Dolly Dingle, Lesbian Landlady by Monica Nolan

Author:Monica Nolan [Nolan, Monica]
Language: eng
Format: epub, azw3
Publisher: Kensington
Published: 2014-08-15T16:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

The Dinner at Luigi’s

The group of girls who straggled downheartedly into Luigi’s for dinner was a demoralized bunch. Janet and Rhoda looked up from the big round table in the corner with festive smiles that faded when they saw the stricken expressions on their friends’ faces.

“Is Mrs. DeWitt worse?” asked Janet Kahn at once. The attractive young lawyer’s usually calm face wrinkled with worry, and her eyes behind her tortoiseshell glasses were anxious.

“She’s suffering from incipient pneumonia,” said Lois dolefully.

“And a bad case of delirium tremens,” Pamela added flatly. “Someone sneaked her a bottle of gin.”

While the orderlies fastened restraints on Mrs. DeWitt, Beverly had asked Dolly point-blank if she were behind the bottle’s mysterious appearance. And even though Dolly’s fervent protestations of innocence had convinced the suspicious nurse, a faint cloud of guilt clung to the hapless ex-actress.

Dolly didn’t intend to share her own suspicion, that Ramona was the real culprit. She could imagine only too easily that the rule-breaking tenant had smuggled in the liquor as a well-meaning attempt to cheer up her former housemother, but it was unlikely the other girls would see it that way. They were all a little prejudiced against the gay and reckless girl. And in a way, Dolly blamed herself. If only I’d told Ramona what Beverly told me! she mourned.

Phyllis hurried in, out of breath, and slipped into the last chair. “Sorry I’m late,” she said. Then asked as she took in the dour circle of faces, “What’s happened?”

Netta filled in the shocked social scientist, ending, “Since she’s not exactly an orthopedics case anymore, they’re moving her to the Happy Valley Sanatorium, outside the city.”

“Well, maybe it’s for the best,” Rhoda tried to brighten the mood. “I’m sure they’ll take good care of her!”

The other girls said nothing. Rhoda didn’t really know Mrs. DeWitt—she’d never lived at the Magdalena Arms. The plump, comfortable girl, clad as usual in a sober tweed suit, was the perfect partner for self-assured Janet. A supervisor at the Women’s House of Detention, she’d met the young lawyer when Janet was visiting a client. All the girls liked Rhoda, but she couldn’t feel as they did about Mrs. DeWitt.

Now, as the group of old friends glumly picked over their pasta and sipped the Chianti, Rhoda made a game attempt to keep conversation going. She asked after Pamela’s promotion, and whether she and Lois had made progress finding a new place. She told a funny story about an incarcerated pickpocket and gossiped with Phyllis about the vast Bay City bureaucracy. “I hear your Miss Ware is due to climb up another rung at the department of human services.”

“My Miss Ware!” Phyllis started. “What do you mean? I’ve hardly seen her since I was her assistant on the dock commission.”

Rhoda gave up and turned to the temporary landlady. “How are things at the Arms, Dolly? Janet said you had some news.”

Dolly decided she might as well take the plunge. “Yes, but it’s not very good news, I’m afraid. The Magdalena Arms needs help.

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