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her jeans, then fumbled in the breast pocket of the shirt closer to her body. She brought out a key and
slapped it into my hand.
“That do you?”
It did me very well. “It’s a dupe, right?”
“Just like you told me. I had it made at the hardware store on McLaren Street. Why you want a key
to that glorified shithouse? For two hundred, you could rent it for four months.”
“I’ve got my reasons. Tell me about the neighbors across the street. The ones that could watch you
and the mailman doing it on the living room floor.”
She shifted uneasily and pulled her shirts a little closer across her equally substantial bosom. “I was
just jokin about that.”
“I know.” I didn’t, and I didn’t care. “I just want to know if the neighbors can really see into your
living room.”
“Course they can, and I could see into theirs, if they didn’t have curtains. Which I woulda bought
for our place, could I afford em. When it comes to privacy, we all might as well be livin outside. I
s’pose I coulda put up burlap, scavenged it from right over there”—she pointed to the trash bins lined
up against the east side of the warehouse—“but it looks so slutty.”
“The neighbors with the view live at what? Twenty-seven-oh-four?”
“Twenty-seven-oh-six. It used to be Slider Burnett n his fambly, but they moved out just after
Halloween. He was a substitute rodeo clown, do you believe it? Who knew there was such a job? Now
it’s some fella named Hazzard and his two kids and I think his mother. Rosette won’t play with the
kids, says they’re dirty. Which is a newsflash comin from that little pigpen. Ole grammy tries to talk
and it comes out all mush. Side of her face won’t move. Dunno what help she can be to him, draggin
around like she does. If I get like that, just shoot me. Eeee, doggies!” She shook her head. “Tell you
one thing, they won’t be there long. No one stays on ’Cedes Street. Got a cigarette? I had to give em
up. When you can’t afford a quarter for fags, that’s when you know for sure you’re on your goddam
uppers.”
“I don’t smoke.”
She shrugged. “What the hell. I can afford my own now, can’t I? I’m goddam rich. You ain’t
married, are you?”
“No.”
“Got a girlfriend, though. I can smell perfume on this side of the car. The nice stuff.”
That made me smile. “Yes, I’ve got a girlfriend.”
“Good for you. Does she know you’re sneakin around the south side of Fort Worth after dark, doin
funny business?”
I said nothing, but sometimes that’s answer enough.
“Nev’ mind. That’s between you n her. I’m warm now, so I’ll go on back. If it’s still rainy n cold
like this tomorrow, I don’t know what we’re goan do about Harry in the back of my ma’s truck.” She
looked at me, smiling. “When I was a kid I used to think I was gonna grow up to be Kim Novak.
Now Rosette, she thinks she’s goan replace Darlene on the Mouseketeers. Hidey-fuckin-ho.”
She started to open the door and I said, “Wait.”
I raked the crap out of my pockets—Life Savers, Kleenex, a book of matches Sadie had tucked in
there, notes for a freshman English test I meant to give before the Christmas break—and then gave
her the ranch coat. “Take this.”
“I ain’t takin your goddam coat!” She looked shocked.
“I’ve got another one at home.” I didn’t, but I could buy one, and that was more than she could do.
“What’m I gonna tell Harry? That I found it under a goddam cabbage leaf ?”
I grinned. “Tell him you rolled the mailman a fuck and bought it with the proceeds. What’s he