“The name Letter Drop, you see, was a joke. Let ’er drop... see? Get out of them drawers, boy. Earl, he was a boss man, the others minded him ’cause he could be wild and mean, see. One night a new soldier boy came for the first time. They called him AC-DC, he didn’t want to go upstairs with any of us. They got on him, Earl mostly, yelling and teasing him. They was a kind of bet with him and Earl. They made him go up with me, ’cause they said I was the prettiest and laughed the most and if he couldn’t make it with me, he’d better start looking for somethin’ scusin’ gash.”
Shielding her mouth, Emma Green drank again and ran her tongue around her lips. “But the soldier boy couldn’t do it. He got undressed and I could tell he was scared. It was all shriveled up, hiding from me. I was mad at first, I was so pretty, and I was clean, so what was he afraid of? What’d he come upstairs for anyway? I started touching him, rubbing him nice, but nothing could make that little thing of his stand up and look around. He was a nice built boy, too, strong and brown, kind of. He started crying when I told him we better go downstairs. I was still working see, and needed some more tricks, but he begged me not to. He was kind of nice. Said it wasn’t because I was colored or anything. I felt good about him saying that, so I asked if there was anything he wanted me to do. Something he was ashamed to tell me... but he said no and went on crying, saying he couldn’t do it with girls. They was calling him AC-DC, Ace for short, because they thought he could go two ways, but he couldn’t go no way with me... I told him to shush crying. We’d dunce Earl. I told him to start laughing and pretending like we was carrying on. So that’s what we did. Drank some wine and I started shrieking and making goosey noises and giggles. I’m calling him sweet names and moaning like he was driving me wild. We was standing close to the door so they’d hear us downstairs. I yelled — ‘slow down, boy, you’re passing my heart.’ And I called out real loud, ‘My, my, you so big, you could lean over and give your own self a blow job, honey.’ ”
Emma Green sighed and drank some gin. “Didn’t mean no harm, mister, just thought to help the kid. He was payin’ good money. When we went down to the bar, well, lordy, they treated that hombre like a hero, pounding him on the back and buying him beers. Everybody was happy but Earl, ’cause he didn’t like us fussing over AC-DC and having to pay off the bet.”
The church bells sounded again. The small room was quiet. Small white paper napkins were spread on the arms and headrests of chairs. The tables and windowsills were clean and shiny with furniture polish; a lemon fragrance mingled with the tart, wild berry smell of the watered gin.
“All this busin’ gonna lead to heartbreak, you watch.” Emma Green’s eyes were sad. She drank again, but didn’t bother covering her mouth. She put the glass down and let her hands rest palms up in her lap, a weary gesture that reminded him of Lori Gideen.
“I thought nothing bad could happen to me because I was pretty. Men would just about die to get me in bed. They couldn’t get enough of me. My waist was so tiny, they could put their hands all the way around it. I got pictures I could show you, mister, but it don’t matter no more.”
Sighing, she picked up her glass. “I’ll tell you about Earl, and that fucker from over in Pennsylvania, a cop, Slocum, his name was. But I ain’t writing it down or signing it, see. One of the other girls heard me and that little ole AC-DC cadet talking about foolin’ Earl. Girl called Rocio, she was part Mex. Heard us goin’ on about pretending to screw up a storm. She told Earl. Don’t know why. She’s dead now, poor baby, got a cold and died of it. So one night a couple days later, I was walking home and it was dark. I lived with my daddy and he helped out with Libby. Earl stopped me in a car, almost ran me down. He had some of the other soldier boys with him. They pulled me into the car and Earl told me he knew about what me and the queer had done. I tried to pretend it was a joke, but Earl was in a crazy mood, said nobody could make a fool of him. Driving through the dark with them soldier boys holding me, I thought all right, gal, you gotta take your whippin’. You asked for it, you gonna get it. They drove me to an old place with a basement. Couldn’t see too clear ’cause the only light was little bitty candles in bottles. They had that boy down there, three of them holding him down on a mattress. He was buck naked, all little goose pimples, and crying. The soldier boys was teasing him. They hollered when Earl brought me in. He made me take my clothes off and get on top of the boy. I could feel how scared he was. Then they rolled him on top of me and pulled my legs open. I don’t know how long it went on, they shouting he’d better fuck me if he knew what was good for him.
“They pulled him off me. Earl made him watch while be fucked me. I was bleeding. It wasn’t my time, but I started anyway. They rubbed it on that boy, on his stomach and chest, and made me watch while they messed around with him, played with him and teased him till his cock got stiff. He was crying and begging them to let him loose but they kept messing with him. He laid there real quiet after a bit, whimpering like a puppy. They all laughed like crazy folks then and jerked him off. After he came, they messed his jizz with my body blood and smeared it on his face, said maybe that would make a man out of him. They let him up then but they made him sign a long paper saying he couldn’t fuck girls, that he was a queer and all. Everybody signed it, and Earl promised that he’d get everybody a copy...” Selby remembered that a priest at St. Ambrose had once expounded the proposition to him that “the existence of hell was irrefutable proof of the compassionate nature of mankind’s Heavenly Father.” Earl Thomson could have been his disciple.
“There’s not any more to tell,” Emma said, “except what that fucker Earl did then. He tied me up and he beat me like he was afraid to stop. He kept telling me how bad I was. That sounds crazy, I know, mister, but it’s true.
“I remember bein’ in a car, and then a field. It was cold. Half my clothes was off and my hands was still tied. A white man and woman found me, took me to a hospital. I don’t remember that part of it. Some doctor hadda pull my teeth out.
“The cops came and went to the school. But all them soldier boys was asleep in their bunks, nobody been anywhere that night. There was a little fuss. My daddy and the people who found me, the white folks, they thought something ought to be done. That’s when Slocum came over to the house and talked to me. He had a little wop fucker with him... I think Dom something. They showed me how beautiful black was, mister. They said I better be careful. My boss at The Letter Drop, he told me to listen to ’em. That Slocum, he says Earl was just funnin’ with me, nothing to cause trouble about. I wouldn’t sign a paper they wanted me to. I told that bastard Slocum and that dago prick to fuck off. So I lost my job. Boss said nobody’d want to look at me no more. My daddy, he was a welder, his boss got the word to him. Slocum said if I didn’t drop the charges, it would happen again, and my daddy would be watching. So then I signed what they wanted. Nobody cared I was pretty, I got pictures proving it, but that didn’t matter. Nobody cared about this little nigger. You don’t care, mister. What you doing here there, you big honky fucker, staring at me—?”
“Momma, stop. Please stop.”
Emma Green had been shouting. She took a deep breath and smiled shakily at Selby. “She is sweet, my Libby. No real daddy, but they set a store by her at school. This ain’t helping you, mister. That Earl’s crazy. He wanted to mess up daddy’s boss and the man owned The Letter Drop, never mind they lied and helped him. Tried to get that wop fucker to hurt them. You better go, hear?”