very flat, cold and unmusical.
She didn’t say anything.
“It’s swell to walk in the park on a mornin’ like this, ain’t it?” he went on, gently kicking a root of the tree with his soiled shoe. “There’s no one about. You can just wander around an’ do what you like.”
The other young man suddenly giggled.
Jakie frowned at him. “Gee, Pugsey, can’t you behave? Ain’t nothin’ to laugh about.”
Pugsey giggled again. “She ain’t takin’ any notice of you,” he said. “Don’t look like you’re gettin’ places so fast.”
Jakie turned back to the girl. “You mustn’t mind him,” he said. “You see, he don’t know how to handle dames. I do.”
She still said nothing.
Pugsey said, “Maybe she’s deaf,” hopefully.
Jakie shook his head. “Naw,” he said, “she ain’t deaf; she’s just a little dumb.”
Pugsey gave a sudden squeal of laughter. “Gee!” he said. “I bet you read that somewhere. That’s pretty smart.”
The girl suddenly looked at them. Her eyes were scared, not because she was frightened of them, but because she was scared that they were making fun of her. “Go away, please,” she said, “I don’t want to talk to you.”
Jakie took a step back. “Did you hear that, Pugsey? She don’t want to talk to us.”
“Too bad,” Pugsey said, squatting on his heels and staring at the girl. He kept his distance and was to the rear and to the right of Jakie. “Can you think of any reason why she wouldn’t want to talk to us?”
Jakie shook his head. “Naw,” he said. “Suppose you ask her?”
“You’re a smart guy,” Pugsey said. “Isn’t he a smart guy?” he went on to the girl. “Jakie always gets to the root of anything. You see, he wants to know why. You tell us.”
The girl looked away without speaking.
“She’s in a trance again,” Pugsey said, shifting a little nearer. “I don’t think she likes you, Jakie.”
Jakie sat on the ground and leant back on his elbows. The girl was between the two of them. He selected a long blade of grass and put it between his teeth. “What the hell’s the matter with me?” he asked. “Why shouldn’t she like me?”
Pugsey considered this. “Maybe you smell or something,” he suggested, after some thought.
Jakie picked his nose. “Ask her,” he said.
“What’s wrong with Jakie?” Pugsey asked, looking at the girl. “That’s a fair question, ain’t it?”
She made a move as if she were going to get up, but the two suddenly became very tense, looking at her coldly with their hard little eyes, and she relaxed again against the tree. She looked rather desperately across the park, but she could see no one.
The two followed her gaze. “Too early,” Jakie said. “We’re lucky to find you, I guess. Do you know, Pugsey, she reminds me of that little judy we ran into a couple of weeks ago on Franklin Street.”
“The one we took into that empty house?” Pugsey asked.
“Yeah.”
Pugsey looked at the girl again. “Maybe you’ve got something there. Yeah, I think you’ve got something there.”
“She ain’t so fair, is she? Still, she’s about the same age. Jeeze! Didn’t that one squawk when we—you know.”
Pugsey giggled. “It don’t matter a great deal if this one squawks here, does it? I mean, there ain’t anyone around to come bustin’ in. Maybe she’ll be sensible.”
The girl had gone very white and her eyes opened wide. She put one hand on the ground and struggled up on her knees.
Jakie said, “Looks like she’s goin’ to take a powder.”
Pugsey edged a little nearer. “Naw,” he said, “she’s going to be sensible, ain’t you, baby?”
The girl said: “Leave me alone. I don’t want to talk to you. Go away. Please go away.”
Jakie put his fingers into his vest pocket. “Hear her talk,” he said, his dark little eyes darting over her. “Think I ought to try and persuade her?”
Pugsey nodded. “Yeah, we better hurry. Look, it’s gettin’ late.” He produced a cheap watch and waved it in front of Jakie.
Jakie took a little green bottle with a glass stopper from his pocket. He said to the girl: “It’s acid. Burns, you know; eats into things. Makes holes in your skin.”
The girl crouched back. She tried to speak, but she could only make a terrified whimpering noise.
“If I throw this at you,” Jakie said simply, “it’ll spoil your pretty face. I just want you to be sensible and do what you’re told. If you try and get tough, then you’ll get this in your mug, see? Otherwise, you’ll be all right.”
Pugsey giggled again.
“Maybe we’d better toss for it,” Jakie said, taking a dime out of his pocket.
Pugsey called and won. Jakie got up and dusted down his suit. He put the little bottle in his pocket. Then he looked at the girl with his cold, unfeeling eyes. “I got it here,” he said, patting his pocket, “be good. I ain’t tellin’ you a second time. One dame didn’t believe me. Remember how she squawked, Pugsey? Remember how she ran down the street with the stuff stripping the meat off her face? She was a dope, wasn’t she? Be smart, sister. We ain’t going to be long.”
Pugsey walked over to her and pulled her to her feet. She cringed from him, but she didn’t try to run away.
Jakie sat with his back to a tree, his black hat over his nose, and a cigarette dangling from his thin lips. His little eyes kept watch over the park, missing nothing.
When Pugsey got through, Jakie went over to the girl, and Pugsey kept watch. Pugsey had to stuff his handkerchief in his mouth to stop his giggles when the girl began crying. He was mighty glad that she hadn’t done that when he was with her. Jakie had betted him a dollar that she would be too scared to cry. It amused Pugsey to think he’d won a dollar from Jakie, because Jakie hated giving money away.
They left the girl on the mound and walked back to the boating-pond. Jakie gave Pugsey the dollar rather sourly.
Pugsey didn’t want him to feel bad about it, so he said: “You’re a smart guy, Jakie. I didn’t really think it would work.”
Jakie took the little bottle out of his pocket and fondled it. “I knew it would,” he said, with a thin grimace that served him as a smile. “But it was a good thing she didn’t look too close, the bottle’s empty.” He went to the edge of the pond and carefully dipped the bottle in, filling it with the muddy water. “It wouldn’t do to make the same mistake twice.”
Pugsey said: “Naw, but these dames are pretty dumb. They wouldn’t notice nothin’.”
Together they went out of the park, moving slightly less rhythmetically than they had when they came in.
THE PLACE OF LOVE
1
She lay very still on the bed, vaguely conscious that she ought not to be there; that she ought to be doing something very important, but what it was she couldn’t remember.
She moved her long legs, feeling the smooth linen sliding over her flesh. What had she to do? Something… What was it? She couldn’t remember. It was all too much trouble. Everything was too much trouble.
In the distance the note of a ship’s siren sounded, a soft, gentle wail. Her heart missed a beat, but still she
