654
PARTISAN REVIEW
be scared, feel me, and there's more where this comes from."
"How much do you charge?"
J. J.
blurted, surprised by his bold–
ness and his astuteness in grasping the situation.
"Ten bucks," she said, offhand. But she looked puzzled by
his
question.
"I tell you what. I'd just like to talk to you. I don't want to go
to bed with you. But I'll pay you the ten bucks anyway, and I
won't stay long because I don't want you to lose any business on
account of me."
For the first time, she was caught off balance, and for a moment
was speechless. Then she asked, "What's this, a new line? Or are
you nuts? Ten bucks for talking." She hesitated, then said with a
shrug, "O.K., what've I got to lose. C'mon."
She took his arm and steered him to an old rooming house
just
off the avenue. "It's one flight up," she said, "but don't make
any
noise because the landlady says she wants the joint quiet and no
trouble." He followed her into a small room, all bed and chest of
drawers, off which he could see a tiny bathroom. "Sit down," she
said, pointing to a small, frayed armchair, as she sprawled on the
bed. "What the hell do you want to talk about, talking is a waste
of time. I'm dying of the heat and he wants to talk."
"I'm a writer, I told you. I want just to find out about you,
maybe write about: you, but I'll change you so nobody will recognize
you." As he defined his mission,
J. ].
kept looking at her breasts bal–
looning in her blouse.
"Don't tell me you want the story of my life. There is no story,
just say I'm a working girl, working for a living."
"No, I mean why do you do this, you know what I mean."
Suddenly she became suspicious. "Say, who are you anyway? You
aren't a cop, are you?"
"Of course not. Do I look like one, or act like one? A cop
wouldn't want to talk to you, or sleep with you, would he?"
"No, I guess you don't look like a cop. But you can never tell.
Once a cop picked me up, talked to me like a gentleman, and then
before he pulled me in the sonofabitch had himself a good time. He
swore to the judge that he never even touched me, this whore he
called me, while he stood there acting as if he was pure as his
mother's milk. Nope, you never can tell."
