Free Sex Between, The by Randy Salem Page B

human traffic. It was still early, still warm, and mothers herded kids ahead of them, clucking like hens. The smell of corn, of hot dogs, of things frying in rancid grease cloyed in her full stomach and she led Maggie to the railing, away from the smells. The ocean sparkled, smoothly serene beneath the dying sun. She looked out and away to the horizon, past the heads and the umbrellas and the garbage, needing the feel of space, of distance to regain her own sense of perspective.
    And she was no longer aware of the people or the odors or the noise. She was alone here with Maggie, on the edge of the world. Safe, where nobody could find them or hurt them. Together, where no one could step in between them. Unconsciously, her fingers sought Maggie's hand and she stood for a moment, letting the touch of Maggie seep into her.
    "You've got an admirer." Maggie said lightly. She nodded down toward the beach.
    Instantly, as though she had been stung, Lee let go of Maggie's hand. Following Maggie's gaze, she saw a bronzed-skinned girl, nearly naked in a red bikini, watching them.
    "You'd think she'd be cold," Maggie murmured.
    Lee laughed. From the size and the shape and the profession of her, she guessed the girl had never been cold in her life. "Not that one," she said easily. "She warms herself with dollar bills."
    "Oh," Maggie said. "She's so pretty, I didn't think.. "
    "You'd be amazed," Lee said. She touched Maggie's elbow and steered her away from the railing. "That kind you can pick up for a couple of bucks in Klein's basement."
    It did not surprise her that the girl had been trying to pick her up. It was one of the phenomena of life she had accepted long ago. A girl out to hustle was rarely particular. The thing that bothered Lee had nothing to do with the girl at all. She was the thing she didn't understand. Never before in her life had she so casually overlooked a good lay. She had gone through her days with eyes trained forward, looking, looking... Just looking, sampling now and then when it looked especially good. But not even to have realized that...
    Maggie. I was thinking about Maggie...
    She remembered, then, holding Maggie's hand. A nothing thing, she used to think, holding a girl's hand. A nothing thing...
    Maggie hooked her hand through Lee's elbow and moved in close beside her, matching her stride to Lee's. They moved down the ramp and into Playland, going slowly through the crowd.
    A nothing thing, a girl hanging onto your elbow. A nothing thing...
    Yet she was as much aware of Maggie as though the girl had suddenly caught fire. Aware of her and of nothing else. All of her interest and all of her desire funneling itself toward the tiny girl clinging to her elbow. And she knew that soon, she would have to take Maggie home and leave her there. Go to Cleo or somewhere. Anywhere. Just so that Maggie would not know. For Maggie must never know.
    Maggie laughed suddenly and shook her arm. "Look," she said.
    In front of a stall, a fat guy in a greasy apron jiggled change. Behind him, a row of skinny stuffed bears blinked plastic eyes.
    "Win me a teddy bear, Lee."
    Lee grinned. "Which one?"
    "That one," Maggie said, pointing to a tan one with a bang of stiff hair down to its nose. "It looks like you."
    The fat guy measured Lee with his eyes and yelled out, "Come on. Win the little lady a teddy bear."
    She paid him a quarter for three balls, but took only one. She tossed it up lightly, caught it, then banged it home. The milk bottles splintered off in all directions.
    The fat guy made a grab for her right arm. "Hey, butch," he leered, "where'd you learn that?"
    Calmly, Lee shook off the hand. "Throwing bricks at bastards like you," she said. Then she reached for Maggie's teddy bear.
    "Wait a minute," the guy said. "I don't like being talked to that way."
    He folded his ham-like hands on his hips and Lee knew that the time had come for a discreet withdrawal.
    "I don't blame you," she said. She took Maggie's elbow and turned