Authors: Larry McMurtry
Giorgio fixed her the vodka tonics himself. He stood behind the bar and smiled at her constantly, maybe the time had finally come when he was going to get up his
nerve. Blowing up the balloons had a peculiar effect, it reminded her of Didier, who loved balloons and magic acts and acrobats and ventriloquists. Didier liked to think of himself as a man of the circus, one of his big disappointments was that he could never get the Trop to let him have horses on stage, he also loved equestriennes. In all her years in Las Vegas she had never met a man who knew as much as Didier—he knew about everything, wine and flowers, music and dance, he talked to her of the world in a way no one else ever had. In a lot of ways her first love had been her best, which didn’t fit in with an optimistic view of things. It made her wonder if Pepper was repeating—she had read an article somewhere that said children sometimes repeated their parents’ lives. Now Pepper had a wonderful smart man who was kind like Didier and who knew the world. It was great that Pepper had Mel, so far he seemed like the perfect son-in-law, but even so the thought of things repeating made her sad. She kept thinking about things repeating and thought how sad it would be if Mel died, like Didier, and Pepper had to drop to someone like Dave, not that Dave was so terrible just because he liked K rations, he hadn’t been that terrible but still he wasn’t on the level of Didier. Of course when she knew Didier she had been young, just starting out, her breasts had been perfect and she had the best legs in Las Vegas—probably it was just easier to be happy when you had youth going for you, which Pepper had.
Gary noticed her looking sad, he said “You don’t look much like a birthday girl.”
“It’s my birthday, only I’m not a girl, that’s the problem,” Harmony said.
“Come on, look on the bright side,” Gary said. “It’s one of your most wonderful skills, after all.”
“What is?” Harmony asked, she was still thinking about Didier.
“The ability to see the bright side,” Gary said. “I love that about you, it takes courage, you know.”
I guess, Harmony thought, she didn’t know, she was just hoping Pepper wouldn’t repeat and have her best love first, not unless it could last for a lot of years.
“Does it surprise you that Ross has someone living with him?” she asked Gary.
Gary shrugged. It hadn’t been the question she wanted to ask, anyway.
“Do you think it’s possible he’d want me back, it’s been fourteen years. Don’t lie,” she said, she wanted a frank opinion.
“If he doesn’t he’s a dope,” Gary said.
3.
I
T WAS
between shows that she finally got the explanation of the woman answering the phone. She had been about to go down to the bar and have a drink or two, the last show was coming up, and then Bonventre came out of his office and said she had a phone call. He even let her use the office to take the call, which was a first, usually if a call came she had to call back from one of the pay phones in the casino.
“Hi, Ross, I’m sorry I missed you,” she said, trying to sound friendly, after all it might have been a younger sister and even if it wasn’t it wasn’t all that much of her business.
Since she sounded so friendly Ross instantly poured out his heart, which was quite a surprise. Even when they were living together he had never poured out his heart to such an extent. The woman who answered the phone hadn’t been his sister, of course it was a girl he was living with, her name was Linda, she was only twenty years old and the
tricky part was that she was pregnant, she was going to have a baby in about four months.
“Oh Ross,” Harmony said. “You should have told me about this sooner, I guess I’m going to have to give you a divorce, after all these years.”
“No, that’s not what I want,” Ross said. The real news he had to pour out of his heart was that he still loved her and wanted her to move to Reno so they could maybe get back together.
“But what about Linda, she’s pregnant!” Harmony said, she couldn’t believe Ross was the kind of man who wouldn’t care about a helpless baby.
Ross assured her she didn’t understand. Of course he cared about Linda and the baby, the thing was Linda was a lot younger and had different attitudes, she had friends who had a commune and she was going to take the baby to the commune to raise it. She didn’t want to marry him or anything, she just wanted a baby, she was very motherly. He said she would let him come to the commune anytime and see the child.
He made it sound like Linda and the child wouldn’t be any problem at all, Linda had different attitudes, if Harmony wanted to move to Reno that would be fine with her.
Then Ross sprang another surprise, he thought he might even be able to get her a job.
