Bachelor Girl by Kim van Alkemade

Author:Kim van Alkemade
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Touchstone

Chapter 24

“It’s just a bow tie, it’s not as if I’m rouging your cheeks. Now stand still, Felix.” I knotted the silk tie around his collar. “There.”

He turned to his reflection in the bathroom mirror. “I feel so conspicuous.”

I looked over his shoulder, wondering what he was seeing. I supposed red must stand out to his vision the way blue did to mine, a bright color that cut through the ordinary. “Believe me, darling, a red bow tie will be the least conspicuous thing at the Hamilton Lodge Ball.”

He faced me and smiled. “I have to admit, you do look delicious.”

“I do, don’t I?” My tinted lips and the mascara on my lashes made me look a bit like Rudolph Valentino. “Like I said, just a touch of makeup. The cabdriver won’t even notice, I promise.” I gave him a kiss. “Are you ready?”

“As ready as I’ll ever be.”

Despite my reassurances, he was nervous. To Felix, being queer was a private affliction best kept behind closed doors. The few times I’d cajoled him into coming out with me to Antonio’s or a party at Paul’s house, he became so uncomfortable we ended up leaving early. I’d certainly never talked him into attending the annual Hamilton Lodge Ball before. Back in 1919, the influenza was his excuse to keep us both home, and last year he’d simply refused. But this past November he’d invited me to the fund-raising gala he’d organized for the orphanage relocation fund. I knew he wanted me there as Ruppert’s personal secretary, my presence meant to convey to the trustees an exaggerated sense of the Colonel’s commitment to purchasing their Manhattan property. I agreed to accompany him, but only if he promised he’d come with me in January to the “Queer Masquerade,” as the newspapers called it.

When word of our plans got around among the tenants in the brownstone, the composer and the old actor decided to come along, too. We shared a taxi up to 155th Street where people were queued around the block to get into the Rockland Palace. We got in line behind a pair of Negro pansies in sequined gowns who told us they saved up all year to make the trip from Virginia for the chance, on this one night, to masquerade as themselves. All around us, short-haired women in suits flirted with men wearing dresses, playfully subverting the difference between our sexes. I noticed that spectators destined for boxes in the gallery went in a separate entrance, richer and whiter than those of us on line for floor tickets. Felix, eager to get off the street, relaxed as we neared the door, the scene awaiting us still beyond his imagination.

Inside, the vast hall throbbed with music and laughter. The sweat of six thousand bodies steamed the air, ice sculptures dripping and potted palms drooping in the heat. Bunting decorated the gallery, and streamers dangled from the ceiling like tentacles. Dancers filled the floor to overflowing, fox-trotting to a lively orchestra. Most

Download

Copyright Disclaimer:
This site does not store any files on its server. We only index and link to content provided by other sites. Please contact the content providers to delete copyright contents if any and email us, we'll remove relevant links or contents immediately.