THE FOX AND THE GRAPE
655
"I wish there were some way of proving I'm not a cop. I don't
have any papers or identification with me."
J. J.
remembered that
party functionaries did not carry any documents when they went to
important meetings. But he continued to fumble for some way of
clearing himself. "Listen," he said, "I've talked to cops, and you
know I don't sound like one. There are some intelligent ones, but
their uniform becomes a straitjacket."
"You can never be sure. But I guess you're too educated to be
a cop. O.K. you gotta take some chances, as my mother always used
to say, as soon as you get out of bed in the morning you begin to
take your chances. Say, what's your name?"
"Jack, why?"
"You aren't kidding, are you? Every John calls himself Jack.
But you got an honest face, and even if I don't believe you, tell me
more, honey."
"What's your name?" he asked, feeling secure enough for the
first time to take the lead.
"Mary, but if a man coughs, whistles, or yells, I come."
"You haven't answered my question, Mary. Why do you do
this? You're young, and attractive, and intelligent enough to get a
respectable job. Don't you want to get married and have a family?"
"Say, what are you, a teacher? Be good, he says, and I'll give
you an A. We're talking too much. Don't you want to play?" she
asked, jutting out her breasts and running her hands over them
caressingly.
J. J.
felt his face get hot, and he thought how simple it would
be to say yes. But he tightened up again, and regained control of
himself by resuming his cross-examination. "Seriously," he said, as
though he were beginning a speech, "you're wasting your life. It's
probably not too late now to quit and find a job. In ten years you'll
no longer be a plaything and you'll be too old to do anything else."
"Listen, I'll tell you," she said, resigned to the fact she was
getting paid for talking about herself. "But how do I know you'll
give me the money?"
"I'll give you five dollars now, and five later," he reassured her.
"O.K. I'll tell you. You think I'm as dumb as some people think
I look. Sure, some girls don't know they'll be bags before they know
it, like some girls I know in burlesque who think they're real dancers
