," Bobby continued, "then I read a magazine or something. Then I'm ready for the day."

"I just take a cold shower, but I don't wipe myself off," said Tammie, "I just let the little drops stay there."

Bobby said, "Sometimes I take a real hot bath. The water's so hot that I've got to slip in real slow."

Then Bobby got up and demonstrated how he slipped into his real hot bath.

The conversation moved on to movies and television programs. They both seemed to love movies and television programs.

They talked for 2 or 3 hours, nonstop.

Then Bobby got up. "Well," he said, "I've got to go."

"Oh, please don't go, Bobby," said Tammie.

"No, I've got to go."

Valerie was due home from work.