Anikka
Babelfish
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Jan-1-2007 15:44
Sorry, it was in my head and wouldn't go away. Read it, don't read it, comment, don't comment...it's all good.
I don't have issues....I have subscriptions!
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Anikka
Babelfish
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Jan-1-2007 15:44
The Club seemed like a good place to escape the summer heat; fans rotated
slowly, their wide blades circulating the ice-cooled air. Maxine was
singing that night, swaying slowly while she crooned into the mike. It
was the most movement we'd see out of her until it was time for her to
walk backstage. Any more than that, and she'd work up such a sweat that
it would make her unbearable to look at.
Yes, it was a sultry night. And then, in walked a dame that made the
night seem hotter, draped in thin silk that was blood red. The half-veil
attached to her hat was just enough to cover her eyes, just enough to
tease a man into thinking her attention was on him.
Her attention was on me.
She glided over to me, and Benny slid a gin in front of her without a
word exchanged. I don't think he knew her, she just looked like someone
who wanted a gin. She tilted her head at me in greeting, leaned in close,
and said, "You know Joe Farrington?"
I knew Joe Farrington. I knew him well, knew him as well as you know
someone you've known your entire life. I didn't have to answer, I could
see that she knew I knew him. And she probably knew that I knew that she
Knew I knew him.
Yeah, I knew Joe. Knew him like a brother. I told her that, but she just
nodded. She had already known. What she really wanted to know, she said,
was how I happened to know him like a brother. So I told her.
"He's my brother."
I never saw a dame's eyes flicker quite like that. She hadn't known; she
knew Joe, and she knew I knew Joe, so how could she not know that?
Furthermore, I could see that she didn't want me to know that she hadn't
known. But after a moment, I could tell that she knew that I knew that
she didn't know, but I didn't know if she knew that I wouldn't allude to
it. We nodded to each other and she picked up her glass and tossed that
gin back like a pro.
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Anikka
Babelfish
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Jan-1-2007 15:45
"Thanks," she purred. "That was what I wanted to know."
Three men fainted when she passed them on her way out the door. I watched
her go, wondering why she had wanted to know.
I guessed I would never know.
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