Sheba, page 8
“Why isn’t it nice?”
“Sometimes I don’t like you,” she said.
He laughed. “The truth hurt?”
“It would if it was the truth but it isn’t. All I do is work for Mr. Wise. The dinner date I have is with somebody else.”
“Tell me another.”
“All right, don’t believe me if you don’t want to.”
It was nearly one and she wished that the girls were back. She disliked this sort of discussion. And the presence of Gregg disturbed her.
“You must not think much of me,” she said.
“I look at you in that dress and I can’t help but think about you. Who could?”
“It is a little daring,” she decided.
“Daring? Hell, it’s a third skin.”
They were alone, and suddenly she was afraid of him. The nearness of him, the way he looked at her, drove something cold into her heart.
“What are you doing after your dinner?” he asked.
“I’m not sure.”
“Could I pick you up?”
“I’d rather you didn’t.”
“Why?”
“You know why.”
“I’ve got a yen for you,” Gregg said. “A great big yen.”
“Don’t say it.”
“Why shouldn’t I? I’ve had it ever since you started working here. The day you walked through the door I said to myself you were for me. Haven’t I always been nice to you?”
She met his eyes and her glance lingered on his face.
“You weren’t the other night,” she said.
“I’m sorry about that.”
“I’ll bet you are.”
“Or maybe I’m not. Who could be sorry for such a wonderful thing happening?”
“I am. You got me drunk and took advantage of me.”
“You didn’t exactly resist.”
“I said you got me drunk.”
“And who drank the drinks? You did.”
“Let’s not go through it again,” she said. “I want to forget all about it.”
“A woman never forgets.”
“I will.”
“And neither does a man. A man remembers it just as much as a woman.”
“I don’t want to talk about it any more.”
“What if I said I was nuts about you?”
“It wouldn’t matter.”
“It wouldn’t?”
“No.”
“You’re a cool one,” he said. “Mighty cool.”
“Yes, and I intend to stay that way.”
Mr. Wise returned early from lunch and he started yelling for Gregg.
“What does he want now?” Gregg asked. “He got his pint of blood already today.”
Gregg left and she was alone in the office. Slowly, she began sorting work sheets from the shop. First it had been Gregg and then Fred, and now Gregg was after her again. Why couldn’t she be left alone? What was so different about her? She was just flesh, the same as any other girl, and if a man sought the pleasures of the female body he could always find somebody who was willing. But she knew that her reasoning was faulty. A man sought beauty with his pleasure and the more beautiful the girl the more trouble she had.
“Take a dark night,” Luke had said once, “or put a bag over her head and you can’t tell one from the other.”
“They’re all the same,” her father had agreed. “One likes it a little better than the next one, that’s all.”
One likes it a little better — or a little less. Where did she fit? She didn’t know. The night with Gregg had been clouded with whiskey but she had wanted him, really wanted him. She hadn’t wanted Fred and so she had disappointed him. She was aware of this disappointment and it pleased her. He would not, she felt, bother her again. He would find some one else, somebody who felt the same way he did, and one day he would be married. He would offer a girl the security that went with a fairly good job and he would probably give her several children.
At one Kathy and Nora returned from lunch and they met Gregg just going out.
“How do you get a man like that to go for you?” Kathy inquired.
“You get a dress the same type as Sheba has,” Nora said.
They talked about sex, just as they talked about sex almost every day, and some of the filing went undone. Sheba tried not to listen, feeling some inner guilt about the subject, and watched the front door for Gregg to return. He didn’t get back until almost four.
“Hiya, dollies,” he shouted.
He had been drinking and his face was darker than usual. When he came into the office Sheba could smell the whiskey on his breath.
“You stink,” she said bluntly.
“Hey, hey, now. Is that any way to address the sales manager of Wise Motors?”
“You’ve been at some bar,” she said. “And you shouldn’t. Not on the job.”
“I suppose you’d fire me.”
“I would if I was the boss.”
“The hell you say.” He walked over to Kathy Still. “What about it, baby? Do you object to Gregg having a little old drink?”
“Sheba’s right,” Kathy replied. “On the job it isn’t so good.”
“I’m beginning to wonder if I have a job.”
“Of course, you have a job.”
“Do I? Ask Sheba. She knows more about it than anybody else.”
For the rest of the afternoon, while Sheba was on the job, Gregg sat in the showroom and read his girlie magazines. Once he came in to the office, showed them a picture of a nude and asked them if the girl wasn’t really something. Neither Kathy, Nora nor Sheba made any comment until after he had gone.
“I don’t see how a girl can pose for a thing like that,” Nora said. “Imagine millions of men looking at you that way.”
“I could,” Kathy said. “Let somebody pay me a hundred bucks and they can take all the pictures they want. What about you, Sheba?”
“I’d rather sell cars.”
Sheba left at five and Gregg didn’t speak to her as she went out. She knew that he was mad at her for her conversation with Mr. Wise but she told herself that he had no reason to be angry. What she had suggested had been sense and a proper advertising campaign meant money for both of them.
