I got back to my room just after midnight. As I unlocked my door, the door opposite opened and Rima looked at me.
‘Hello,’ she said. ‘You see: I’ve moved in.’
‘I warned you it wasn’t much,’ I said, opening my door and turning on the light, ‘but at least it’s cheap.’
‘Did you really mean that about my singing?’
I went into my room, leaving the door wide open and I sat on the bed.
‘I meant it. You could make money with that voice.’
‘There are thousands of singers out here starving to death.’ She crossed the passage and leaned against my door post. ‘I hadn’t thought of competing. I think it would be easier to make money as a movie extra.’
I hadn’t been able to work up any enthusiasm about anything since I had come out of the Army, but I was enthusiastic about her voice.
I had already talked to Rusty about her. I had suggested she should sing in the joint, but he wouldn’t hear of it. He had agreed she could sing, but he was emphatic that he wasn’t having any woman singing in his bar. He said it was certain to lead to trouble sooner or later. He had enough trouble now running the bar without looking for more.
‘There’s a guy I know,’ I said to Rima, ‘who might do something for you. I’ll talk to him tomorrow.
He runs a night club on 10th Street. It’s not much, but it could be a start.’
‘Well, thanks…’
Her voice sounded so flat I looked sharply at her.
‘Don’t you want to sing professionally?’
‘I’d do anything to make some money.’
‘Well, I’ll talk to him.’
I kicked off my shoes, giving her the hint to go back to her room, but she still stood there watching me with her big cobalt blue eyes.
‘I’m going to hit the sack,’ I said. ‘See you tomorrow sometime. I’ll talk to this guy.’
‘Thanks.’ She still stood there. ‘Thanks a lot.’ Then after a pause, she said, ‘I hate to ask you. Could you lend me five dollars? I’m flat broke.’
I took off my coat and tossed it on a chair.
‘So am I,’ I said. ‘I’ve been flat broke for the past six months. Don’t worry your head about it. You’ll get used to it.’
‘I haven’t had anything to eat all day.’
I began to undo my tie.
‘Sorry. I’m broke too. I haven’t anything to spare. Go to bed. You’ll forget to be hungry when you are asleep.’
She suddenly arched her chest at me. Her face was completely expressionless as she said, ‘I must have some money. I’ll spend the night with you if you will lend me five bucks. I’ll pay you back.’
I hung up my coat in the closet. With my back turned to her I said, ‘Beat it. I told you: I don’t have attachments. Get out of here, will you?’
I heard my bedroom door shut and I grimaced. Then I turned the key. After I had washed in the tin bowl on the dressing-table and changed the plaster on my face I got into bed.
I wondered about her, and this was the first time for months that I had even thought about a woman. I wondered why she hadn’t got going as a singer before now. With a voice like hers, her looks and her apparent willingness, it was hard to imagine why she hadn’t become a success.
I thought about her voice. Maybe this guy I knew who ran the Blue Rose night club and whose name was Willy Floyd might be interested.
There was a time when Willy had been interested in me. He had wanted me to play the piano in a three piece combination, working from eight to three o’clock in the morning. I couldn’t bring myself to work with the other guys, and that was why I had thrown in with Rusty. Willy had offered me twice as much money as Rusty paid me, but the thought of having to play with the other guys choked me off.
Every now and then I got a violent itch to make more money, but the effort to get it discouraged me. I would have liked to have moved out of this room which was pretty lousy. I would have liked to have bought a second-hand car so I could go off on my own when I felt like it.
I wondered now, as I lay in the darkness, if I couldn’t pick up some easy money by acting as this girl’s agent. With a voice like hers, properly handled, she might eventually make big money. She might even make a fortune if she could break into the disc racket. A steady ten per cent of whatever she made might give me the extra things I wanted to have.
I heard the sudden sound of sneezing coming from her room. I remembered how soaked she had been the other night when she had come into Rusty’s bar. It would be her luck and mine too if she had caught cold and couldn’t sing.
She was still sneezing when I fell asleep.
The next morning, a little after eleven o’clock, when I came out of my room, she was right there in her doorway, waiting for me.
‘Hello,’ I said. ‘I heard you sneezing last night. Have you caught cold?’
‘No.’
In the hard light of the sun coming through the passage window, she looked terrible. Her dark ringed eyes were watery, her nose was red and her face was white and pinched looking.
‘I’m going to talk to Willy Floyd right now,’ I said. ‘Maybe you’d better rest up. You look like something the cat’s dragged in. Willy won’t be interested if he sees you like this.’
‘I’m all right.’ She passed a limp hand across her face. ‘Could you spare me half a dollar for some coffee?’
‘For the love of Mike! Cut it out, will you? I told you: I have nothing to spare.’
Her face began to sag. It wasn’t a pretty sight.
‘But I’ve had nothing to eat for two days! I don’t know what I’m going to do! Can’t you spare me something… anything…?’
‘I’m broke like you!’ I yelled at her, losing my temper. ‘I’m trying to get you a job! I can’t do more than that, can I?’
‘I’m starving!’ She leaned weakly against the wall and began to wring her hands. ‘Please lend me something…’
‘For Pete’s sake! All right! I’ll lend you half a buck, but you’ve got to pay me back!’
It had suddenly occurred to me that if she was to make any kind of impression on Willy, if she was to get a job with him, and if I were going to pick up ten per cent cut, I’d have to see she didn’t starve.
I went back into my room, unlocked my dressing-table drawer and found half a dollar. In this drawer I kept my week’s wages I had just received from Rusty; thirty dollars. I kept my back turned so she couldn’t see what was in the drawer, and I was careful to close and lock the drawer before giving her the half dollar.
She took it and I saw her hand was shaking.
‘Thanks. I’ll pay it back. Honest I will.’
‘You’d better pay it back,’ I said. ‘I’ve just enough to live on, and I don’t reckon to finance anyone and that includes you.’
I moved out of the room, shut the door and locked it and put the key in my pocket.
‘I’ll be right in my room if you want me,’ she said. ‘I’ll just go down to the cafe across the way for a cup of coffee, then I’ll be back.’
‘Try to brighten yourself up, will you? If Willy wants to see you tonight, he’s got to see you looking a lot better than you are now. Sure you can sing?’
She nodded.
‘I can sing all right.’
‘Be seeing you,’ I said and went down the stairs and out into the sunshine.
I found Willy in his office with a pile of twenty dollar bills in front of him. He was counting them: every now and then he would lick a dirty finger to get a better purchase.
