Free Live Girls by Ray Garton

thrilled Doris had been when she got pregnant, how inquisitive Janice was as a little girl.

    Before he slept, Benedek cried....

     
     

4
    ____________________________

     
    I T WAS A COLD NIGHT AND THE AIR WAS BRITTLE.

    Sondra lit a cigarette, cupping a hand over the lighter's flame to protect it from the wind. Its warmth felt good on her palm. She leaned against the wall on the corner of Eighth and Forty-third just outside Donut Heaven. Tall and striking in black fishnet stockings, black leather mini, and a gray fur jacket, Sondra turned heads with no effort. Men smiled at her and she smiled back with a toss of her blond hair. She nodded at men who slowed down as they drove by the corner.

    A short man with a big nose eyed her and slowed his pace as he walked by. In a moment, he turned around and came back, leaning against the wall just a few feet from her.

    “Cold night, ain't it?” he asked.

    “Yeah, well...” Sondra shrugged. “You just gotta find yourself a way to keep warm, know what I mean?” She smiled and drew on her cigarette.

    “Yeah.” He wore a long, pea green coat, his hands deep in the pockets. The wind blew his stringy hair off his creased forehead. He shifted his weight from one foot to the other rapidly, never meeting her eyes. “Yeah, so, how much'll it cost me to keep warm, huh?"

    Sondra smiled. “Depends on what you want warmed up. And for how long."

    “Yeah? Well ... how about a blow job?"

    “Twenty-five."

    “Shuh...” He paused, stepped away from the wall and fidgeted. “Showers?"

    Sondra immediately turned away from him. “Nope. Wrong corner."

    The man pushed his hands deeper into his pockets and hurried away as if he'd been slapped.

    “Got ‘em,” Hildy said, coming out of Donut Heaven. “Cruller, right?” She was a petite Asian girl with a streak of magenta running through her long black hair on the left side.

    “Yeah."

    “They only had the vanilla frosted kind.” She handed over a cruller wrapped in a napkin.

    Sondra tossed her cigarette away and bit into the donut. For nearly an hour, she'd had a craving for something sweet, one of those cravings that buzzed like an abscessed tooth. As she chewed the donut she regretted getting it; the taste reminded her of the last time she saw her daughter.

    “Any sign of Chase?” Hildy asked, reaching into the bag again.

    “Uh-uh."

    Holding a chocolate-covered custard bar in her hand, Hildy wadded up the bag and threw it down on the sidewalk.

    “So what's his fuckin’ problem?” she asked, annoyed. “He was supposed to be here forty-five minutes ago."

    “ If he got the blow,” Sondra reminded her. “Maybe he didn't."

    “Yeah.” Hildy took a bite of the custard bar and purred.

    Sondra looked down at the cruller, remembering the smile on Maggie's face when she'd bitten into her donut two months before. Sondra had visited her in Connecticut; they'd spent the afternoon together.

    “My daughter loves these,” Sondra said quietly, smiling.

    “I didn't know you had a daughter,” Hildy muttered.

    “Yeah. Maggie. She's six."

    “God, this is good. So what's your daughter like?"

    Sondra took another bite of the cruller, dabbed her lips with the napkin. “Curly blond hair, big blue eyes. And smart? She was talking long before I ever did. ‘Course, I wasn't around when she started; I was working for that prick Cedric. Till somebody comes along and does the whole fuckin’ world a favor by sticking a knife in that asshole's neck.” Her voice became bitter. “He was found in a trash bin behind some Italian joint on Broadway."

    “Yeah. Heard about it."

    “Best thing to happen since the invention of penicillin.” She turned the half-eaten cruller around in her hand. “She's staying with my sister in Connecticut. Maggie, I mean. I hate my sister and she hates me. But she's really good with kids, so I figured that'd be best for Maggie.” She started to bite into the donut again, but didn't. “I try