She smiled at me and pulled on her gloves. ?I?ll watch myself. If he goes too far I?ll take a note from that Anton Lipsek?s book and call him something in French.?
?You can?t speak French.?
?Neither can Clyde. That?s what makes him so mad. Anton calls him things in French and laughs about it. Clyde gets red in the face but that?s all.?
I didn?t get it and I told her so. ?Clyde isn?t one to take any junk from a guy like Anton. It?s a wonder he doesn?t sic one of his boys on ?im.?
?He doesn?t, though. He takes it and gets mad. Maybe Anton has something on him.?
?I can?t picture that,? I said. ?Still, those things happen.?
She pulled on her coat and looked at herself in the mirror. It wasn?t necessary; you can?t improve on perfection. I knew what it was like to be jealous again and tore my eyes away. When she was satisfied with herself she bent over and kissed me. ?Why don?t you stay here tonight, Mike??
?Now you ask me.?
She laughed, a rich, throaty laugh and kissed me again. ?I?ll shoo you out when I get in. I may be late, but my virtue will still be intact.?
?It had damn well better be.?
?Good night, Mike.?
? ?Night, Velda.?
She smiled again and closed the door behind her. I heard the elevator door open and shut and if I had had Clyde in my hands I would have squeezed him until his insides ran all over the floor. Even my cigarettes tasted lousy. I picked up the phone and called Connie. She wasn?t home. I tried Juno and was ready to hang up when she answered.
I said, ?This is Mike, Juno. It?s late, but I was wondering if you were busy.?
?No, Mike, not at all. Won?t you come up??
?I?d like to.?
?And I?d like you to. Hurry, Mike.?
Hurry? When she talked like that I could fly across town.
There was an odd familiarity about Juno?s place. It bothered me until I realized that it was familiar because I had been thinking about it. I had been there a dozen times before in my mind but none of the eagerness was gone as I pushed the bell. Excitement came even with the thought of her, a tingling thrill that spoke of greater pleasures yet to come.
The door clicked and I pushed it open to walk into the lobby. She met me at the door of Olympus, a smiling, beautiful goddess in a long hostess coat of some iridescent material that changed color with every motion of her body.
?I always come back, don?t I, Juno??
Her eyes melted into the same radiant color as the coat. ?I?ve been waiting for you.?
It was only the radio playing, but it might have been a chorus of angels singing to form a background of splendor. Juno had prepared Olympus for me, arranging it so a mortal might be tempted into leaving Earth. The only lights were those of the long waxy tapers that flickered in a dancing yellow light, throwing wavy shadows on the wall. The table had been drawn up in the living room and set with delicate china, arranged so that we would be seated close enough to want to be closer, too close to talk or eat without feeling things catch in your throat.
We spoke of the little things, forgetting all the unpleasantness of the past few days. We spoke of things and thought of things we didn?t speak of, knowing it was there whenever we were ready. We ate, but the taste of the food was lost to me when I?d look at her in that sweeping gown that laughed and danced in the rising and falling of the lights. The cuffs of her sleeves were huge things that rose halfway to her elbows, leaving only her hands visible. Beautiful large hands that were eloquent in movement.
There was a cocktail instead of coffee, a toast to the night ahead, then she rose, and with her arm in mine, the short wisps of her hair brushing my face, took me into the library.
Cigarettes were there, the bar set was pulled out and ice frosted a crystal bowl. I put my crumpled pack of Luckies alongside the silver cigarette box to remind me that I was still a mortal, took one and lit it from the lighter she held out to me.
?Like it, Mike??
?Wonderful.?
?It was special, you know. I?ve been home every minute since I saw you last, waiting for you to come back.?
She sat next to me on the couch and leaned back, her head resting on the cushion. Her eyes were beginning to invite me now. ?I?ve been busy, goddess. Things have been happening.?
?Things??
?Business.?
One of her fingers touched the bruise on the side of my jaw.
?How?d you get that, Mike??
?Business.?
She started to laugh, then saw the seriousness in my face. ?But how . . .?
?It makes nasty conversation, Juno. Some other time I?ll tell you about it.?
?All right, Mike.? She put her cigarette down on the table and grabbed my hand. ?Dance with me, Mike?? She made my name sound like it was something special.
Her body was warm and supple, the music alive with rhythm, and together we threw a whirling pattern of shadows that swayed and swung with every subtle note. She stood back from me, just far enough so we could look at each other and read things into every expression. I could only stand it so long and I tried to pull her closer, but she laughed a little song and twisted in a graceful pirouette that sent the gown out and up around her legs.
The music stopped then, ending on a low note that was the cue to a slow waltz. Juno floated back into my arms and I shook my head. It had been enough . . . too much. The suggestion she had put into the dance left me shaking from head to foot, a sensation born of something entirely new, something I had never felt. Not the primitive animal reflex I was used to, not the passion that made you want to squeeze or bite or demand what you want and get it even if you had to fight for it. It made me mad because I didn?t know what it was and I didn?t like it, this custom of the gods.
So I shook my head again, harder this time. I grabbed her by the arm and heard her laugh again because she knew what was going on inside me and wanted it that way.
?Quit it, Juno. Damn it, quit fooling around. You make me think I want you and I lose sight of everything else. Cut it out.?
?No.? She drew the word out. Her eyes were half closed. ?It?s me that wants
?Later.?
?Now.?
It might have been now, but the light caught her hair again. Yellow candlelight that changed its color to the gold I hated. I didn?t wait to have it happen to me. I shoved her on the couch and reached for the decanter in the bar set. She lay there languidly, waiting for me to come to her and I fought it and fought it until my mind was my own again and I could laugh a little bit myself. She saw it happen and smiled gently. ?You?re even better than
I thought,? she said. ?You?re a man with the instincts of some
jungle animal. It has to be when
?So do I. It keeps me out of trouble.? When I filled the glass I balanced it in my hand and sat on the arm of the couch facing her. ?Do you know much about me, Juno??
?A little. I?ve been hearing things.? She picked one of her long cigarettes out of the box and lit it. Smoke streamed up lazily from her mouth. ?Why??
?I?ll tell you why I?m like I am. I?m a detective. In spirit only, now, but I used to have a ticket and a gun. They took it away because I was with Chester Wheeler when he used my gun to commit suicide. That was wrong because Chester Wheeler was murdered. A guy named Rainey was murdered too. Two killings and a lot of scared people. The one you know as Clyde is a former punk named Dinky Williams and he?s gotten to be so big nobody can
