“Just a minute,” Penny interrupted indignantly. “What right have you got to call me names?”
“Every right, you little bitch! Whose apartment do you think you’re in? Whose sofa do you think you’re having your cutey-cute little orgasms on? Who do you think pays the rent around here? Well? On her piddling salary from the debutante factory she works at? Not on your life! I pay the bills. And I pay them because she’s my woman. So what right have you got—”
“Wait.” Penny held up her hand firmly. “You’re under a misconception. I know it must have looked peculiar, but all that was happening was Well here was giving me a massage so I could relax.”
“A mouth massage? Are you kidding?”
“No,” Penny insisted. “That’s what it was. You see, I was feeling very tense and—”
“Is she for real?” The woman looked at Well and jerked her thumb toward Penny.
“You see, I’ve been under a lot of pressure lately-—” Penny tried to go on, but her voice was quavery with liquor and sex.
“Where the hell did you ever find her? She doesn’t even look like a dyke!”
“I’m not Jewish myself,” Penny said haughtily, “but I really do have strong objections to insulting people on the basis of their race or religion. I don’t think a person should stand idly by when that happens. One must raise one’s voice,” she shouted, “and speak out for tolerance for people of all faiths.”
“Oh my god! You really picked a Lulu this time, Well. you’d better watch yourself. One of these days you’re going to be arrested for molesting squares.”
“Oh, why don’t you leave her alone,” Well said. “She’s just a sweet young kid!”
“I’ll ’sweet young kid’ her. If she isn’t out of here in two minutes flat, I’ll scratch out every eye in her head. Don’t forget, this is my apartment!”
“Well!“ Penny exclaimed, not speaking to Well Well, but rather of her feelings. “I certainly know when I’m not wanted.” Hands shaking, she started to pull on her bikini.
“I’m really ashamed of you,” Well told the woman. How can you call yourself a butch and behave like this? She asks for shelter, and you give her a stone.” Well’s voice became impassioned. “Pitilessly naked in the world, and you cast her out. Shame! For shame, I say! Give her also the right to her existence!”
“Never mind, Well.” Penny was at the door now. “I’m leaving. I just want you to know that I appreciate your kindness and I’m very sorry if I caused you any trouble. I’m sorry it had to end this way.” She lifted her chin proudly and left with dignity, closing the door softly behind her.
But out in the hall, her chin sagged neckward again. She was still in a terrible predicament. How could she ever get all the way from Riverside Drive to her apartment on the East Side without any clothes or money? She should really have asked Well for something to wear. But how could she, with that vulgar harridan screaming like a banshee about how she owned everything in the apartment? No, she’d just have to try to make it home as best she could. Tired from sex now, and still a little drunk, Penny pressed the button for the service elevator.
She got off in the basement and went out as she’d come in, through the garage. It was dark now, and the street looked fairly deserted. That was good. Penny slipped out of the garage and started up the block, keeping to the shadows provided by the sides of the building and avoiding the pools of light cast by the street- lamps.
She made it to West End Avenue without incident. Nor did she have any trouble getting from there to Broadway. Here, the brightly lit intersection presented a problem, but Penny simply lurked in the shadows, waiting for the light, and then darted across the street as fast she could run. She vanished into the side-street murk of the block leading to Amsterdam Avenue. That block presented no difficulties, but the next one, running from Amsterdam to Columbus, found Penny’s flight turning into a nightmare.
The nightmare started when the Puerto Rican girl sprang up in front of Penny like some terrible vision of vengeance. She appeared so suddenly that Penny almost tripped over her. Her face was spread in a threatening, gold-toothed leer. Her hands were on her plump hips, her feet spaced well apart like a boxer getting set to deliver a knockout blow. One hand flashed from her hip to appear, palm upheld, in front of the large breasts bobbling loose from the extremely low-cut blouse she was wearing. The hand stopped Penny in her tracks.
“Hey, keed, why you think you do here? This, she’s mi calle. No chicks hustle here but Maria. You savvy?”
“No, I don’t know what you’re talking about.” Penny was frightened, but she found the courage to try to step around the girl and continue up the block.
But the girl moved quickly to block her path. “Hablas Espanol?” she asked Penny.
“Un poco. A year in high school —” Penny started to explain.
She was too late. The girl unleashed a fiery tirade of rapid Spanish that was incomprehensible to the bewildered Penny. It was accompanied by threatening gestures and flashing eyes and frequently punctuated by such words as “puta” and “perra.” Finally, the girl scream-chattered to a climax, ran her finger pointedly over her throat and fell silent.
“I’m afraid you’re going a little too fast for me,” Penny admitted. “Maybe we’d better stick to English.”
“Hokey-doke. I tell her in Engleesh. You wanna hustle, you go over to Broadway, or maybe better the casa up the block. Here, she’s my territory. I pay the protection. Nobody gonna play me for no bobo. What you take her for? You think Maria’s got no amigos? She got plenty. They look out for her. You dress up like a beach puta an’ you in business. That what her think? Even you on the hook legit, I no stand for you ’round here dress like that. She’s unfair competition, that’s what she is. You no gonna get away with it. Now you just take her ass outa here in wan beeg hurry, or I gonna chop it off.”
“Now see here!” Penny had had just about all the pushing around she was ready to take for one night. First Studs, then Well’s friend, and now this girl. She just didn’t want to be pushed around any more, and that was all there was to it!
But that wasn’t all there was to it. And Penny quickly decided she was quite ready to be pushed around again when the girl, reacting to her hostile tone, reached quickly between her legs and came up with a pushbutton knife. The blade flashed open and glittered in the darkness. The girl moved towards Penny with the panther-stride of a practiced street-fighter. “You gonna vamoose, now? Or I gonna slice her boobs off?” she asked softly.
Horror-stuck, Penny backed away.
“Vaya! Faster!” The girl lunged towards her suddenly.
Penny turned and bolted.
The girl was hot on her heels. “This, he’s Maria’s territory. You remember that, or I gonna tear out your ovario.” she shouted, chasing Penny down the block toward Central Park. “Yankee, go home!” she screamed as Penny plunged into the bushes and kept running.
Finally, Penny was sure the girl was no longer chasing her. She stopped and leaned against a tree to get her breath. That’s when the true terror of her predicament struck her.
She was lost! She’d been so anxious to get away from the girl that she hadn’t noticed which way she’d come, or which way she was going. She was lost in the night-time jungle which was New York’s Central Park.
In the distance she could hear the sound of music coming from the concert on the mall. But she couldn’t tell from which direction it was coming. Music to be mugged by!