Free Nothing To Lose (A fat girl novel) by Consuelo Saah Baehr

mother, but Luis could see her expression had changed.
    “They’ll send you to school. Come on, don’t be foolish. You know numbers. Numbers are numbers in Spanish or English. Don’t be foolish. $4.75 an hour. It’s better than hanging around this shithole all day.”
    Two mornings later his mother was up early, ate breakfast and set her hair in small rollers. “I hab the appointment,” she said when she emerged looking remarkably businesslike.
    At noon, she returned, a secret smile on her face. “I’m going to do the keypunch, she announced decisively, as if she expected an argument. Then, turning to Luis, she added firmly, “Jew go back to the school, okay?”
    “Maybe,” he said grudgingly.
    “No maybe,” she answered. “Jew go back tomorrow.”

Chapter Eight

    The summer before he left for Princeton, Luis got a job with Lande Brothers Construction on Third Avenue near Fifty-first Street. Mr. Lande was a man he had met through Mrs. Schwartz. “Come see me about a summer job,” he had told Luis and, true to his word, had been available and accommodating.
    “I haven’t had any experience,” said Luis when they met.
    “Experience doesn’t mean a goddam thing,” replied Mr. Lande. He waited for a startled response. “It all depends on what’s up here,” he pointed to his right temple, “and what’s in here,” he tapped his chest. “You’ll do fine. Better than fine.”
    They placed him with the sales subsidiary. Aubernon and Cagney, responsible for setting up sales offices and model exhibits, hiring photographers and approving ads for the real estate sections of the newspapers. Two or three times, Luis went to the model homes located in the suburbs of New York and New Jersey. The families that came to inspect the homes seemed cheerful but overburdened with young, fidgety children who begged to be held. Luis didn’t want any children. He wanted to be free to take full advantage of whatever life held in store.
    It was right after he had decided that he wanted no encumbrances that he walked into Jim Aubernon’s office and found a girl there spreading photographs out on the desk. She was blond, athletic looking, with chunky hips. Blond fuzz covered her tanned arms up to her shoulders, which were bare, and around her ears and lower jaw. She was wearing a tank top, a soft bra that showed her nipples, peach colored cotton slacks and sandals. Her hair looked bushy, as if she had stayed out in the sun too long and it needed conditioning. There was something sure and businesslike about her, in contrast to her looks and the way of dressing. While they both waited for Jim Aubernon to get off the phone, she stared at Luis as if daring him to look at her. She didn’t care if he liked to be stared at or not. Then she smiled. He looked determinedly out the window and didn’t return her smile. Then he thought it over and changed his mind but she wasn’t smiling anymore. He tried to catch her eye but Mr. Aubernon was off the phone and she was hoisting a black portfolio onto his desk.
    Luis left reluctantly and asked the secretary about the woman.
    “Her name’s Barbara Traynor. She’s a photographer’s rep. She tries to get work for the guys in her stable by going around showing their photographs.
    “The guys in her stable?”
    “It’s just an expression. Don’t get offended.”
    He wasn’t offended. In fact, the expression made him feel kind of sexy. Thinking about Barbara Traynor with her bushy hair and her chunky bottom and her nipples pushing through her tank top made him feel like being one of the guys in her stable. He hung around the office hoping to catch her eye before she left.
    The next time she came he was in Jim Aubernon’s office but this time, since no one asked him to leave, he stayed to watch her make her spiel. She turned the sample photographs slowly, doing a first-rate selling job as she went.
    Mr. Aubernon said, “This is great stuff, Barb. We’ll let you know by four