“That’s all right,” Trixie called back gayly. “Tiny knows all the dirt. He admits that it’s a part of every girl’s education to spend at least one night with you. Don’t you, Tiny?”
“I admit that one may as well face the facts,” Tiny admitted lugubriously. “It’s a fact that the girls in New Orleans can be divided in two classifications. Virgins... and those who have slept at Frank’s.”
“Slept at?” Frank protested. “What do you mean by that?”
Barbara was very careful to hold a smile on her lips during the entire conversation. Her soul protested that she should be shocked, but her mind accepted the new order. She was an alien, and she must embrace this new faith so long as she remained with these new friends. This was all a part of Mardi Gras. And she wanted, desperately, to hug it to her bosom.
She wondered fleetingly about the incident just passed. The apartment, the wine, and Frankie and Johnny. Was that, too, a legitimate part of Mardi Gras? Ethel had accepted it calmly. She wondered if Ethel had known what the girls wanted when she suggested they accept the invitation. What was it Ethel had said? “Mark it down to experience!”
She leaned back against the seat and closed her eyes. Her little world had crashed asunder. She had no foundation left. Nothing by which she could judge this new mode of thought. All her standards were useless now. Everything that was safe and secure had been swept away from beneath her feet.
She wondered what Frank would say if she told him about Frankie. The similarity of the names struck her with sudden force, and she found herself chuckling weakly. This surprised and heartened her. She had felt that she would never be able to chuckle about the awful thing that had happened.
She opened her eyes and found Frank regarding her curiously. “Let me in on the joke,” he urged. “It sounds too good to keep all to yourself.”
“You wouldn’t appreciate it,” she told him demurely.
“How do you know I wouldn’t?” Frank drove skillfully, with occasional side glances at her.
“You were part of it,” Barbara confessed.
“Well, I’m proud I had a part in making you chuckle so happily. But I do wish you’d tell me the rest.”
“Perhaps I will.” Barbara closed her eyes again. “Given a dark corner and an opportunity,” she ended softly.
“You shall have both,” Frank assured her.
His home was in the northwest section. A beautiful colonial type house, set in the midst of stately trees near the West End Country Club. There was a long curving drive which led in from the street to a side entrance.
Barbara opened her eyes when the car stopped. Then she sat up with a start.
“We’re here,” Frank said briefly. “All out for Dupree corners.”
The other car swept up the drive behind them just then, and the four couples converged in a merry group to run up the front steps and storm the front door. A grizzled darky admitted them with a smile which seemed to split his black face from ear to ear.
“Yassuh, Mistuh Frank,” he beamed. “Dey’s all de res’ in deh now. Dey sho bin callin’ fo’ mint juleps powehful fas’.”
“I hope they haven’t called in vain,” Frank said laughingly as they moved to the high-ceilinged parlor. “But I guess I needn’t worry about that,” he added as a blast of music and merriment came through the portières. “The party seems to be pretty well organized.”
He held tightly to Barbara’s arm as they stepped into the parlor. She received a kaleidoscopic impression of many couples dancing on a cleared space in the center of the room, and many more couples more or less intimately draped together in chairs and lounges set back against the walls. All were in costume, and all seemed to be the merrier for the mint juleps they had consumed while awaiting the arrival of their host.
There was a huge punch bowl on a side table about which a number swarmed. Shouts of greeting went up as the newcomers were recognized. Staying close to Frank, Barbara was introduced in a helter-skelter manner to all who could crowd close. Her most vivid impression was the air of unforced happiness which seemed so much a part of the gathering.
It was all so gay and merry that she could not help falling into the mood which prevailed. The punch was pungent and cold. With a strangely exotic savor which she could not identify. But it leaped happily through her veins while she laughed and danced and listened to fervid protestations of love from all the men who could get close enough to her for an interval of thirty seconds.
An hour passed, and the wild hilarity grew more unrestrained. She was dancing with Carl, and he insisted on fastening his lips at the point where her neck joined her shoulder, and holding them there as he danced. She didn’t like it because Carl’s lips were blubbery. She was wondering how she was going to get away from him when she saw Frank coming to her rescue.
He bumped into them purposefully, and swung Barbara away from him. “Sorry,” he called mockingly over his shoulder as he danced away with Barbara.
Then he smiled down at her. “You mustn’t mind Carl,” he said comfortingly.
Barbara shuddered. “I tried not to,” she confessed. “And I got along all right until he started licking me with his tongue. Ugh!” She expressed her repugnance with a grimace.
“It’s all right.” Frank danced toward the wide doors leading out to the veranda. “Shall we get some fresh air?” he suggested.
“Oh yes!” Barbara clung to him weakly as they danced onto the wide porch. “It’s so stuffy in there,” she sighed.
“We’ll sit this one out,” he proposed, disengaging his arm and leading her toward a lounge which stood in the dark shadow of a climbing rose on the trellis.
“Oh! It’s wonderful out here,” Barbara murmured. She sank down beside him and rested her head on his shoulder. “I’m afraid I can’t stand the pace,” she said woefully. “All I want to do is sit quietly and rest.”
“That’s a crazy gang,” Frank muttered. His arm was tightly about her waist. “And this is just the beginning,” he warned. “They’ll keep this up for hours till they all pass out. That’s their idea of having a good time.”
“What’s yours?” she questioned softly.
“This,” he returned. His arm pressed her closer. His voice flowed evenly. “After all’s said and done... it takes just two in perfect harmony to constitute a good time.”
“Two... of the opposite sex?” she asked queerly.
“Why... yes.” Frank hesitated. His lips brushed across her hair. “Unless... of course...” He hesitated again.
“Unless what?” she asked breathlessly.
“Unless... well... it’s abnormal if there’s not the desire for the opposite sex.”
“Sexual desire?” Barbara’s voice was faint. Her daring frightened her. But she nerved herself to go on. “Is that what you mean?”
“It all gravitates to that.” Frank spoke grudgingly. “Every strong desire in life springs from the sexual impulse... sublimated or otherwise.”
“Then... this is sexual desire... my enjoyment of lying quietly in your arms?” Barbara’s body was tense.
“Yes,” Frank said evenly. “Subconsciously... whether you realize it or not.”
“I don’t realize it,” Barbara cried desperately. “That’s what frightens me. Perhaps I’m not normal. Perhaps it’s because you are of the opposite sex!” There. It was out. She relaxed and drew in her breath sharply. Had she said too much? Would Frank understand... or would he despise her?
He laughed quietly. “Don’t worry about that,” he reassured her. “I’m quite certain your impulses are normal.”
“I’m not sure,” she said relentlessly.
“Would you like to discover beyond a shadow of doubt?” Frank’s voice was light. But she felt the muscles in his body tighten, and he seemed to poise as he awaited her reply.