She drove the demonstrator over to the rooming house and parked it near the curb. Mike Gordon, who had phoned her that afternoon, said he would use his own car and that he would pick her up at her place about seven. He had only driven the car a few miles but he liked it and said he was pretty sure his brother-in-law would be interested.
“Mind if he goes along?” Mike had asked.
“Not at all.”
Two, she had decided, would be easier to handle than one.
She entered the house and looked into the living room. The redhead was seated on the davenport, her legs curled up beneath her, reading a magazine.
“Hi,” the redhead said. “How goes the battle of life?”
“Okay. I got a promotion today.”
“Lucky you!”
“My old job is open. I think I could get it for you if you wanted it.”
The redhead threw the magazine aside and straightened out her legs. She had nice legs, long and creamy white. Her dress was up high, showing part of her thighs and these were white, too.
“Want it?” she demanded. “I’m down to my last twenty bucks. Do I want it!”
“Come down and see Mr. Wise in the morning.”
“You don’t have to tell me twice.”
“You can type, can’t you?”
The redhead got to her feet and smoothed out her dress.
“I can do anything a secretary is supposed to do.”
“Mr. Wise isn’t that way.”
“They all are.”
“Not Mr. Wise.”
“Don’t tell me you never took more than dictation.”
“Of course not.”
The redhead sighed and shook her head. “That’s a novelty. I’ve got to see both him and the place to believe it. Half these guys who hire secretaries don’t need them except for one purpose.” She moved toward the door. “I’ve got a jug in my room,” she said. “Let’s you and me have a dinky little drink to celebrate.”
“I’d better not. I have a business appointment.”
The redhead was disappointed. “Oh, the hell,” she said.
“Some other time.”
“When you get back?”
“Maybe.”
“My room is on the top floor, second from the left.”
“All right.”
“I’ve got the bottle and we might get a couple of guys in. If we give the old lady a few drinks she might do us a strip.” The redhead yawned. “Me, I have to get sexed up before I can appreciate a man.” She hesitated. “If a girl ever can appreciate a man. I sometimes wonder.”
Sheba didn’t know what the redhead meant and she didn’t ask. She was only conscious of the way the girl looked at her, eyes wide and saucy and deep. She had never had a girl look at her that way before.
“I’ll see you,” Sheba said, turning away.
There was something frightening about the redhead.
8
SHEBA rode in the middle and Lew Adams drove.
“Some car,” Lew said. “Comfortable and fast.”
Mike Gordon had left his car in the driveway at the rooming house and they had picked Lew up at his taxi office downtown.
“You’ll find it cheap to operate,” Sheba said. “Even though it’s got a four barrel carb you ought to do sixteen miles to the gallon around town.”
“I like the Pacer,” Mike said. “But the Pacer wouldn’t be good for cab work. You need something showy. All I want is transportation. Your customers would go for a job like this.”
“I guess they would,” Lew said.
Lew was unmarried and he was in his early thirties. He had sandy hair, a stubborn chin and eyes as blue as a clear sky.
“Step down on it,” Sheba said.
Lew did. The Blazer leaped into passing gear and shot forward.
“Power,” he agreed. “Lots of it.”
“Take it easy,” Mike said. “You’ll kill us all.”
Lew slowed as they approached a small town. Close-cutfields and houses slid by on either side. The sun was low in the sky, washing the hills in a blaze of red.
“I like this car,” Lew Adams said. “But I don’t know if I can afford five of them.”
“I’d make you a good deal.”
“How good a deal?”
“What are you using now?”
“Fifty-four Fords.”
She knew this before and had already looked up the trade-in rate. She could go a hundred dollars above the book and still be safe. The cabs probably looked pretty fair outside and the speedometers could always be set back and the tires regrooved if necessary. Some poor slob or other would buy them.
“I’d allow you six ninety-five on each,” Sheba said.
They passed through the town and he increased the speed of the car.
“But I’d have to put about twelve hundred total down on each one,” he said.
“That’s right.”
He switched on the radio and the music came in soft and clear.
“That would be about twenty-five hundred dollars?”
“Give or take a few either way.”
“I’ve only got about thirteen or fourteen hundred.”
“Don’t let that bother you any,” Mike cut in. “She can fix you up with the rest of it. Can’t you, Sheba?”
“I guess I could.”
“You’ve got your house,” Mike said. “You don’t owe anything on that, do you?”
“No, but I wouldn’t want to take a mortgage on that.”
“What about your furniture?”
“That’s paid for, too.”
Lew drove along and Mike yawned.
“You strap me,” he said. “You really do. Why a single guy would want to have a house and furniture and all that junk is beyond me.”
“Well, I figure if I ever get married I won’t have any debts and if I. don’t get married it’s just as cheap as living in an apartment. I win, either way.”
“You may be right.”
