Free The Dark Descends by Diana Ramsay Page A

out to be more than it was, but once he invited me upstairs for the performance, and Jesus, it was enough to give anybody St. Vitus's dance. Joey said he tried a few times asking her politely to turn the volume down, but it wasn't any use. She'd be quiet for a couple of days and then step up the pace again. Joey thought she must have had it in for him for some reason, but he swore up and down he hadn't done anything to get her mad. Same story with you?"
    "Just about. Except that I called the police once."
    "Well, who wouldn't? Joey did, too, after he saw there was no reasoning with her. She must be a mental case. Joey had an idea she might have started on him because he was a man who wasn't giving her attention, but I kind of thought he was flattering himself, imagining anybody would take him for a man. I thought she just might have a thing about queers, the way lots of women do. But her starting on you— I guess it's a waste of time trying to figure out what motivates these meshugas. Can I bum a cigarette, by any chance?"
    "Of course."
    "Thanks." Anita inhaled audibly, let the smoke out slowly and grudgingly. "I mooch these days because I've given it up. I only indulge when I'm listening to people's troubles. I figure anybody who bends my ear can fork out."
    Joyce laughed.
    Anita didn't even smile. Her swarthy face, wrinkled like a monkey's, looked morose. "I feel for you, Joyce, baby, I really do. You've got troubles, all right. I don't see what you can do except move."
    "That seems a bit drastic, and I'm not really in a position to do it right now. I've been hoping she'll let up after a while. When she sees the campaign isn't having the effect she's aiming for, whatever that may be."
    "I wouldn't count on it. Joey had the barrage for almost a year. I can vouch for that because my lease started the same time his did, and I was in on the whole thing. He used to sleep with earmuffs on. Claimed they were better than rubber plugs. But of course with the hot weather right around the corner—" Anita shrugged. "Like I said, there's nothing you can do except move. Find yourself a wealthy protector the way Joey did. Save yourself a lot of sweat and tears."
    "I don't quite see a protector looming on the horizon, and anyway, it goes against the grain to be driven from the field. I thought I could take it—will power and all that—but it's really getting to me now. I find that putting a lid on my anger only means running the risk of an explosion over something else, where it isn't called for, and—"
    "Transference. Everybody's problem. You kick me and I punch the newspaper boy and he ties a firecracker to the cat's tail and the cat scratches you and round and round we go."
    "That's about the size of it. I've decided to climb off the carousel ride and make a real stand. I'll need your help; that's why I'm here. I'd like you to be a witness to—"
    "Joyce, baby, I'll say anything you want me to say. Or sign anything. Only don't ask me to come up and hear it. What is it you're planning to do? Bring a civil suit?"
    "Yes. I hate to take such extreme measures, but—" Joyce broke off, for Anita was shaking her head, slowly and mournfully. "Joey tried that, too?"
    "Sure. And he won his case, which meant winning exactly nothing. In fact, it meant losing—all the time he had to take off from work and didn't get paid for. In the first place, it took a whole morning just to get the summons—the lines are something fierce. Then, after a delay of weeks and weeks, he spent practically a whole day in court until the case came up before the judge. Joey had affidavits and testimonials and witnesses and fucking everything, and it turned out he didn't need any of it. They figure if you're willing to go through the sweat of taking your beef to court you must have a legitimate one. Or something. Anyhow, the judge found for Joey and told the bitch to go home and be a good girl. You can imagine how seriously she—Hey, you're beginning to look a little