Chapter 6
The late afternoon sun slanting into the room through dark red chintz drapes, awakened Noreen. She was lying on a cot, naked except for a single clean smelling sheet covering her.
For one wild moment terror and bewilderment struggled in her. Where was she? What had happened to her? Why was she naked?
Memory came flooding back. The truck? And the driver, Ed somebody. He had promised to take her to a place where she would be safe!
But where was she then? She glanced around the room. It was tiny but clean. The floor was of rough planking covered here and there by a bright colored rag rug. In a corner was a wash stand, with a basin and pitcher and clean towels hanging on a rack over it. In another corner was a dresser with a broken mirror. Near a stout wooden door was a tall clothes closet.
Noreen crossed the room to the door. It was locked on the outside. She had half expected that. She peeked into the closet. It was empty. She hadn't a single stitch of clothing, not even the bedraggled dress in which she had escaped.
A roar of motors from somewhere outside made her jump. She went to the single window and cautiously pulled back the chintz drape. Immediately she knew that she must be somewhere on Indian River, the fair sized stream that ran through the heart of Steel City. The river glinted beneath her, gilded by the rays of a westing sun. In the distance she could see the spire of the Chisholm Building, the only real skyscraper in the city. The sun made a thousand flaming eyes of its windows.
Immediately below the window she saw the long, tarpaper covered roof of a canoe shed. On the dock before it men were working on canoes, scraping and painting. Wooden stairs led down to' the river. One of the men looked up in her direction and Noreen ducked hastily back into the room.
Now she knew where she was. The Indian River Boathouse. She and Studsy had driven past it many a time. As she remembered the road-came to within half a mile of the place, then you came in on a private drive. She and Studsy never went canoeing like some of the kids.
"For squares," Studsy always said. "I'll take mine in the back seat of a car."
But what in hell was she doing at the boat-house? And where was Ed? And her dress? Why was she locked in?
Someone fumbled with the lock of the door. The girl raced for the bed, picked up the sheet and draped it around her just as the door opened.
A plump blonde woman, wearing house slippers and a magenta wrapper, stood there holding a tray of food. She smiled at Noreen. "Don't worry, dearie. No men around. How you feeling?"
Sensing no immediate menace in this woman Noreen sank down on the cot, still holding the sheet about her like a toga. "Who are you?" she demanded. "And what am I doing here?"
The woman smiled again, showing some obviously false teeth. "One thing at a time, dearie. You got nothing to worry about. Not right now at least. Look, I brought you some grub. You must be half starved.
The woman sank on the cot beside her with a sigh. "There now. That's better. I'm a pretty good cook if I do say so myself. Maybe that's why Ed married me. And why he don't throw me out. Not that he won't someday."
Noreen looked up from cutting a piece of steak. "Ed? The man who brought me here? He's your husband?"
The woman nodded and smiled. With a trace of pride, Noreen thought.
"That's right. Ed Jeffers. I'm Goldie. We been married nearly ten years now."
Noreen, never a girl to mince matters when her own interests were at stake, asked: "But why did he take my clothes away? And how did I get here anyway?! don't remember a thing."
"Lord," she said, "you were out like a light! Ed drove out here before he unloaded, to get rid of you, and then you wouldn't wake up. Lucky there was nobody around. He just wrapped a tarp around you and carried you .up here and turned you over to me. Didn't anybody see you. Nobody here at that hour but the hired men and they was asleep in the canoe shed. You're safe here, dearie, long as you want to stay."
Noreen finished the last of the steak. "He said lie has some kind of a deal he wanted me to help him with. What did he mean?"
The sheet had fallen to her waist as she ate. Now she saw the woman's eyes on her breasts. Hastily she pulled up the sheet. She didn't want to get into that again.
Goldie Jeffers gave her a knowing smile. "Needn't be so modest with me, dearie. I ain't queer. I was just looking at those boobies of yours. They're terrific. I had 'em like that once. Look at me now!" She pulled the magenta wrapper aside for Noreen to see.
Goldie laughed softly. "I know-I know! You don't like to look at them, do you? Don't blame you. Neither do I. Makes me sick when I look in the mirror-thinking how I used to be. I was a looker, too, dearie. Just like you now."
Noreen broke into the flow of words. "But what does Ed, your husband want me to do?"
A crafty look settled on the flabby face of Goldie Jeffers. "He didn't tell you nothing?"
"No. Where is he now anyway?"
"Gone into town to unload that booze. He'll be back soon now. Drunk as usual. After a run he always gets on a toot. Just as well for me. He's mean at first, but after two days or so he passes out."
So she had been right. Ed Jeffers was a chronic boozer. Yet he was no fool. Look at the way he had handled those cops! But all this had nothing to do with her. She had to be on her way.
She said as much to Goldie now. "I got to get out of here. I'm obliged to Ed, and you, for helping me, but I can't stay around here. If you'll give me back my clothes I'll make out." It would be dark before long, she thought, and she would just have to take a chance on contacting Studsy. She had to have money.
Nevertheless she continued to sound out Goldie. "You see I ain't-haven't got any money. That's why I want to know what your husband has in mind. I'd like to make a few dollars, but I can't hang around this town."
"I know you're in a fix," the woman said. "Ed told me all about it. And you're in the papers. They're looking for you in town. You sure as hell can't go in there, dearie."
