Chapter 5
Ace had been out late the night before and slept until late-morning. The white girl had got up at dawn and made him a pot of coffee. She sat on the small porch waiting patiently for the big black man to stir. A morning breeze played over her bare white body and ruffled the green leaves of the trees around the shack.
Ace came to the door, rubbing his eyes sleepily. He lit a cigarette and sat down beside the girl.
"Bring me a cup of coffee, bitch," he ordered. He sat sipping the hot coffee and puffing on the cigarette. "I got in one of the damnedest poker games last night," he said, "and they cleaned me out. I ain't got a dime left." He grinned broadly. "But I got me a special stake for tonight, and I intend to get my money back."
The naked white girl eyed him out of the corner of her eyes suspiciously without daring to question him.
"You'll see," Ace told her chuckling. "You'll see... cause you're the stake."
He sat up laughing and made her go back in the shack to fix him a couple of sandwiches of bread and jelly. When she came back to the porch, he ate it slowly. He had her squat on the bottom step below him so he could toss down scraps for her to eat.
"I borrowed Greenie's car," he told the girl. He watched her retrieve a piece she couldn't catch in her mouth from the ground, brush it off, and eat it. "We'll be going over to Fitchburg in a little while."
The big black man finished the sandwiches, finished tossing his leftovers to her, and went back in the shack and put on a new shirt, pants and shoes.
"Let's go," he told the girl. She followed him down the rocky path toward the deserted coal mining town. At the edge of the woods she waited again until Ace was certain the old town was empty and motioned for her to come to him. She darted across the weedy, open space to where he had parked Greenie's car. She climbed into the hot trunk and he slammed shut the lid.
The ride was not long. The car bounced down the rocky, dusty road and then onto the smoother highway leading to Fitchburg. And then it came to some more rougher roads and then finally stopped.
The white girl, sweating inside the hot, dusty trunk could faintly hear voices talking for several minutes. Then the trunk lid finally opened.
A sharp-faced Negro with a thin bristle of graying beard on his face peered into the trunk at her.
"Damnation, Ace," the man said. "Where did you get her?"
"Don't be so nosy, Cato," Ace told him. "You go to the corner of the building there and see if anyone is around." The sharp-faced man walked slowly away; looking wide-eyed over his shoulder back at the car.
The car was parked inside an alley between two, two-storey frame buildings. The midday sun beamed down.
"All right," Cato called to Ace. Ace pulled the naked white girl out of the car trunk and through a doorway into one of the buildings. They were inside a small kitchen. A door led into another room where there was a bed, a dresser and other furniture. At the other side of the kitchen a stairway led upward.
Cato came through the door and motioned Ace to follow him. The sharp-faced man led the way up the stairs.
The upstairs room had a bed and a table and some chairs. At one side stood an old battered refrigerator. A single light drop hung from the ceiling directly over the table. On the other side of the bed was a window, its panes grimy with dirt. A tattered blind was lowered part way.
Cato shut the door at the head of the stairs.
"I'm back," Ace told Cato, "to get back some of my money you took last night." He jerked a thumb toward the naked white girl. "That's my stakes."
"What do you mean?" Cato asked, his eyes wide.
"Well," Ace went on, "you just get Roan and Walter over her and we'll see if you're as lucky today as you were last night."
"I don't see-" Cato began.
"Simple," Ace interrupted him. "You all put up your money. I'll put up the white girl. You win, you get to screw her. I win, I get your money."
Cato grinned broadly.
"That sounds like a good deal," he said. "I just know Roan and Walter will go for a deal like that." He walked toward the door. "I'll be back in a few minutes."
Ace sat down at the table and started shuffling a deck of cards. The naked white girl walked to the dirty window and looked out into the street below. On the other side of the street some children, white and colored, were playing in a vacant lot, tossing a ball back and forth. Two Negro girls about her age, were standing near the vacant lot, dressed up in pretty Sunday-go-to-church and dresses, talking. A panel truck moved slowly down the almost empty street.
The white girl felt a sudden sadness as she watched the girls, her peers-in-age, talking and enjoying the bright sunshine outside, their lives seemingly carefree. She turned and sat down dejectedly on the edge of the bed.
In a few minutes, footsteps sounded on the stairs and Cato and two other colored men came into the room. One was short and heavy, dressed in sweaty, grimy, green coveralls. The other was of, medium build. He wore a faded blue shirt with sweat-stains under the arms, and denim pants.
"Well, Ace," the short one said, "you back to get-" He stopped short, eyes wide as he saw the naked white girl. "Who is that?" he asked.
"Like I told Cato," Ace said evenly, "no need to be nosy. I got a deal to make. You can take it or leave it."
"What deal?" the short, heavy man asked. He walked closer to the naked white girl and stared intently at her. Ace laughed.
