American Tabloid - James Ellroy [183]
9:27–9:39: BJ & PL.
PL (conversation in progress): You stand out in this crowd, Barb.
BJ: My beauty or my height?
PL: Both.
BJ: You’re so full of shit.
FU3: Hi, Peter.
PL: Hi, doll.
FU6: Peter, I just love the President’s hair.
PL: Give it a tug. He won’t bite you.
FU3, FU6: laughter.
BJ: Are they showgirls or hookers?
PL: The bleached blonde’s a barmaid at the Sip n’ Surf in Malibu. The others work the show line at the Dunes. You see the brunette with the lungs?
BJ: I see her.
PL: She plays skin flute in Frank Sinatra’s all-girl band.
BJ: Very funny.
PL: Not funny, because Bobby made Jack drop Frank. Frank put in a heliport at his place in Palm Springs so Jack could visit him, but that judgmental little shit Bobby made Jack give him the brush-off, just because he knows a few gangsters. Look at him. Isn’t he a wicked looking little shit?
BJ: He has buck teeth.
PL: That never touch women.
BJ: Are you saying he’s a fag?
PL: I have it on good authority that he only fucks his wife, doesn’t go down, and only gives it to Ethel for purposes of procreation. Isn’t he a wicked looking little shit?
FU2: Peter! I just met the President out on the beach!
PL: That’s nice. Did you suck his cock?
FU2: You’re a pig.
PL: Oink! Oink!
BJ: I think I need a drink.
PL: I think you need a lobotomy. Really, Barb. I just wanted you to sleep with Prank once.
BJ: He’s not my type.
PL: He could have helped you. He would have kicked that wicked little shit Joey out of your life.
BJ: Joey and I have a history. I’ll cut him loose when the time’s right.
PL: You cut me loose too soon. Frank was deeply smitten with you, doll. He sensed that you were hiding things, and I have it on good authority that he hired a private eye to find out what those things were.
BJ: Did he tell you what he found out?
PL: Mum’s the word, doll. Mum’s the goddamn—
FU1: Oh God, Peter, I just met President Kennedy!
PL: That’s nice. Did you suck his cock?
BJ, FU1, FU7: garbled.
PL: Oink! Oink! Oink! I’m a Presidential piglet!
9:40–10:22: garbled. Static quality indicates that Secret Service men installed and were calling out on private phone lines.
10:23–10:35: garbled. BJ (standing near hi-fi set) talking to: FU1, 3, 7. (She should have been told to avoid noisy appliances & record players.)
10:36–10:41: BJ in bathroom (indicated by sink & toilet sounds).
10:42–10:49: garbled.
10:50–11:04: BJ & RFK.
BJ (conversation in progress): It’s just a craze, and you have to catch these things before they crest, and then bail out before they fizzle so you won’t look like a loser.
RFK: Then I guess you could say the Twist is like politics.
BJ: You could. Opportunism’s certainly the common denominator.
RFK: It sounds trite, but you don’t talk like an ex-showgirl.
BJ: Have you met a lot of them?
RFK: Quite a few, yes.
BJ: When you were investigating gangsters?
RFK: No, when my brother introduced me to them.
BJ: Did they have a common denominator?
RFK: Yes. Availability.
BJ: I’d have to agree with that.
RFK: Are you going out with Lenny Sands?
BJ: We’re not dating. He just brought me to the party.
RFK: How did he bill the gathering?
BJ: He didn’t say, ‘come join the harem,’ if that’s what you mean.
RFK: Then you noticed the high woman to man ratio.
BJ: You know I did, Mr. Kennedy.
RFK: Call me Bob.
BJ: All right, Bob.
RFK: I’m just assuming that since you know Peter and Lenny, you know how certain things are.
BJ: I think I follow you.
RFK: I know you do. I’m only mentioning it because I’ve known Lenny for a long time, and he seems sad and nervous tonight, and I’ve never seen him that way before. I’d hate to think that Peter put him up to—
BJ: I don’t like Peter. I had a fling with him several years ago, and I broke it off when I saw that he was really no better than a toady and a pimp. I came to this party because Lenny needed a date and I thought it would be nice to spend a