Chapter 4
'I don't understand it,' the tall, brown-haired girl with the big breasts said to her companion. 'I mean… you're a graduate, you've got your degree… '
'Yeah, and so what?' Denise replied calmly. 'You seem to forget what my degree's in English Lit. It's totally worthless in the job market today.'
'Oh, I can't believe that… '
'It's true. It isn't worth a goddam thing… anyway, not around here. And this is where I grew up. I don't want to leave.'
'You didn't grow up here,' Nikki said.
'No, not on campus, Dum-dum. I mean Baltimore.'
'Well, there's a lot of big cities just right nearby,' Nikki suggested. 'You could always-'
'Nope,' Denise interrupted. 'Don't like Philadelphia; I never did. Annapolis is full of government stuffed-shirts and obnoxious Navy lifers; all they want a girl around for is to get in her pants. No chance at all for a career there. Boston is filthy and New York City-you've got to be kidding.'
'What about Washington?'
'Oh, come on, Nikki-it's Annapolis times ten… or times twenty, maybe. Hell, you remember all that stuff about Elizabeth Ray, don't you? A female has just one meaning to these horny old crocks, and what the hell? That's what I'm providing, anyway. Only this way it's on my terms, at my price, and I'm far more likely to come out in the end with something to show for it.'
Nikki cocked her head grudgingly; she could see a lot of truth in what Denise said. She stared out over the parking lot, taking in the sea of multicolored cars. The two of them were standing at the back of a concrete walkway beneath the huge stadium, leaning against the steel railings and talking while an endless parade of people passed by them, going to and from refreshment windows, restrooms, or another concession areas.
Occasionally a loud, muted roar burst down on them when something happened inside the stadium… 'Well, you could always teach with an English Lit degree,' Nikki said finally. 'Did you consider that?
'Sure,' Denise answered. 'For about six-point seven seconds. All us good junior-class dum-dums did. But I could never decide between that and spending the rest of my life in the Peace Corps… they're both such swell ways to starve to death, you know!'
Nikki stared at her.
'He-e-ey, come on, Doll, why are we feeling so sorry for me?' Denise asked, putting her arm around the taller girl's shoulders. 'This isn't exactly hellacious, you know? I've always liked sex, I've always liked men-it's just that they never used to like me. Now I turn around and ask them for money to go to bed with me, and all of a sudden-sha-zamm! I'm just popular as hell!'
She giggled and pressed her head against Nikki's. 'It's really kind of funny, to tell you the truth!'
Nikki turned to her. 'And you always come down here to pick up-what do you call them?-tricks? Johns?'
'Dates,' Denise cut in primly. 'Tricks and johns are for prostitutes, and I'm not a prostitute. I'm 'just a nice, well-groomed girl-and a college graduate, mind you-who likes to make love, and I'll do it a little more willingly than most… for a small consideration.'
'How small?' Nikki asked.
'Oh, it varies,' Denise said. 'But I'll tell you one thing-that's why I always come down here on game weekends, because you can find men in a much more generous mood, willing to pay a hell of a lot more for exactly the same thing that they bitch and moan and haggle with you about back in Baltimore.'
'You mean a bunch of horny alumni drunks looking for some young snatch to stick it in before they go back home to wifey.'
Denise smiled. 'Well, all right, if you want to put it scientifically.'
Nikki smiled back. She liked Derose. They liked each other, they always had, since their old days back in the upper-class dorm together. Back in the old junior-class dum-dum days, she thought, when Nikki herself had been pursued by at least half a dozen boys while plain, quiet Denise spent a lot of time in the library and hardly ever went out. Back in the days before Nikki thought she'd gotten pregnant and dropped out of school, while Denise went on to graduate with the class of 1980.
And now here she was-the plain-Jane girl from the English Lit department who never really seemed to hit it off with boys, going out with men and charging them for sex and apparently well adjusted to the whole thing and even liking every minute of it. Nikki looked into the smiling black eyes and she knew she didn't really care. It didn't really seem so horrible the way Denise described it actually, and she didn't seem to have changed very much in the past three years. So what the hell?
Nikki couldn't be angry or disappointed with her.
'So what the hell are you going to do now, you silly floozie? You're going to pick up some guy and screw him down in the visitors' locker room or something?'
Denise's ready smile again slipped over her slightly prominent front teeth. 'Hey, that's something I ought to keep in mind for another time,' she said. 'But I didn't think it'll work out too well right now; it's too close to halftime.'
She turned about and leaned back casually against the railing, seeming to glance blankly at the stream of passersby. She turned her head and studied the crowd standing in line at the refreshment window down the way, then said in a low voice without ever changing her expression:
'I can see about half a dozen likely prospects down here without even moving an inch.'
Nikki turned and followed her gaze toward the refreshment line, searching through the milling lines of fans. 'Yeah…? Like who?'
'We-e-ell, take that guy there with a pork-pie hat, for one. See him'? God, he's an ugly monster, but I'll guarantee you, he's got money. And he thinks he's a big deal too-a guy like that'll probably give you twice your price when you ask him for money, just to show you how much it doesn't mean to him!'
Nikki gazed at her friend in amazement.
'Okay, the goofy-looking clown in the muffler and the-whoops, scratch him; I didn't see that he had a kid with him… Although that can be done at times, too… '
'Oh, yeah? Corrupting the morals of minors while you're at it, huh? Well, hell, as long as you're out here-'
'No-o-o,' Denise said evenly, a tiny smirk showing only in her eyes. 'But sometimes men with kids can be persuaded to return them to somebody else and then rush off to some emergency or other.'
'Ah-h, I see,' Nikki said, shaking her head. 'An emergency in your little crotchless see-throughs, no doubt… '
Denise lost her concentration completely and burst out laughing once more. 'Damn you, Newman, you've got the crudest mind I've ever met! And here you are, giving me hell for being a social degenerate and everything!'
Nikki laughed richly with her, then asked a question. 'Well, look, how do you meet these jackasses? Stumble up and spill your drink on them or something?'
'Well, that's a little extreme,' Denise told her, 'but it has the right general flavor, I guess. Look, you want to see how it works?-I'm going to go take a shot at Mr. Supercampus there who's been out of school eight or ten years. See him? With the brown deerskin coat and the red plaid-'
'Yeah, yeah, I see him,' Nikki said, her voice suddenly low and breathless, like the two of them were planning to break into somebody's home while they were out for the evening, or something. 'But what're you gonna do?'
'I'm going to try to pick him up and get back my expenses for this trip down here,' Denise replied simply, glancing at her image in a small compact mirror.
'But where are you gonna go?'
'Back to the room,' Denise said, and pulled an alligator key case out of her slim purse. 'Here are the car keys. We'll either go in his car or I'll make him get a cab. If you want to, go ahead and follow us. Wait about ten minutes, then see if you can get in. I'll try to leave the door unlocked.'
'But, Denise-'
