“Yeah, I know people say that, but—”
“I seen it, Win,” Eddie said. “I mean, I seen that nugget with my own eyes.”
“If they’re findin’ all that gold, how come they ain’t up here all the time?” Win asked.
“What do you mean?”
“I just mean that most of the time they’re gone,” Win said. “Don’t that strike you as peculiar?”
“I don’t know. I guess I just never thought about it,” Eddie said.
“So, you want to stay up here and keep looking, or what?” Win asked.
Eddie looked over at the pile of rubble that represented the rocks they had broken up in the last week.
“We sure ain’t been broke out with luck, have we?” Eddie asked.
“So far we’ve ’bout broke our backs and we ain’t come up with so much as one ounce,” Win said, continuing to make his case. “We’re runnin’ low on food. Fact is, we ain’t got nothin’ left now but some jerky and a little coffee. And what are we going to do come winter if we ain’t found nothin’? You may recall, Mr. Dorchester kept us on all last winter, even though there wasn’t that much work to do. We had three hots and a cot. This tent’s okay for the summer. But it won’t do much for keepin’ us warm in the winter.”
“Yeah,” Eddie finally said. “Yeah, you’re right. As far as I’m concerned, we’re just wastin’ our time here. I say we go back and see if we can get our old jobs back.”
“Good. I was hopin’ you would come around to my way of thinkin’. Hey, how much money have we got left?”
“Fourteen dollars,” Eddie answered. “Why?”
“Fourteen dollars is enough,” he said. “What do you say that, before we go back and start punchin’ cows again, we go down here to the Golden Cage and have us a little fun?”
“Doin’ what?”
“Doin’ what?” Win laughed. “I tell you what, don’t worry about it. I’m willin’ to bet you’ll figure out what to do when we get there.”
The Golden Cage had been put up in only six days, and it was clearly the most impressive establishment in South Pass City. That was the case even though a couple other wooden structures were now being erected. The Golden Cage was two stories high, with a second-story balcony that ran all the way across the front of the building. Below the balcony, at street level, was a fine wooden porch with a swing and a couple of rocking chairs.
For the first week after it was built, business was so good that Dupree thought he was going to have to bring in some more girls. But for the last couple of weeks business had been getting slower and slower.
At first Dupree wasn’t sure why business was so bad. Then, as he began questioning the girls, he learned that the men were frustrated because they weren’t finding any gold.
“None of them are?” Dupree asked.
“None that I’ve had anything to do with,” Libby answered.
The other two girls gave the same response. So far, not one of them had heard a success story.
“Maybe they’re just keeping quiet about it,” Dupree suggested.
“No, it isn’t that,” Libby replied. “Listen, the one thing men like to do more than anything else when they are with a woman is brag. If any of them had found gold, we would have heard about it.”
Dupree smiled. “You mean when a man is with one of you girls, he would rather brag than do
It was a teasing comment, and the three girls laughed at its implication.
“All right,” Libby said. “Bragging is the second thing he wants to do.”
“Lookie here,” Lulu said, looking through the front window. “We’ve got a couple of customers.”
“In the middle of the day?” Dupree said. “That’s odd.”
“Get on out there and meet them, Jay,” Libby said, pushing him. “We can’t afford to lose them. As it stands now, we aren’t doing enough business to keep the doors open.”
“All right, all right, I’m going,” Dupree said, stepping out onto the front porch. He smiled at the two men as they approached. He was smoking a cigar, and as he greeted them, he tapped off the ash at the end.
“Good afternoon, gentlemen. My name is Jay Dupree, and on behalf of myself and the young ladies of the Golden Cage, I welcome you.”
“My name’s Win Woodruff, this here is Eddie Taylor.”
“This is our first time here,” Eddie said.
“I see. And you are gold miners, are you?” Dupree asked.
“Ha,” Eddie said. “I reckon you could say that, but we ain’t been doin’ a whole lot of what you would call gold minin’ so far.”
“Fact is, we ain’t done no gold minin’ at all,” Win added. “Mostly what we been doin’ is huntin’.”
“But no findin’,” Eddie said.
“Well, then it sounds to me like you two gentlemen need some relaxation,” Dupree suggested. “Come on in and get acquainted with the girls. Maybe it will bring you a change of luck.”
Inside, a dozen or so chairs and sofas were scattered about, along with several potted plants, mirrors on the walls, and a staircase rising to the second floor. Three girls were sitting in the parlor, but there were no customers anywhere to be seen.
Two of the girls got up and walked over to greet them.
“My name is Lulu,” the one who stepped up to Eddie said.
“And I’m Sue. What are your names?”
“I’m Eddie, he’s Win,” Eddie said. He looked around. “Where at’s all the men?”
“Oh, honey, don’t tell me you like men better than you do women,” Lulu asked, and she and Sue laughed.
“What?” Eddie replied in an almost explosive reaction. “Hell no! What do you mean, do I like men better than women? Why would you ask me such a thing?”
Win laughed. “Don’t get in such a huff. They was just teasin’ you, that’s all.” Then, to the girls, he explained Eddie’s question. “What he means is, how come you ain’t got no customers?”
“Because they’re all working their claims,” Lulu replied. “We normally don’t get anyone in the middle of the day. That means you fellas have us all to yourself.”
“Well now,” Win said with a big satisfied smile. “Ain’t we the lucky ones?”
“Listen, you got a place to take a bath in this here whorehouse?” Eddie asked, rubbing the stubble on his chin. “It’s been a while since I’ve had me a proper bath.”
“Oooeee, tell me about it,” Lulu said, pinching her nose and laughing. “Come on, I’ll give you a bath.”
“You’ll give me a bath?” Eddie replied. “Well, I don’t know about that.”
“What do you mean you don’t know about that?” Win asked. “Are you crazy?”
“Well, come on, Win, I ain’t had nobody give me a bath since my mama done it when I was real young.”
“I said you would figure out what to do when you got here,” Win said, shaking his head. “I can see now that I was wrong.”
“You mean he’s a virgin?” Lulu asked Win.
Win nodded. “He’s a virgin, all right, and about as green as they come.”
“Well, then, I’ll just have to teach him, won’t I?” Lulu said in a husky voice. “And we’ll start with the bath. Honey, I’ll just bet you that your mama never gave you a bath like the one I’m going to give you.”
“Why? What’s different about it? A bath is a bath, ain’t it?”
“Jesus, Eddie, you are one dumb turd, do you know that?” Win asked in exasperation.
“Shh, don’t scold him. You have to be patient with virgins,” Lulu said, chuckling. Then, to Eddie, she said, “Here’s something your mama never did. I’ll be naked while I’m giving you this bath.”
“Oh,” Eddie replied. Then, finally understanding the implications of what she’d just said, he smiled broadly. “Oh!”
“Honey, you could use a bath too, you know,” Sue said to Win.
“That’s fine with me,” Win replied. “As long as I don’t have to share a tub with Eddie.”
The girls laughed as they led the two men away.
