Read Online HCC 115 - Borderline by Lawrence Block - Free Book Online

’em entertainment you
     can’t find on Broadway. They can find whores for five bucks and get good ones, but
     this is a package deal and that’s what brings them around. The show is full now. I
     don’t see where you’d fit.”
    For a moment no one said anything. Lily waited for something to happen. Now, strangely,
     it seemed important for her to get the job. She wanted it badly.
    “Ringo,” Cassie said, “I got an idea.”
    “I’m listening.”
    “Lily an’ I could do an act. A gay act.”
    “We’ve had that and it’s nothing new.”
    “You’ve had it with Mex chicks. Think about it with us. A redhead and a blonde on
     the stage. Picture it, Ringo. It’s twice as hot for a tourist to see a redhead and
     a blonde up there, both Americans. Twice as hot.”
    Ringo looked thoughtful. “It might go.”
    “It’ll go, Ringo. You know it’ll go.”
    Ringo chewed the cigar. “You start tomorrow,” he told Lily. “You get here ten in the
     evening, do your number with Cassie here, then put out for whoever wants a piece of
     you. You get ten for the special and two bucks every time you turn a trick. Okay?”
    She looked at Cassie, who was nodding her head. “Okay,” she said. “I’ll see you.”
    Outside she said, “I don’t know, Cassie. This is a lesbo number he’s talking about.
     Right?”
    “Right.”
    “Well, I don’t know.”
    The redhead looked at her. “You never made it with a chick?”
    “No.”
    “It’s a groove,” Cassie said. “It’s better that way. Something different.”
    “Are you a dyke?”
    “I work both ways, Lily. You shocked?”
    “I don’t shock easy.”
    “I didn’t think so. Listen, I work four or five hours a night doing it with men, balling
     with ’em. It’s like a drag after a while. You need a change of pace now and then.
     You know Didi, she was at the bar there?”
    “I remember her.”
    “I was making it with Didi for a while. Then she decided to straighten out. She flipped
     over Paul and she’s shacking with him now, spending all her time at his pad.”
    “And I’m supposed to take her place? Is that the general idea, Cassie?”
    Cassie shrugged, “You can try it on and find out if it fits or not. That’s all.”
    Lily thought about it. Hell, she decided, everybody had an angle. Cassie was tickled
     magenta to put her up for a good-pay job, but Cassie wanted a payoff for her part
     in the game. She smiled to herself, thinking how neatly the redhead had set it up.
     Even if she didn’t want to go along with it, even if she stayed away from Cassie except
     for working hours, she still would make love to the girl once a night. On stage.
    And who knew—it could even be fun. Balling was balling, and it shouldn’t make a hell
     of a difference whether you were balling with a man or a woman. The equipment was
     different, maybe, but that was about it. If it was a kick to make it with Cassie,
     she’d enjoy herself. If it was a drag, she would tolerate it.
    “I suppose I could try,” she said.
    “Solid.”
    “But aren’t you working tonight?”
    “I’m taking a night off.” They were walking along a poorly lighted street, walking
     in the middle of the street because there was no sidewalk. Cassie let her arm go around
     Lily. Lily didn’t flinch.
    “A night off,” Cassie said. “For the rehearsal.”
    “The rehearsal?”
    “That’s the bit. We have to make it for an audience tomorrow night. So we spend tonight
     getting our lines straight. You never balled a chick before, Lily. Lots of things
     I’ve got to teach you, like.”
    “Yeah, I dig.”
    “I do too.”
    “The first lesson then.”
    “Oh, maybe the second and the third ones too. I’m offering a special tonight.”
    “A special price or a special lesson?”
    “Both,” Cassie smiled.
    “All right.”
    “I knew you were the night school type.”
    “You got a pad?”
    “A few blocks. We’re on our way right now.”
    “What kind of a pad?”
    “A room in a dumpy