David Goodis - The Blonde on the Street Corner

Before he went into the bathroom he turned to see if anyone was in the front room. When Lenore and Clarence were out on Saturday nights he could sneak in there and pour some of Lenore’s perfume on his handkerchief and dab some underneath his collar. He liked the smell of that perfume. He wouldn’t be able to use it tonight, though, because Lenore and Clarence had come in and they were in the front room now. They were having a fight. Dippy walked into the bathroom to wash his hands. He had been down in the cellar, fixing the heater, and his hands were black. While he washed his hands he left the door open so he could listen to the fight.

Clarence said, “You bitch, you.”

Lenore said, “Don’t you call me a bitch, you fat son of a bitch.”

“I’ll break your head, God damn you. I’ll break every bone in your body.”

“You lay a hand on me and I’ll have you arrested. I’ll have you put in jail for the rest of your life, you son of a bitch.”

“You fat bitch, you.”

“Don’t you call me a fat bitch.”

“I’ll call you what I wanna call you. Don’t tell me what to call you. I know what to call you.”

“Why you dirty no good son of a bitch.”

“Put down that lamp. You’ll break it.”

Dippy dried his hands and went out of the bathroom and walked downstairs. He looked at the clock. It was eight o’clock. He had to meet his friends on the corner at eight-thirty. He put on his hat and coat and then he stood at the front door and took out his pouch of nickel tobacco and slowly rolled himself a cigarette. He lit up and stood there smoking. He leaned comfortably against the door, smoking and listening to the carryings on from upstairs.

“Put down that lamp.”

“Make me.”

“Put down that lamp so help me God I’m telling you—”

Dippy took a deep drag at his cigarette. Then he sensed an empty feeling in his stomach and remembered that he had not eaten anything since one o’clock in the afternoon, when he had gotten up and had taken a cup of coffee and a piece of bread. He was always forgetting to eat. If his mother had been around today she would have seen to it that he ate supper. But she was out visiting. She was always visiting neighbors.

He went into the kitchen and opened the icebox. He saw a bottle of milk, half-filled. He uncapped the bottle, put it to his lips and took a few deep gulps. He put the cap back on. What else now? There was hardly anything in the icebox. On a piece of wax paper there were a few slices of cheese. He snapped them into his mouth. He reached deep into the icebox and snatched at a pear that was lost back there. He took two bites and the pear was finished. There was nothing more for him to eat. He closed the icebox and again he was at the sink. He drank a glass of water. Water would fill up the emptiness. He drank another half-glass. Then he walked through the house and when he was at the front door he stopped to roll himself another cigarette. He stood there smoking and listening to the yelling from upstairs.

“You bitch, are you gonna put down that lamp?”

“Make me, you son of a bitch. Make me.”

“I’ll make. I’ll murder you.”

“Go ahead and murder me. You’ll hang for it. You’ll hang by the neck until you are dead.”

Dippy took a deep drag at the cigarette and went out and closed the door. He walked down five steps to the pavement. He stood there and looked up at the sky. It was cold, bright blue, with a lot of stars and a full moon. Dippy walked in the direction of the corner candy store.

On the corner they were standing around, eating Indian Nuts and throwing the shells at one another. When Dippy walked up they aimed a barrage of shells at him. He ducked and walked through the barrage and said, “What is this?”

George grinned. “What’s the good word for today?”

“Romance,” Dippy said.

They all laughed, Dippy the loudest.

Ken went into the candy store to buy a pack of cigarettes. George looked at the pavement. Ralph looked at the sky. Dippy put a penny in the Indian Nut machine and forgot to pull the handle. He stood there waiting for the Indian Nuts to come out. They didn’t come out. Dippy frowned at the machine and said, “Come on — come on.”

“What’s the matter?” George said.

“This machine — I’m getting jerked around.” Dippy aimed a punch at the machine. George came over and pulled the handle. Dippy poured nuts into George’s hand. He offered some to Ralph.

“Nix,” Ralph said. He put his hands in his pockets and slouched against the brick wall.

Ken came out of the store and said, “Let’s get going.” He gave cigarettes to Ralph and George. Dippy was rolling another cigarette. The four of them walked along the street.

Ralph said, “Where we going?”

“Big party,” Dippy said.

“I’m not going,” Ralph said.

George looked at him. “Why not?”

“I just don’t feel like.”

“Eats and all,” Dippy said.

“What’ll you do otherwise?” Ken said.

“I’ll take a walk,” Ralph muttered. “I’ll go over the poolroom.”

“Got any dough?” Ken said.

“I got two cents in my pocket,” Ralph muttered.

George said, “What you gonna do over the poolroom with two cents?”

“I’ll just sit around. Maybe I can make a loan and hustle a game with someone.”

“Yeah, that’s a good idea,” Ken said. “The last time you were loaned a buck you made a side bet on a game and you had two. And you doubled and worked it up to four. Finally you had ten bucks. So you went out of your head and got into a game with some guy who was just waiting to take the tenner off you. You shouldn’t play pool, Ralph. You’re snakebitten when it comes to pool.”

“Only pool?” Ralph said. His voice was very low.

George said, “What?”

“Nothing,” Ralph said. He turned to Dippy and said, “You went and got a date for me, didn’t you?”

“Sure,” Dippy said. “Dates and eats and all.”

“I’m sorry, Dippy. I don’t like to let you down, but I—”

“That’s all right,” Dippy said. “I’ll just tell the girl that you fell down a flight of stairs and broke your neck.” George and Ken laughed. Ralph didn’t laugh. He felt low. He didn’t know exactly why, but he felt very low. He didn’t want to go to any party tonight. He didn’t want to go anywhere. He didn’t want to do anything. He just felt low.

The four of them walked along the street. For almost a full block they were silent. Then Ken laughed and said, “I almost forgot to tell you men. My old man got fifty bucks for that trolley accident.”

“No kidding,” George said.

“Yeah, they settled today. My old man’s walking around like a millionaire. Tonight he slipped me a buck.”

“Give it to me,” Dippy said.

“I’ll give you poison,” Ken said. He took change from his pocket and looked at the glinting silver and said, “I haven’t had this much dough in my fist for maybe a good six months.”

“A single dollar,” George said. “A big deal.”

They came to the subway entrance. Ralph stayed back. Ken turned and grabbed his arm. “Come on, you jerk.”

“What else you gonna do?” George said.

“There’s eats and all,” Dippy said.

“I just don’t feel like doing anything,” Ralph muttered.

“What is this?” Dippy said.

“Come on,” Ken said, tugging at Ralph’s arm. The four of them went into the subway and Ken paid all the fares. He was the money man tonight and he became angry when George wanted to pay his own way. George kept arguing with him. Ralph and Dippy couldn’t argue. They didn’t have any money.

Standing on the platform, waiting for the subway train, George said, “Why didn’t you let me pay my own way? I got twenty cents on me.”