Chapter 4
When Frieta awakened the next morning and left her own bedroom to make a survey of the apartment, she found Alice already gone. An electric clock on the T.V. said, ten a. m.
Frieta washed up, combed her hair and dressed in a pair of jeans. She wondered why Alice didn't call her as she usually did just before leaving for work. She concluded that her mother was obviously late, having to double back so early again.
Thank God the weather had cleared for once. The sunny morning added brightness to her spirits. Above all, she felt as if she wanted to dress up and make another buying spree. Only this morning, after she had taken her singing lessons, she was going to the beauty parlor and get herself a permanent. When Eddie saw her that afternoon she would be beautiful enough for anything. She wanted him to take her to a night-club, or a downtown j movie. Alice might be home at six, but she hoped they would be gone by that time. She imagined that if Eddie dodged Alice long enough, her mother might become disgusted with their engagement and break it herself. Frieta was definitely going to mention it to Eddie when he came.
After having a nice breakfast of hot coffee, buttered toast, bacon and eggs, Frieta busied herself cleaning up the entire apartment. She knew Alice would raise hell if she returned home another day and found things in a filthy mess as such had been the past day.
She did not finish with the cleaning work until noon. By then she was very hungry again. The television was going, and Frieta was about to fix herself a light snack for lunch when a knock came at the door.
She hustled over to open the door, hoping to God it was Eddie.
It was Gladys Hernden.
Wearing a soiled greenish kimono and shabby house slippers, Gladys smiled deeply and wobbled into the front room and closed the door.
"Mornin', Frieta," the old woman said.
"Oh, hello, Gladys," Frieta said. "Sit down. I was just about to fix a bite for lunch. Care for anything?"
Gladys refused. "No, baby. I'm not very much for eatin' this time of day. Been up half the night with Mike." Gladys moved to a sofa chair and sat down. Her graying brunette hair was tousled, something like a wild nest. Her gray eyes were tired, and her thick cheeks sagged greatly out of proportion with her bulbous nose. She was a Christian woman, and was very helpful to Frieta and Alice. While she was past sixty-five, she treated the mother and daughter as though they were her own children.
"Oh, that poor Mike," Frieta moaned in sympathy. "He's just suffering so much." Frieta sat down opposite Gladys, deciding that the lunch could wait. She hadn't seen Gladys for two days and she was just dying for a conversation. None of her girl friends had called since school had let out.
"Doc Fanny was by yesterday," said Gladys. "Didn't give Mike any relief to see him, though. How's Alice?"
"Okay. She worked until two this morning. Had to go right back at eight."
"No wonder I missed her. She usually stops by at six, when she gets off. I wondered why she never stopped yesterday. She still plannin' on marrying that guy, Eddie?"
Frieta had hoped she wouldn't bring up that particular subject. It really hurt her to discuss Eddie's marrying any body, except her. Even her mother made her jealous, despite the fact that he had said he wasn't going to marry her.
"I really don't know," Frieta replied, blushing. She dropped her gaze, reached for a cigarette lying on the coffee stand. She struck a match and lit the cigarette, offering Gladys one. The old lady shook her head, no smoke for her.
Gladys nodded gingerly as if it didn't matter with her one way or the other, whether Alice married Eddie LaRose or not. Then she said, "What you gonna do, since you've stopped your education?" Gladys inquired off handedly.
"Oh, I don't know. Loaf mostly, until something happens. I'd like to try for a career, though. Which reminds me, I haven't studied one note on my singing for three whole days. Hell, I won't know a damn thing today."
"You takin' lessons today?"
"Sure am. I'd better be getting ready too. Due there at one-thirty. Charley raises all kinds of hell if any of his students are a minute late. He's worse than going to class."
"Well, I hope Alice drops by this evenin'. I'm gonna make some ginger cookies later on, and I'll give her a batch. She always likes them. You gonna stop by and see Mike before you leave, baby?"
"Of course, Gladys," Frieta said.
"All right, I'll expect you, then." Gladys rose and went towards the door. After Frieta had seen her to her own apartment, she wheeled towards the bathroom to spruce herself up.
It was nearly one in the afternoon before she knocked on Glady's door and entered the large bedroom where she spied Mike on the bed with his body greatly decrepit and eyes deeply sunken in his head. He looked very feeble, and he didn't seem to know Frieta when she spoke to him and gave him her respect.
"Goodness, baby!" Gladys exclaimed. "Where'd you swipe all those new duds. My ... my, you sure look beautiful!"
Frieta wore new heels, white skirt and blue blouse, and carried a new hand bag. She had spent three-hundred dollars, and had hidden five-hundred in the bedroom in her dresser drawer. The remaining two-hundred was in her handbag now; she intended to go shopping for a necklace set after she left voice practice.
Frieta did not tarry long with Gladys Hernden. She called a taxi-cab, and when the cabbie arrived she ran down the stairs and entered the car and told the driver to take her to Eighth and Barnett, to the Goodwell Apartment building. Charley Boyles' rooms were there. His studio was in his front parlor.
