“You could be on one of those calendars,” Dett said, defensively, looking through the windshield. “You know, like they have in gas stations. I’ve seen plenty of those.”
“You know, a man once asked me to.”
“Be on a calendar?”
“He sure did. Right in the diner. He was a professional photographer. With a business card and everything. He said I’d be perfect for… well, he said ‘glamour shots,’ but I figured out what he really meant.”
“So you didn’t do it?”
“Of course not!”
“Those girls… in the calendars, I mean… they have their clothes on.”
“I didn’t think he was talking about those kind of pictures, Walker.”
“I don’t, either,” Dett said. “I just didn’t want you to think…”
“What?”
“That I was saying… you know.”
“You are the strangest man, Walker Dett. That never even occurred to me. I knew all along what you meant. And it was very sweet.”
Dett exhaled, without realizing he had been holding his breath. “Is up there where we turn off?” he asked.
1959 October 06 Tuesday 19:29
“You sure we can do this on the phone?” Dioguardi said.
“And why not?” Shalare replied. “All I have to tell you is that I spoke with our friend, and he agreed that these petty business disputes are getting in the way of the bigger objective.”
“So he’s going to play ball?”
“I believe that he is. But, first, we have to make a little good-faith offering.”
“What we talked about before?”
“That. And all of that, mind you. The best way to prove you don’t want what another man has is to step away from it.”
“I get it.”
“A big step,” Shalare said. “Right out of his field of vision.”
“I said, I get it,” Dioguardi said, cold-voiced.
“How long to make it happen?”
“No later than tomorrow. There’s people out now, working. I have to wait until they come back to give them the word.”
“That would be lovely, indeed,” Shalare said.
1959 October 06 Tuesday 19:34
“Silk’s not going to be around tonight?” Rufus said to Darryl.
“I could say ‘no,’ brother, but that would be a guess. The man does come around, you know. And the nighttime’s his time.”
“Who gets along with him best?”
“Gets along? None of the men want anything to do with-”
“This is a job, Darryl. Understand?”
“If it’s a job, I’ll do it myself. I’ll take him over to the-”
“Can’t be you, brother.”
“Why not? All you need is for him to be someplace else, right? So, if he shows, I’ll just slide in and-”
“I need you there tonight,” Rufus said. “There’s someone I need you to talk with. I’m going to get him, right now.”
“This the man you don’t want Silk to see?”
“Don’t want him to even know about. Now, who we got to babysit a pimp?”
1959 October 06 Tuesday 19:41
“Where would you like to park?” Dett asked, as he steered the Ford over the pebbled surface toward the giant screen.
“Not too near the refreshment stand,” she said.
“Okay,” Dett said, creeping along in first gear, “is over there too far to the side for you?”
“No, it looks perfect.”
Dett slid into the last spot in a left-side row, rolled down his window halfway, and attached the speaker. As he twirled the knob to make sure it was working, a dull orange Oldsmobile sedan went by, heading down front.
“Would you like anything to eat?”
“Well… I guess I could go for a hamburger. And a Coke.”
“French fries?”
“You know, I serve so many of those-people eat them with everything-I can’t bear to look one in the face. Besides, they’re supposed to be the most fattening food of all.”
“What difference would that make?”
“That they’re fattening? You can’t be serious,” she said, putting her hands on her hips. “You might not believe it, but I exercise every day. Just sit-ups, and touching my toes, and jumping jacks, like we learned in gym, but I do. And I watch what I eat-which is not the easiest thing. If I wanted, I could just swipe something from every plate Booker puts out. If I didn’t watch myself, I’d turn into a whale. I wish I could lose ten pounds, just like that,” she said, snapping her fingers.
“You don’t have to-” Dett quickly interrupted himself, seeing the look on Tussy’s face. “I exercise, too,” he said, quickly.
“It’s not the same for you,” Tussy said. “You’ll never get fat,” Tussy said.
“How can you know?”
“Because you can tell from a person’s body type. You’ve got a naturally lean build. You could probably eat anything you wanted, and you wouldn’t gain weight. But me, I’m naturally… plump. If I didn’t put up a fight, I’d-”
“Okay.”
“Okay? Okay, what?”
“Okay, I can’t win. If I say you look perfect, you’re going to say I’m an idiot. Or, worse, lying. But I’m not going to agree with you, either, so I’ll just shut up.”
“Oh, go get the food!” Tussy said, flashing a smile.
1959 October 06 Tuesday 19:54
“I’ve known you a long time,” Ruth said. “But I never understood you. Not until now.”
“If you didn’t understand me,” Sherman said, “why did you-?”
“-come out here? Make the promise I did?”
“Yeah. When you said you… would, I… I never expected that.”
“I couldn’t bear not to see you again, Sherman.”
“And that’s what you thought, that you wouldn’t?”
“I… guess I didn’t know.”
“Why do you think I came out there?” the big man said, abruptly. “To your place?”
“So you could… you know.”
“No, I don’t know,” Sherman said, thick-voiced. “Tell me.”
“Have one of the girls,” Ruth said, looking down at her lap.
“I’m sorry.”
“Sorry? What are you sorry about? You didn’t do-”
“I thought… Ruth, we made that… arrangement years ago. When I visit your place, how long does it take me to… do it?”
“I don’t know. I don’t-”
“Five minutes? Ten?”
“I guess.”
“And how long do I stay, afterwards?”
“You mean, when we talk? Sometimes it’s for…” Ruth’s voice trailed off, as the truth of what Sherman was telling her penetrated.
“Hours, isn’t it?”
“Yes,” Ruth said. She felt her eyes start to glisten, kept her head down.
“All those… preparations, you know what they were for?”
“Because of what you… the way you wanted to…”
“So, when you said you’d do anything for me, that was what you were thinking of?”
“No,” she said, lifting a tearstained face. “I mean, it was. I would do that, but that isn’t what I meant. It wasn’t all I meant.”
“I’m lonely,” Sherman Layne said, heavily. “I’m always lonely. You’re the only one who makes a difference, Ruth. You’re the one I talk to. The other… thing, all that stuff, it was just an excuse. I don’t even… do what you think.”
Ruth stood up, turned to face Sherman, and studied him for a long moment. Then she turned sideways and nestled herself into the big man’s lap.
“Tell me now,” she said, gently.
“I told you… what I wanted to do, so you could tell them. But that wasn’t what I did. I just did it the… regular way.”
“But why did you let me think it was…?”
“Because, if that’s what the girls were expecting, and it didn’t happen, I knew they’d never say anything. For fifty bucks, they’d make it sound like it was the hardest thing they ever did, so the other girls wouldn’t want to do it, see? The rest, it was all so they would never see my face. Or hear my voice. Or even feel my… I always use a rubber, and I take it along with me when I’m done. Like I’m a phantom.”