one.”
“What’d you say?” Louise’s eyebrows came to a point over her nose.
“That I wished I were in Geneva tonight.” Mr. Pierre dabbed number seventeen, which Mutzi had called out. “Finally! I’ve been sitting here with a nude card.”
“What’s in Geneva?”Wheezie asked.
“They are auctioning off the Duchess of Windsor’s jewelry,” Mr. Pierre answered.
“Were you going to buy something for me?” Louise was the coquette.
“No, I thought I’d wear it myself. Just a simple tiara with diamond drop earrings.” Mr. Pierre’s eyes danced.
Ed started to laugh. A shadow of fear raced across Louise’s face. She was sitting opposite two queers. What would Ed think?
“We nourish our eccentrics. Sometime I must tell you about Celeste Chalfonte, who died on Nickel’s birthday, November twenty-eighth.” Mother dabbed a number.
“He doesn’t want to hear about Celeste.” Louise was close to an inside picture frame.
“Oh, I’d like to know everything about you two beautiful ladies and about Runnymede too,” Ed gallantly offered.
“We operate on the principle that boredom corrupts,” I piped up.
“Number twenty-three for thee-e and me-e-e.” Mutzi was singing again and smacking at Pewter, who was fishing in the glass cage because Mutzi took the top off.
I continued, “See, people think that drugs are the sorrow of America, or drink, or … well, take your pick.”
“Where do I start?” Ed smiled at me. I was beginning to like him.
“I think people get into trouble when they’re bored. The mind needs problems and puzzles and issues. If someone lets his mind go, he’ll get into trouble.” I noticed Mother’s bosoms seemed a bit large. I’d noticed that when I picked her up but then I thought it might be the cut of her dress. Now upon further study I decided it wasn’t just illusion. They were bigger.
“We are never bored in Runnymede.” Mr. Pierre picked up the conversation. “Although I’m not sure our stimulation, as Nickel would wish, is intellectual. Sometimes our stimulation is pure D spite.” He was skating close to the edge.
“We have our fair share of that in Birmingham.”
“Bingo!” Louise’s hand shot up.
The sullen Peepbean, Mutzi’s lieutenant, came over and counted Louise’s numbers. “A winner.” “Goody, goody. What do I get?”
“Twenty-five dollars.” Mutzi rang a big cowbell. “Nickel.”
“What?”
“Get Pewter.”
“How come you’ve got the top off the ball machine?” “Because the feed isn’t working right so I’ve got to reach in and get the balls.”
“All right.” I picked up Pewter, who grumbled furiously. “This’ll shut her up.” Verna brought out some baloney. Pewter accepted this.
Decca, the smallest BonBon, watched the cat eat the baloneyand then tried to eat her own sandwich without hands. Verna gave her a light smack. “No fressen.”
In Runnymede, “fressen” meant to eat like an animal. Maybe it meant that in other parts of the country, too, but I’d never heard the word in my travels. Decca knew what it meant because she stopped. Georgette, next to her youngest sister, young enough to be her own child, wiped Decca’s mouth with a napkin.
Mother pulled out another bingo card. “Ed, one time when Nickel was a little girl she behaved very badly. She still behaves badly but I can’t do anything about it now. I told her she was a little animal and I put her food in the dog bowl and made her eat it on the floor just like a dog. She didn’t give me any trouble for a few weeks after that.”
I laughed. “Mr. Walters, she was a witchy mother.”
“You turned out all right,” Ed complimented me.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Louise was really working on my mood.
Mutzi raised his hands. “Okay, we’re doing a regular game of bingo. Regular game. And I want you to know that if we keep doing as well as we’ve been doing, we can play blackout bingo in a couple of weeks.”
“This sounds
“What’d you say?” Louise’s eyebrows came to a point over her nose.
“That I wished I were in Geneva tonight.” Mr. Pierre dabbed number seventeen, which Mutzi had called out. “Finally! I’ve been sitting here with a nude card.”
“What’s in Geneva?”Wheezie asked.
“They are auctioning off the Duchess of Windsor’s jewelry,” Mr. Pierre answered.
“Were you going to buy something for me?” Louise was the coquette.
“No, I thought I’d wear it myself. Just a simple tiara with diamond drop earrings.” Mr. Pierre’s eyes danced.
Ed started to laugh. A shadow of fear raced across Louise’s face. She was sitting opposite two queers. What would Ed think?
“We nourish our eccentrics. Sometime I must tell you about Celeste Chalfonte, who died on Nickel’s birthday, November twenty-eighth.” Mother dabbed a number.
“He doesn’t want to hear about Celeste.” Louise was close to an inside picture frame.
“Oh, I’d like to know everything about you two beautiful ladies and about Runnymede too,” Ed gallantly offered.
“We operate on the principle that boredom corrupts,” I piped up.
“Number twenty-three for thee-e and me-e-e.” Mutzi was singing again and smacking at Pewter, who was fishing in the glass cage because Mutzi took the top off.
I continued, “See, people think that drugs are the sorrow of America, or drink, or … well, take your pick.”
“Where do I start?” Ed smiled at me. I was beginning to like him.
“I think people get into trouble when they’re bored. The mind needs problems and puzzles and issues. If someone lets his mind go, he’ll get into trouble.” I noticed Mother’s bosoms seemed a bit large. I’d noticed that when I picked her up but then I thought it might be the cut of her dress. Now upon further study I decided it wasn’t just illusion. They were bigger.
“We are never bored in Runnymede.” Mr. Pierre picked up the conversation. “Although I’m not sure our stimulation, as Nickel would wish, is intellectual. Sometimes our stimulation is pure D spite.” He was skating close to the edge.
“We have our fair share of that in Birmingham.”
“Bingo!” Louise’s hand shot up.
The sullen Peepbean, Mutzi’s lieutenant, came over and counted Louise’s numbers. “A winner.” “Goody, goody. What do I get?”
“Twenty-five dollars.” Mutzi rang a big cowbell. “Nickel.”
“What?”
“Get Pewter.”
“How come you’ve got the top off the ball machine?” “Because the feed isn’t working right so I’ve got to reach in and get the balls.”
“All right.” I picked up Pewter, who grumbled furiously. “This’ll shut her up.” Verna brought out some baloney. Pewter accepted this.
Decca, the smallest BonBon, watched the cat eat the baloneyand then tried to eat her own sandwich without hands. Verna gave her a light smack. “No fressen.”
In Runnymede, “fressen” meant to eat like an animal. Maybe it meant that in other parts of the country, too, but I’d never heard the word in my travels. Decca knew what it meant because she stopped. Georgette, next to her youngest sister, young enough to be her own child, wiped Decca’s mouth with a napkin.
Mother pulled out another bingo card. “Ed, one time when Nickel was a little girl she behaved very badly. She still behaves badly but I can’t do anything about it now. I told her she was a little animal and I put her food in the dog bowl and made her eat it on the floor just like a dog. She didn’t give me any trouble for a few weeks after that.”
I laughed. “Mr. Walters, she was a witchy mother.”
“You turned out all right,” Ed complimented me.
“You don’t know the half of it.” Louise was really working on my mood.
Mutzi raised his hands. “Okay, we’re doing a regular game of bingo. Regular game. And I want you to know that if we keep doing as well as we’ve been doing, we can play blackout bingo in a couple of weeks.”
“This sounds
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