-Charley Boyles was waiting for her the moment she stepped into the large studio room. He was a tall, calm-faced man with a neat black mustache and long heavy sideburns. His hair was black, though bushy, somewhat unkempt. He usually wore a loud-colored robe. Today he wore a deep maroon robe. He looked very handsome to Frieta.
"Aw, Frieta, my girl," he said, greeting her, as she stepped into the room and he closed the door behind her. "You are right on time. I have just dismissed my little girl, Amanda Kemp. She's such a studious one. Talented, too. Come. We must get started immediately. I have an appointment at two, so you'll have to be dismissed earlier than usual. Okay?"
She smiled up at him. "Sure. I don't know anything, anyway." Her lips longed for his, savoringly.
He eyed her indifferently, then crossed over the room to the right side and dropped down on a piano bench before an ivory-low boy. He tickled the keys, then gave Frieta a pitch. He went over the scale with her, up and down, up and down. Then she had to sing several Contralto allegros. Her voice was much better than it had been. Charley did not know to what extent he could blame for her unusual toned-up efforts. She ended her voice lessons by singing, the "Saint Louis Blues."
When Frieta was finished with her lessons, Charley Boyles offered to drive her downtown, since he was going that way. He had proposed to her, but she had refused. She didn't think he could pleasure her enough. If he had been thirty, she might have been vamped, greatly stirred into becoming infatuated with him. Charley's wife had died the previous year, and he didn't even have a girl friend, yet. She had been taking lessons for nearly two years from Charley. Still she felt more close to him than she did to any other man she knew. He lived her world; she lived his.
Frieta had hardly left the apartment before Alice returned back home at two. She had asked permission for the afternoon off, since working a double shift the day before, and it was granted. She was intending to look Eddie up. The suspense was driving her to distraction. One thing she must take care of her sensual thrist. She just had to find Eddie, or else go stone mad.
At the apartment she shed her dress and kicked off tight high-heels. She had brought a quart of liquor. She extracted the bottle of liquor from her purse, dropped down on the divan. She tore the cap off the bottle and took a hard drink. After a heavy sigh, she took another drink, then felt that it was time to stop for a while.
Looking about the apartment she saw that Frieta had cleaned up very well. Everything was spic and span. She guess Frieta had gone to take her music lessons, knowing it to be the day.
When her spirits had abated, she went to the phone and started dialing numbers, places where Eddie hung around, saloons, pool halls, the rooming house where he j lived on Eighteenth street. No one had seen him. His landlord stated that he hadn't been there in three days. Alice gave up after nearly an hour of phoning. It was hard for her to acknowledge that he would deceive her so dras ticatoy. Certainly he must have phoned last night while Frieta was home? He never phoned the tavern, like he had at first. Had Eddie really jilted her? Had Thomas McShane been right, after all? She sweated at the sickness which seized her loins. Her demands were even worse than they had been the previous day. She felt a headache coming on. Her soul yearned and screamed for bodily attention. These lonely demons would not let her rest. Unfortunately, she did not know Duke Wayne's telephone number. She felt like giving him a ring. She needed someone. Any man, she felt, who was healthy and respectable enough, might fulfill her ghasdy demands. She was becoming more inhuman than ever, as the loneliness lingered and hounded her insides. She needed attention, and she must have it before the day was done!
Alice climbed to her feet and crossed the room to the door to the hallway. She opened the door and left the room. In the dingy hallway, she crossed over to Gladys's door, and knocked. She entered the bedroom to the old lady's greeting.
"Hello, Gladys," Alice spoke. "You feelin' right bad, Mike?"
Mike grunted a weak reply which didn't encourage his feelings any, and Gladys spoke, then hurried to Alice and led her towards a chair beside the kitchen table where she was busy rolling out ginger cookies.
"I'm makin' some ginger cookies," Gladys said. "How you been, Alice? You sure look worn out. Ain't you feelin' well, honey?"
"I feel like hell," Alice said. "God, have you noticed whether Eddie LaRose came to the door when nobody was there, Gladys?"
"No. No. Not that I know of. Frieta was home all day yesterday. I heard the record player goin', but the doctor was here, and Mike was sick so I never got over to see her. I was by your place this mornin'. Frieta and I talked. She was here just before leavin' to take her voice lessons.
Never mentioned that guy of yours, though. She sure was dressed fit to kill, Frieta was. You musta got lucky. Did you win some money?"
Alice frowned, thoughtfully. What on earth was Gladys talking about?
"What're you talkin' 'bout?" she asked. "I'm flat broke. Pay day is three days off. You say Frieta was all dolled up?"
"Sure was. New shoes, skirt, blouse, handbag, and God knows what else. She sure looked pretty and sweet."
"Where'd she get money to buy all that outfit?" Alice grimaced, curiously.
Gladys shugged. "Don't know. Never thought to ask her. Don't reckon she's stuck somebody up, do you?"
"She must have. How else would she get so many new things. Frieta don't work. She don't know what it means to get out and look for a job. Somethin's goin' on, that I don't know 'bout. Goddamn her. She'd better not be doin' other things!"
Gladys stopped rolling out the cookies, stared hard at Alice.
"You don't think she's got men friends?"
