Enchanting Evening
It was Saturday night. The Cozy was packed with dancing, drinking and chattering people. Stormé and the band were performing the latest songs by Lady Day and Chet Baker.
This is how it is supposed to be, Hawk thought while he eyed the four people at his table. To his left was Lucy. She was talking to Mary, who was reclining in the arms of his Skippy. The two girls were wearing sweet silk gowns with camelia corsages.
Skippy was dressed in one of his cheap suits from Macy’s, but there was a happy glow on his cheeks. He cleverly avoided meeting Hawk’s gaze, but audaciously saw fit to play footsie with him under the table. This usually was enough to get Hawk so frisky that a short visit to the facilities was inevitable, but not tonight.
Next to Tim was Miss Addison, who had squeezed her massive body into a hot-pink party dress. It allowed for a more than generous display of her enormous cleavage. I could park my car between them cauliflowers and still find me some space to throw a cookout, Hawk thought.
A tall, blond man walked past their table, sat down at the next one, lit a cigarette and beckoned a waiter. ‘Well, I’ll be a pig in a henhouse if it ain’t you!’ Hawk heard Frankie cry at the stranger. ‘A Manhattan? Why, of course, and it’s on the house, we’re glad to have you back!’
Frankie then walked over to ask Hawk if he or his friends needed anything. ‘A bucket to be very sick into, hon,’ Hawk said. ‘And a cyanide capsule to go with it. You’re looking sweet tonight.’
Frankie was wearing a red sequined dress and a curly wig adorned with rhinestone stars, but even if he had shown up wrapped in an old curtain, he’d still have looked way better than Miss Addison.
This girl now squeaked and flew up from her chair, nearly knocking Frankie over. Soon she was seen in the arms of the stranger on the dancefloor. Her permed head only went to his chest, and she had put her feet on his to prevent him from stepping on her toes. The man’s shoe size must be sixteen or more, and his loafers were so large that they could easily have harbored a mid-size car. He looked vaguely familiar, like the young man who had once hung around Senate offices more often than he should. But it could not be him. Never.
Hawk now felt Lucy’s lips planting a sweet kiss on his cheek. ‘I’m sorry, darling, would you move a bit so that I can get past you?’ she whispered. ‘I’ve got to powder my nose.’
‘And I’m going to see if I can clog up the john with toilet paper rolls,’ Mary said to Skippy. ‘I always do that when I’m here. See you later, sweetums.’ She followed Lucy past the bar and into the ladies’ room.
Hawk and his lover were all alone now. ‘You enjoyin’ yourself, Skippy?’ he asked.
Skippy lit a cigarette and nodded. ‘And you? The girls will be spending the longest time in the bathroom, I’m sure.’
‘No sweat. Two women using one stall is not nearly as much frowned upon as two men doing the same. Let them have fun.’