"Watch it, Walter," he said. "Keep your hands off my property. Here's the deal. We'll play us a little poker. If I win, I get your money. If you win from me, you can fuck the little white girl. What do you say?"
"Hell, yes," Walter answered quickly. "Let's get at it!"
"You, Roan?" Ace asked the other man.
"Why, hell, yeah," 'Roan agreed. "But how are we going to do this?"
Ace took a box of matches from his pocket and opened the box and took out ten matches.
"Here's how," he said. "I'll use these matches. We'll say they're worth a dollar each. Anytime any of you get all ten you can screw her. You got to give the matches back, though."
"Hell," Walter said, "I'll just give you ten dollars right now and screw her. How about that?"
"Yeah," Roan grunted, almost panting.
Ace shook his head.
"No," he said. "It will be more fun to play for it. Besides, I might win your money and you might not even win a tumble with her." He looked at the others. "You want to go my route or not?"
"Sure, sure," Cato said. "Let's get at it." The four sat down at the table. The naked white girl still sat on the edge of the bed, biting her lower lip, and staring at the floor.
"She's a bit young, ain't she?" Roan asked.
"You win and you'll see," Ace told him chuckling. "She's old enough to clean your plow real good."
In cutting for the deal, Cato won and dealt out five cards. Walter passed; Roan opened with a dollar bet; Ace stayed in; Cato dropped out. Walter took three cards. Roan took two. Ace took four. Roan bet two more dollars and Ace dropped out. Walter stayed.
Roan had a pair of jack's. Walter had three five's and won the pot. That gave him one of Ace's matches.
On the next hand Roan opened with a dollar. All saw the bet, with Walter putting in a dollar bill.
"Hey, now," Cato protested, "you got one of the matches. You ought to bet that."
"Why, hell, no," Walter said. "There's no rule like that. If I run low, I might, but I don't have to."
Cato looked at Ace for support. Ace shrugged.
"He's right," he told Cato. "He can hang on to 'em if he wants to. He's going to have to get ten, though, before he can do any good."
The game went on. Walter won another hand and another match. Ace won three hands in a row for a total of twelve dollars and for four more hands didn't have to use any of his matches. The twelve dollars went and he lost four more matches, two to Cato and two to Roan. He had four matches left.
"Hey, kid," Cato said to the naked white girl. "There's some Coke in the refrigerator if you want one." She looked timidly at Ace, but he nodded permission.
She got up from the bed and went to the refrigerator and took out a bottle of the soft drink and opened it. Raising it, she took a deep drink and walked back to the bed. The three Negro men eyed her white body hungrily.
"Deal the cards," Roan told Walter impatiently. "I need to get me some of that."
There came a sound of voices from downstairs.
"Collie," Cato said. "Sounds like she got that woman Flo with her."
"Hey, Cato," a voice came up the stairway. "You up there?" Cato got up and went to the door and opened it. "Me and Flo are going over to the diner," the voice below called. "We might go on over to Flo's for a while."
"Go ahead," Cato said, shutting the door and returning to the table.
In one hand Ace lost the other four matches to Walter on three nine's against three ten's.
That gave Walter six matches and Cato and Roan two each.
"Now what?" Cato asked. "Walter ain't going to bet them damn matches until he goes broke.
There ain't no way for me and Roan to win unless we play all night."
"I'm low on money," Roan said. "I'll sell you my two matches for three dollars apiece."
"Hell," Walter said, "they just been worth a dollar."
"All right, all right," Roan said. "You want to fuck that white girl you'll just have to win them, then."
"But," Walter argued, "I can't fuck her. Cato here has got two matches himself."
"I'll sell them," Cato said, "same as Roan. Three dollars apiece, just to get the game going again."
"All right, all right," Walter agreed. He gave Roan six dollars and Cato six and then shoved all ten matches across the table to Ace.
Walter got to his feet and slipped out of his dirty green coveralls. He walked toward the white girl.
"Hey, girl," Ace said. "You give him a real good time, you hear me?"
"Yes, Sir," she answered, lying down on the bed. The other three Negroes watched eagerly.
Walter eased his short, heavy frame on top of the girl, he was covered in a thick sheen of sweat, but his stubby penis was erect and eager. The white girl spread her legs and reached down as she'd been trained, and grasped the thick black prick. Walter gave a sudden jerk. Ace laughed.
"Take it easy, Walter," he said. "She's just trying to help you get started. I trained her to put it in by herself."
"I wouldn't need no help myself," Roan said, grinning. "But I sure don't mind it if she's feeling friendly enough to be accommodating."
The white girl wrapped her arms and legs around the short, sweaty black man and strained upward toward him. Walter lunged forward, driving his penis in deep. The white girl tightened her legs and gripped him, then eased up slightly as Walter pulled back up. She tightened her legs again as he came down, at the same time grunting, and shoving upward to meet his thrust.