Alice shrugged, not caring to discuss such a disheartening situation before her nosey neighbor. She was sullenly impatient as she watched Gladys roll out the cookies, and didn't have too much more to say for the next hour that she was there. While Gladys talked about church and a lot of other tripe which didn't have any effect on her, Alice thought about Frieta and the new clothes.
A half hour later she heard Frieta's light footsteps hurrying up the stairs. She would not think Alice was home. It was a little after four.
Alice scraped back her chair and stood. Listening intently, she heard Frieta insert her key in the lock and the door whined open.
"There's Frieta now," Alice said to the old woman. "I'd better get over there and see what this's all 'bout"
She hurried out the room, and crossed the hallway before Frieta could get the door shut. Frieta's eyes nearly popped out when she saw Alice had been home from work already.
"Mama," Frieta said, "you're home early?"
Alice slammed the door and leaned against it, staring up and down at Frieta's new outfit, her sweeping hair-do, and a new set of dangling gold earrings and a necklace to match which looked to have cost nearly a hundred dollars.
"You bet I'm home early," Alice said.
Frieta had dropped two suit boxes on the divan. She flushed and felt herself grow sick, suddenly. She groped for a lie which she felt would stick with Alice.
"What's all this, Frieta?" Alice asked. "Seems you've made yourself a killin'? Where'd all th' dough come from? You sure never got everything on credit, and maybe not just your looks!"
Frieta stared into her mother's undaunted eyes, her flushed face growing darker. She fought for the correct explanation. Yet she already sensed the angry stare in Alice's nervous eyes.
"I just came from Charley's," Frieta said.
"Sure. Of course you did. You had music lessons. Not yesterday, you didn't, though. You was here all day. Gladys said so. Where'd all th' dough come from? You wore new duds today, so you must have gone out to town yesterday in order to buy them. That means you must have gotten the dough yesterday?"
"Charley gave the money to me!" She said it before she could govern herself.
Alice lit a cigarette and smoked.
"How much?" she asked.
"Well, enough to buy these things."
"The earrings and necklace, too?" Alice reached over and lifted the necklace, felt of it.
"Right expensive, tricklets," she surmised. "Charley never put out anything like that on his wife. Since when did he start makin' so much dough that he's got to start spendin' it on his students? Why, you've been floatin' in greenbacks, dearie!"
Frieta frowned at her, then dropped her head. Impulsively, she caught her shoulders and turned her head away from her mother. Alice realized she was lying. The girl's lips were trembling, and she was biting her lips, tears formed in her eyes.
"I hope what I'm thinkin' ain't true," Alice reminded her. "I ain't gonna stand for no goings on as that, Frieta."
Frieta's head snapped round, her eyes blazed. Despite her guilt, she had grown bitter and affronted.
"What're you talkin' about, mama?" she demanded contemptuously. "I haven't done anything. I haven't done anything!"
"Liar. You're lyin', Frieta!"
"I'm not either lying! I'm not! I'm not, I tell you!"
"Stop screamin' at me."
"You're screaming at me. You're accusing me of things ... of bad things, maybe!"
"Bad or not. Whatever it is, I'm goin' to get to the bottom of it."
"What're you going to do?" Frieta was nervously upset now.
"Goin' to just phone Charley and ask him if he gave you any money. It's just as simple as that Frieta. If he did, I'm sorry. He ought to be able to clear things up for us. I don't reckon he's tryin' to vamp you, bein' he's old enough for your father. Besides, Charley's too modest. He's no cradle snatcher. I've known him for several years. He's trustworthy, and honest, and decent. I'm afraid he wouldn't ever do a thing like I'm thinkin'."
"What're you thinking, mama?" Frieta was nauseated with dread. "What're you thinking, about me?"
"You know damn well what I'm thinkin'," Alice replied, mashing the cigarette out, and moving towards the phone. "I'll call him, now."
"He isn't home. He had to go downtown!"
"I'll phone anyway. He may be back by now."
"You think I'm having men, don't you. Going to bed with men ... men ... men! Is that what, Alice...? Is it! I'm a first class filthy slut, huh? Is that what I am, j Alice Ingram? Is that what you're takin' me to be ... just like you!"
The words were hardly out of her mouth before Alice t had bounded across the room and slammed her hand into Frieta's mouth. The girl's head jerked back, her mouth! was twisted and she fell over against the divan. Alice reached to grab her by the hair, jerked her roughly to her feet and shoved her towards her bedroom.
"Get outa my sight before I half kill you!" Alice snarled indignantly. "What's gotten into you, speakin' to me that way?"
Crying drastically, Frieta stumbled towards her bedroom door, entered the room and slammed the door shut. She flung herself down on the bed and cried louder than she had at first.
Alice snatched up another cigarette and lit it quickly. She smoked hurriedly, contemplatively as thoughts whirled through her mind. In her disturbed conscience, she forgot to phone Charley. Instead, the phone rang. She answered it. It was Eddie LaRose. He had intended to hear Frieta's voice, but Alice was just as well with him. He had purchased a used car. A green Ford. He was coming by to take her and Frieta out riding.