Gypsy - Lesley Pearse [74]
‘That surely must have put you off men?’
The older girl chuckled. ‘Sure, for a while, but then I met another charmer. Only before I let him get anywhere near me, I got some advice from one of the girls at Rosie’s.’
Beth’s eyes widened with shock because she’d overheard some men in Heaney’s talking about Rosie’s, and it was a brothel.
‘Don’t look like that,’ Amy reproved her. ‘Not many of us have got a talent like your fiddle-playing to keep us. For some of us it’s the only way we can keep a roof over our head. I soon wised up to that and went to work at Rosie’s.’
Beth could hardly believe what Amy had just admitted. She had never asked her friend what she did for a living; she just assumed she worked in a store for her clothes were smart.
‘Don’t tell me you didn’t know?’ Amy threw back her head and laughed at Beth’s shocked expression. ‘I thought someone must’ve told you by now!’
‘I don’t really talk to anyone but you,’ Beth said feebly. ‘I would never have guessed. I mean, you’re so nice.’
‘Whores can be as nice as anyone else,’ Amy said with a touch of acid in her voice. ‘We don’t advertise what we do by walking around half naked with our faces painted either.’
‘I didn’t mean it like that,’ Beth said quickly. ‘I meant I thought you worked in a store or a restaurant.’
Amy rolled her eyes skywards. ‘Honey, I thought working at Heaney’s would’ve opened your eyes! Few of us girls set out to be whores, but when you’re hungry and you ain’t got no place to call home, it ain’t so bad to take a few dollars for givin’ a man a bit of lovin’. Why would I be a maid, or work in a store for five or six dollars a week when I can make that much with one trick?’
Beth was floored. It did of course make sense of why Amy seemed to know so much about men, and indeed why she was often home during the day. She was trying to find something to say that wouldn’t sound patronizing or disapproving when Sam arrived home, and Amy immediately got to her feet and said she had to go.
Not wishing to let Amy think she was too prim and proper to deal with such a revelation, Beth went to the door with her. ‘I’m sorry,’ she said. ‘You just took me aback.’
Amy put her hand on Beth’s shoulder. ‘I guess you’re still a greenhorn. You see, I thought you knew and I was so glad that you liked me despite it, but I guess that’s the end of us being pals?’
‘Not at all,’ Beth said, and meant it. ‘I like you even more for being honest with me. I just feel a bit foolish that I hadn’t guessed before. But you’ve given me an awful lot to think about.’
‘Quit thinking and have a lot more fun,’ Amy said with a wide grin. ‘Your brother’s got the right idea.’
She was gone before Beth could ask her exactly what she meant by that.
Some little time later Beth was making tea and a sandwich for Sam before he left for work when she heard a strange swishing noise coming from their room. She hadn’t questioned where he’d been all night, because he’d been washing and shaving, and anyway her mind had been on the things Amy had told her.
But as their room door was partly open she put her head round it to see what the noise was. To her surprise he was sitting at the little table by the window, playing with a deck of cards. As she watched, he shuffled them, then did what looked like elaborate tricks with them, swishing them into a row upon the table, each one partially overlapping the next.
‘What’s that?’ she asked.
‘Just practising,’ he said without turning his head, and flicking the row of cards so that they all turned over together.
‘Is it a trick?’
‘No. Just stuff a dealer does. I’m not fast or slick enough yet. But I’m nearly there.’
‘Why would you want to do that?’ she said, coming right into the room.
He put the cards down and looked up at her. ‘Because I want to be a dealer. I want to learn everything about gambling, poker, roulette, faro and all the rest.’
Beth felt her little world had just turned upside down. First she found her only girlfriend was a whore,