"Come on, you guys. Stick it back in your pants and let's get the hell out of this clip joint." He grumbled and watched the two men raise organs on the edge of the spread. He looked at his watch and shook his head. "Not quite twenty minutes. Can you imagine that? Not even twenty minutes and this fuckin' broad makes a hundred and fifty bucks for just laying there and making us do all the work. That's Atlantic City for ya. Next year I'm gonna insist they hold it in Hoboken like we said. Christ."
He pulled three fifty dollar bills from his money clip and slammed them on the bare dresser top.
"There ya are, chippy. A hundred and fifty smackeroos and you got three good screws to boot. What a racket!" he pulled open the door. "Come on, let's get the hell out of here. Why waste any more time on her?"
Carolyn didn't move. She didn't open her eyes or move away from the thick white puddles of semen that ran down her sides and made wet spots on the dark red spread. It had happened again. Nothing. Nothing. Three normal men had paid to have sex with her and she should have been excited and she should have cum and she should have… should have… she should have gone home to Tamarack on the early bus like she planned to do. It wasn't any use. It was her. There was something wrong with her.
She raised up and sat on the edge of the bed and her eyes fell upon the open magazine lying on the floor a few feet beyond where one of the men had thrown it. It was still open to the advertisement for the big new Cadillac convertible… and the picture of the big harlequin Dane. Carolyn stared at the picture for several minutes. A single tear welled in her eye, slipped over the brim and made a wet train down over her tender tit with its teeth marks and blood burns.
"Where'd you say you lived, Miss?" the man behind the long counter asked curiously. "The old Martindale place?"
"Yes, I believe that was the name the real estate man said would be on the escrow papers, Martindale or something like that." She smiled up at him.
"Hmmmm," he shook his head dubiously. "Kind of a lonely old place for a pretty young lady like you, seems to me."
Carolyn smiled tolerantly. Tamarack was a friendly town, and a curious one as well, but then most small towns were. It was all part of being friendly.
"Will that be cash or check, Miss?" he asked when no further information was forthcoming.
"Cash." Carolyn answered quietly, counting out the bills. "Four, five, six hundred dollars and… what did you say was the tax? Three dollars? Six hundred and three dollars. There you are. You can just mail the pedigrees to me when they're ready."
She picked up the two heavy choke chain collars and walked over to the viewing runs.
"Oh, we'll have them delivered to you, Miss. Just as soon as the Missus gets back from Charlestown with the big station wagon." The kennel man said anxiously. "They're pretty big animals, even if they are pups. Must weigh all of eighty, maybe even a hundred pounds each! You just don't know how big them Great Danes get, little lady. You couldn't handle them all by yourself."
Carolyn smiled.
"I forgot to tell you, Mr. Norris," she smiled up at him. "I'm a professional dog trainer. I have a great deal of… of experience… with Great Danes."
"You?" the kennel man said incredulously, "A pretty little thing like you train Great Danes???"
Carolyn nodded.
"But… but you're so small and delicate like," he stammered, finding it hard to believe, "Aren't you afraid of them?"
"Mr. Norris," Carolyn smiled a little sadly, "I'd be afraid to try and get along without them."
She walked back to the runs, slipped the gate hasp and swung it wide open. As the first playful pup jostled his way through the opening, Carolyn slid the heavy choke chain about his neck and pulled him down firmly on his haunches. He looked up at her with surprise. She walked up close before him, pressed his massive head against her legs and scratched him behind the ears.
"Good boy. Sit! Sit!" She smiled down at the inquisitive big eyes and pressed his head hard against her legs again. He sniffed, and let his head remain against her tight capri pants. "Good boy. I think I'll call you Monarch."
Holding Monarch's chain securely in one hand, she moved to the other run and released the gate catch. A moment later, another huge beast rested against her leg and lowered his head between her legs to have his ears scratched.
"Samson," she said slowly. "You are built like a Samson, strong and handsome and virile. I shall call you Samson."
She scratched his ears for a moment longer, then Monarch's, then pulled them both up sharply by the chains and led them to the front door. She paused to wave goodbye to Mr. Norris and both dogs settled on their haunches at her sides, pressing their massive heads against her capri-clad legs.
"I never seen nothing like it!" Mr. Norris drawled softly. "Why, them two big brutes is already a'following you about like they was a couple of courting swains. Jest never seen nothing like it! Isn't that real nice, now, that they're so devoted to a pretty little thing like you. And so soon too."
"Yes… isn't it?"
Carolyn smiled, a little sadly, and led her charges through the door and out into the crisp fresh sunlight of a Tamarack spring morning.
Yes, she thought as she walked down the long shady lane, yes, isn't it nice that they're so devoted? And so soon, too.