Walter gave a short squeal and collapsed on top of the girl, his passion gushing forth suddenly. He quivered and jerked. The watching black men laughed.
"Damnation, Walter," Cato said. "You don't take nearly enough time. That ain't no way to get any fun out of it."
Walter sat up weakly on the edge of the bed.
"Hell," he muttered, "I bet you couldn't do any better. She really pulls it out of you in a hurry."
"Come on," Cato said. "Let's get back to playing so I can have a chance at it. We'll see if I can do any better."
Walter got up and slipped on his coveralls and came back to the table. The white girl lay stretched out on the bed, thighs splayed.
"You know something," Roan said. "We're going to be here all night, going the way we are. We ought to have it that anybody that's got one of them matches has got to bet it."
"All right with me," Ace said, "if you'll let them be worth two dollars instead of one."
"All right with me," Cato said. Roan and Walter nodded their approval and the game went on.
The naked white girl on the bed dozed.
A little later she woke as Cato shook her by the shoulder. The tall Negro had taken off his clothes and his big, long ebony penis stood up proudly.
"Now, girlie," he said, "I'm going to show what a good fucking is. You guys watch this." He climbed on top of the girl, pushed her legs apart, and jabbed downward, spearing her with his big tool. The white girl gave a sharp squeal and lifted her legs around him. He slipped his arms under her shoulders and back and strained her upward to him.
The three other men watched as Cato pumped powerfully up and down, up and down, rattling the bed. The white girl responded quickly to his motions, moving and rotating her hips up and down in time to his efforts.
Cato grinned.
"Watch this, Walter," he panted, his breath coming in short gasps as he pounded away ruthlessly at the small white body beneath him.
The girl gasped and reached a quivering climax. She clung to the black man, her pink body jerking with passion. Cato kept up his driving, pounding assault and then let himself go in a massive release, the hot fluid filling her and mingling with her own secretions. Cato fell heavily on top of her, sweating and exhausted.
Ace laughed and pounded the table with his open palm.
"Damnation," he said, "old Cato does know how to bring 'em around, don't he? Walter, you ought to take some lessons from him." Walter grunted.
"Come on," Roan said impatiently. "Let's get on with the game."
Cato got up and slipped on his pants and returned to the table. The white girl lay relaxed on the bed. She stretched lazily.
Outside it had become dark and the battered window blind had been pulled all the way down. The room was dim, the single bulb making an island of light around the four men at the table.
The girl dozed off again. She woke later and sat up on the bed.
"I'm broke," Roan was saying.
"I'm almost," Walter said. "I just as soon quit."
"Sure," Roan scoffed. "You got to screw her. I didn't."
"That's the way it goes," Ace commented.
"Tell you what," Roan said, hopefully. "You let me go at her and I'll pay you later. How about it?"
"No," Ace told him, shaking his head.
"Tell you what," Cato said to Roan. "I'll let you have the money if you'll pay me back."
"Why, sure I will," Roan promised. "How much, Ace?"
"Twenty dollars for a fuck," Ace told him. "That's what we was playing for." Cato gave the money to Roan and Roan handed it to Ace. Ace reached in his pocket and took out a roll of bills and put the twenty with them.
Roan got up and slipped out of his denim pants and walked toward the white girl. She sighed, then spread her white thighs for him and guided him into her little pink slit. She thrust her hips up and ground up into him, helping him get started, but he was through almost as quick as Walter. He sat on the edge of the bed, frowning.
"Too damn quick," he muttered.
Ace got to his feet chuckling. "Maybe there'll be a next time," he said. "We'll see. Right now, we got to get going. It's almost two o'clock." He took the girl by the arm and pulled her to her feet. Cato went down the stairs to make sure no one was about and then beckoned for Ace and the girl to follow.
Back at Slateville, the rocky path was dark and the white girl had trouble following Ace, she stumbled along behind the big black man, stubbing her toes on roots and tripping. Eventually she fell on her face, her chin hitting the dirt, she bit her tongue and cried out. She lay there a minute crying before Ace turned back and looked down at her in amusement. He laughed and picked her up in his arms hugging her naked white body to his. He kissed her tear-stained face and carried her the rest of the way to the shack. By the time they were inside, she had stopped sobbing, so he washed her down with a rag, put her on the bed, and got in beside her. They lay on the bed together.
"You have a good time?" Ace asked chuckling.
"It was all right," the girl replied softly.
"That Cato gave you a pretty good ride, didn't he?" Ace asked her.
The girl blushed. "Yes, he did."
"Well," the black man said, "there's lots more where that came from, so let's get some sleep. It's getting late." He closed his eyes and soon his snores filled the small shack.