“In a show?” Harmony said. It was a wonderful thought, it meant the show she was about to do wouldn’t be her last show after all. She got all her hopes back in about a tenth of a second, so fast it made Ross a little nervous. He wasn’t sure about a show, the producers were hard to pin down, but if it didn’t happen to work out with a show she could definitely get a job at the casino where he worked.
“Doing what?” Harmony asked, thinking Ross might have forgotten she couldn’t count.
“You could be a hospitality hostess,” Ross said. Then
he explained that a lot of junkets came to Reno and the casino needed someone with poise who could greet the junketeers when they arrived and give them a little tour of the casino, just sort of be their hostess while they were there.
“As beautiful as you are, you’d be the best hospitality hostess in Reno,” Ross said, he was very excited about the idea.
Harmony wasn’t totally negative, it was just that she would much rather get in a show, which Ross said was quite likely. As soon as the producers saw her they would probably want her on stage.
Then Bonventre came back in and began to look annoyed, he hadn’t meant she could keep his office for the whole break. About all Harmony could do was tell Ross it was definitely a possibility that she’d come. She was touched that he wanted her, although she couldn’t say so with Bonventre standing there frowning.
“Hey, did you get my card?” Ross asked. “Happy birthday.”
He had been saving that for last and it gave her an even bigger boost, although she had forgotten to look in the mailbox when she left, no doubt the card was there, Ross was very loyal when it came to birthdays.
“Jackie, don’t you know a show I could get in, I don’t wanta quit,” she said, when she hung up. She realized how true it was, too—she loved it out there with the feathers and the music. It had been her life since she was seventeen.
Bonventre looked annoyed, he acted like he had important business to do in the office, he knew how to make you feel you were taking up his time.
“Harmony, quit!” he said. “My god, you’ve stood out there with feathers on for thousands of nights. Find something else to do with your evenings.”
“Well, I don’t want to!” Harmony said, but she was wasting her time, even if he knew of fifty shows that needed showgirls he probably wouldn’t tell her.
She still had an hour to kill. Ross had been at a pay phone, as usual, and hadn’t had to put in too much change, despite all the explanations. It was a little bit funny that he stuck to the pay phones even though he had a phone at home, maybe Linda didn’t have such different attitudes after all.
4.
I
N THE
keno bar she was just having a vodka tonic and wishing she could work up to a flirt with Leon, a flirt with practically anybody would have been a welcome change, after all it was her birthday. But Leon was in a depression and was trying to work out of it by polishing glasses, seeing the glasses all perfectly polished was the one thing that cheered him up.
There was always the two-dollar craps table. The thought had at least crossed her mind that Dave could probably be broken of the K rations habit, the fact that he was a little out of practice was nothing to hold against him. But she didn’t get up and wheel over to the craps table, it was just a thought that passed through once in a while.
While she was sitting wondering if Gary was off buying her a cake or what a short man in a cowboy hat walked up to the bar. He had white hair coming out from under the hat, plus a string tie with a turquoise clasp and very elaborate cowboy boots.
“Pardon me, are you Harmony?” he asked, he sort of had a gruff voice. She decided to be polite—maybe he had just seen the show.
“Hi,” she said. The man looked like he was probably from Arizona.
“I’m Dub,” he said. “Dub Dooley. Is it true you got laid off?”
That was unexpected, but then everyone in the casino knew she was fired, it was no big secret. Still, Dub didn’t look that nice, he wore a big diamond ring and she had never liked diamonds on men. Dub just wasn’t very likable, why would he mention that she was fired when she was just sitting there trying to relax?
“Hey, didn’t mean to be rude,” he said. “The thing is, I run a show. I just can’t figure why Jackie Bonventre would let a sexy hunk of woman like you go. I thought maybe you might wanta come and be in my show—here’s my card.”
Dub was wearing a Levi’s suit. He reached in his pocket and took out a little lizardskin case full of credit cards. He seemed to have a few dozen credit cards, but the card he handed her had nothing to do with credit, it read DUB’S TOTAL NUDE, HOUSTON TEXAS.
“I got postcards too,” he said, handing her one. It showed a big honky-tonk with a giant nude woman painted on the wall. The door that let you in was right between the woman’s legs, and there was a big sign out front saying DUB’S TOTAL NUDE.