So there went Studsy!
"But don't worry," Goldie went on. "I like you. I don't know why, except maybe you remind me of myself when I was young and pretty. So we'll have a nice talk, you and me. Get you straightened around. But first off we got to get something settled. You willing to turn pro or ain't you?"
Noreen stared at her. "You mean sell myself to men-for money?" She knew about it of course, but it had never occurred to her that she might ever be involved in such a thing.
"Don't be so high and mighty," Goldie said without rancor. "Nothing so bad about it. Beats giving it away. I was one myself, after I got pregnant and couldn't stay in burlesk no longer. That's where I met Ed-in a house in Memphis."
"No! I don't want to do it," she told Goldie. "I'm going to have a career. I want to be a singer with a band. Maybe in the movies someday."
"You can do all that and be a pro too," said Goldie Jeffers. "But I ain't trying to talk you into anything, dearie. I just want you to know the facts so you can make a smart decision. Ed runs girls over state lines in his truck. Got a secret compartment in it. He runs other things, too, but mostly girls. He figures on running you up to Chicago soon as he can."
"He sure as hell takes a lot for granted," Noreen flared.
Goldie fished in the pocket of her wrapper and found a pack of cigarettes. She lit one for each of them.
"Maybe he did," she admitted. "But to him it figures. You're a runaway from reform school. Ed ain't much to look at, and he's a drunk, but he's plenty smart. He knows people. He figures you're just right for Chicago. No friends, no money, no clothes and no place to go. Why not?"
"He figured wrong about me."
Goldie went on as if she had not heard. "Ed even figures you might be a virgin. Are you?"
Noreen said she was.
"That's what Ed said. He's good at spotting them. Maybe because he ain't interested himself. Anyway you're worth a thousand bucks in Chicago. First time. You'd get half. After that of course the prices come down. Fine, clean girl like you could get five hundred for a year. Call girl stuff, natch, no houses. Houses is out except in hick towns and in the south."
Noreen had to admit, in all honesty, that for a moment she was greatly tempted. Five hundred dollars! It had never occurred to her that she was worth that kind of money, since she knew nothing of rich and jaded gentlemen.
With five hundred she could do a lot. Get new clothes, go to New York, have enough money for an apartment. After all she would only have to do it once.
Anyway Goldie said: "If you're thinking what I think you're thinking, dearie, don't. There's a syndicate. Once you're in you stay in. You try to run away and they come after you. Beat you up. Scar your face. I know a girl in New York now, friend of mine, who did it and got away. So far. She clanged her name and I'm the only one knows it. She knows I won't squeal. But she's the only one ever did that I know of. And they'll get her sooner or later. So don't be thinking you can sell yourself once and then run."
"That's where I want to go. New York." Noreen had already decided against Chicago, even without Goldie's warning.
"You sure?"
Noreen shook her head emphatically. Her copper hair flamed in the rays of the sun through the window. "Yes. I got to. I want to be .somebody. Please help me, Goldie. Lend me some money and help me get out of town. I'll pay you back, I swear."
Goldie stood up from the cot, pulling the wrapper around her ruined figure. "All right, dearie. I'll do it. Ed might beat the living crap out of me, but I don't care." She giggled. "Maybe it will make him pay some attention to me, anyway. All I do now is sit here and run this lousy boathouse while he's away all the time on the road. Or laying in his room drunk."
"I got to have some clothes," Noreen said.
The woman surveyed her critically. "You got to have a lot more than that, dearie. Clothes ain't no problem. I got some that another girl left here. But we got to dye your hair-shame to do it-and put some years on you. You can wash 'em off when you get to New York. I'll give you the address of the girl I told you about, and she'll help you get started. She's a good kid.
"But I ain't got much money. Ed sees to that. And I can't let you have the car. He'd kill me for that. Anyway I got to make it look like you run off, and I couldn't if you took the car."
Noreen thought again of Studsy. Maybe she could use him after all. And get even with the big louse!
"I think maybe I can get a car and some money," she said. "If I look older and got clothes and a little money. I can leave after dark and I'll be all right."
Goldie studied her for a moment. "Okay, then. Now listen. Ed will be coming in a little while. Probably drunk as a skunk. I'll try to keep him away from you. I'll tell him I talked to you and you're going to Chicago on the deal. I'll say you're tired and want to be left alone. If it don't work and he comes up to talk to you, you just play along. You don't have to be afraid of Ed. Not that way. Only things he likes is booze and money.
"I'll keep pouring booze in him 'till he passes out, then we'll go to work. I still got my old makeup kit from burlesk and I'll fix you up. I got dye that will dry in an hour. Then I'll give you all the dough I got, and Yvonne's address and you're on your way."
Noreen was grateful to the woman. But her own experience, in her short life, made her incapable of expressing that gratitude adequately. She was still wary.
All she could say was, "You're sweet to do this. But why? Why are you helping me?"
Goldie looked back from the door. "Damned if I know, dearie. Maybe it's because I'm so goddamned sick and tired of men having their own way about everything all the time."
"Will Ed really beat you when he finds I'm gone?"
Goldie laughed. "Probably. Won't be the first time,"
"Why do you stay with a guy like that?"
Goldie smiled again. The sad clown smile. She pointed down to herself. "Where would I go? Who would have me? Anyway I love the sonofabitch."