“I know I’m right. You and Leona have been married for quite a while and you’re still paying off debts. What’s the sense to that? You could have done the same as I did but you blew it away.”
“I’m still blowing part of it away.”
“So Leona tells me.”
“You know how it is. You buy the things you want and you live the way you want. If I want a steak I buy a steak.”
“It isn’t that,” Lew said, “and we both know it. You’re not fooling Leona any. She knows about these other women.”
“Leona is one of them.”
“Sure, but Leona is my sister and you married her. That’s different. What are the others? The others are just dames you pick up in some bar.”
“Not very often.”
“But it costs you when you do.”
“Yeah, it costs me.”
They rode the rest of the distance in near silence. Once Lew commented how well the car handled but that was all. Sheba was slightly annoyed with herself and the two men. She wanted to sell the five cabs to Lew Adams and the conversation had drifted far away from the original subject. It was obvious that Mike was a woman chaser and Lew seemed to be just the opposite.
Dinner started out with drinks and they continued to drink as they ate. She didn’t want anything to drink but both men had insisted and she found it difficult to refuse.
“What the hell,” Mike said. “Make a night of it.”
There was a long-legged brunette at the bar and she kept looking at their table. Lew didn’t pay any attention to the girl but Mike was interested.
“Stuff,” Mike said.
“Cut it out,” Lew told him.
“Cut it out? What for? You call a spade a spade.”
“We’ve got a girl with us.”
Mike looked at Sheba, at the way her red dress was filled out.
“She wasn’t born yesterday,” Mike said. “She wouldn’t be selling cars if she was. Would you, Sheba?”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
“Like fun you don’t.” Mike was feeling the drinks and his face and eyes showed it. “I’ll bet there are plenty of guys you are nice to.”
“Knock it off,” Lew said.
Mike shrugged and stared at the girl at the bar. The girl stared right back at him.
“Stuff,” he repeated. “Fresh as a rose in the early morning.”
The waiter brought another round of drinks and Mike kept looking at the girl at the bar. Mike smiled and the girl smiled. Finally, excusing himself, he carried his drink up to the bar and sat down beside her.
“He’s crazy,” Lew said. “Sometimes I wonder how my sister puts up with him.”
“He this way very often?”
“Often? Whenever he gets a chance. Last year it was some magazine-selling girl and she tried to put the bite on him for giving her a kid. He got out of that because there had been others but the next time he may not be so lucky. Then, just a little while ago, he had a girl working for him in the store and he was rushing her. She didn’t cause him any trouble but it hurt Leona and they almost broke up. Sometimes I think that is why he wants to live in the country, so she is tied down and can’t get around.”
“But he bought the car for her.”
“That’s what he says, only the car doesn’t do her any good when he takes it to work every day. The night he had the accident with the Ford he had some girl with him. She was learning to drive. She didn’t get hurt but he got his head bumped. He was lucky on that one, too.”
They had another drink and Sheba felt a warm glow growing inside. The will not to drink had long since left her and she liked the taste of the liquor.
“It’s different with me,” Lew said. “I’m single and if I want to horse around that’s my business. But a married man shouldn’t be that way.”
“No, he shouldn’t.”
“Imagine how my sister feels when he comes home all boozed up and after being with another woman. Almost any other girl would call it quits.”
“Unless she’s in love with him.”
“She’s that, all right. All the time she keeps saying how she wants to have a child and how a child would make him more dependable. I don’t think it would. If a man is going to run he’s going to run and nothing will stop him.”
Mike and the girl at the bar were sitting very close and when he kissed her on the cheek she didn’t object. The next time he kissed her on the mouth and they clung together.
“My brother-in-law,” Lew said.
“It didn’t take him long.”
“With a girl like that it never takes long. You can spot them ten miles away.”
They continued to drink, waiting for Mike to return to the table. But he didn’t return. Mike and the girl sat very close and it was more than obvious what they were doing with their hands. The girl laughed a few times and once she put her arms around Mike’s neck and kissed him hard on the mouth.
“You want another drink?” Lew asked Sheba.
“I don’t care.”
“A few drinks never hurt anybody.”
“No, not just a few.”
“We’ve had six or seven.”
“Have we?”
“They go down easy.”
“Yes, they do.”
He waved for the waiter and leaned forward, his elbows on the top of the table.
“Let’s talk business,” he said.
“That’s what I came here for.”
“Can you finance five cars for me?”
“I can.”
“How?”
“You’ve got thirteen or fourteen hundred and you would need twenty-five. That leaves you about eleven hundred short. Is your furniture new?”
“Just about.”
“And worth how much?”
“I paid about three thousand for it.”
“Then there’s no problem. You can get what you need from the Old Reliable Finance Company. They’ll give you the eleven hundred and we can make the deal.”
He laughed. “And pay twenty percent interest?”
“No, you won’t. You’ll save in operating and repair costs and that will more than offset whatever the charges are.”
This time he grinned. “You’re on the ball,” he said.