“Oh, are you from Texas?” Harmony said. She didn’t want the card, it was horrible that the door was right between the woman’s legs.
“Houston,” Dub said. “I can tell you one thing, we don’t put it out to pasture near as quick down in Big H as they do out here in Vegas.”
Harmony decided he was a scuzzball, he looked like one and his manners weren’t that nice.
“I seen the show two nights,” he said, “and you’re the best-built woman on the fuckin’ stage. I don’t care what the calendar says, I’m offering you a job right now.”
“I’m sorry, I don’t do nude,” Harmony said. “It’s nice of you to ask.”
She was just trying to be decent, she had never been one of those women who could just say things like fuck you, though she had heard a lot of that kind of talk over the years. Denny said it even if she just asked him to wash out the lavatory after he shaved, fuck you was practically his favorite expression. But even if Dub was a total scuzzbag she couldn’t just say stick it up your ass or something, after all he was offering her a job.
Dub acted as if he hadn’t even heard her say no thanks, he was still holding up the postcard with the giant nude on it. The nipples seemed to be neon but the rest of the nude was just painted on the wall.
“Well, I know you’re a high-class lady, but we all got to live,” Dub said. She could see he was just a horrible version of Bonventre, even Bonventre wouldn’t have asked her to do total nude.
“How does two thousand a week sound?” Dub said, grinning. He had three gold teeth right in front.
“I don’t do total nude,” Harmony repeated.
“You drive a hard bargain,” Dub said. “I’ll make it two thousand plus expenses. There’s some real nice apartments across from the club, you could have one of those.”
“No thank you,” Harmony said. Dub was sitting a little too close. Of course Leon was right there, but he had his back to them, polishing glasses, so depressed he probably wasn’t even eavesdropping.
“Why not?” Dub asked. He was grinning but it wasn’t a nice grin.
“Because I don’t do total nude,” Harmony said, wondering why he didn’t listen, she had said it three times in plain English.
Dub shrugged. “You oughta try it,” he said. “It ain’t much different from these tits-and-feathers shows, it’s just a G-string of difference and total pays a lot more money.”
“Well, I’ve got a job in Reno, my husband lives there,” she said. She put some money on the bar for Leon and got up to go but Dub said “Wait a minute” and scribbled a phone number on the postcard and insisted that she take it. He said it was his private line, she might change her mind.
“We got a real friendly club and you wouldn’t have to do very long sets,” he said. “It’s just a matter of showing the customers what they really wanta see.”
Harmony didn’t say another word. The thought of walking around in front of customers without her G-string was an awful thought. The more she thought about it the more horrible it felt that someone would ask her to do that. Just because she did topless didn’t mean she’d ever do bottomless, after all topless was beautiful, as Gary had pointed out, but bottomless was just bottomless, there was nothing so beautiful about it. The thought of being out on stage that way was very upsetting, it made her want to cry, but it was nearly show time, she had to control it. She just went into the restroom and tore Dub’s postcard into several pieces, that was one phone number she definitely didn’t need.
5.
T
HE BIRTHDAY
party was a big success, practically everybody from the show came, all the showgirls and most of the dancers, plus Murdo, who was out on bail finally. There were balloons everywhere, and a cake with thirty-nine candles, she blew them all out but two on the first blow, and when they sang Happy Birthday it nearly raised the roof of Debbie’s and Marty’s. Jessie was there on crutches and Myrtle was all dolled up, even Wendell came
over a few minutes on his break, and to her surprise Pepper showed up, she was already friends with several of the dancers. The party was Gary’s triumph. Despite being shaky and in the midst of unrequited love he had done a fabulous job. It was strange though, the only person in the whole place who looked sad was Gary, she kept catching glimpses of him looking at her and he seemed sad, he kept saying, “Darling, are you all right?” He seemed to think she was in danger of going off the deep end from the fact that she was through at the Stardust.
“I’m fine,” she said, and she danced quite a lot. She would have liked a private moment with Gary to tell him about the horrible man who asked her to do total nude, but there was no way to get a private moment, the place was absolutely packed.