GYPSIES, TRAMPS, AND THIEVES by Parris Afton Bonds

Author:Parris Afton Bonds [Bonds, Parris Afton]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Paradise Publishing
Published: 2017-11-23T16:00:00+00:00

§ § §

At the telephone’s ringing, Romy left off beating the cake batter – it was Bud’s birthday. The kid from New York’s Hell’s Kitchen had never had a birthday cake.

Odd, she knew the ranch hands birthdays now but not Duke’s. She could ask him, of course, but the less she got in his way, the better.

Wiping her hands on a chuck wagon’s grease-stained apron she had scrounged up, she crossed to the far wall to stretch high on tiptoe and pick up the telephone receiver.

“Romy – Mamie here,” the exchange switchboard operator said, “putting through a call for you, hon.”

Several clicks followed, and then, “Romy, Moe. Saw the Austin Statesman – the photo of you with McClellan and Johnson at the Sagebrush and Sidewinders.”

What now?

“Hook me up with Johnson, Romy.”

“Congressman Johnson? I canna do that.”

“Find a way. I want a cushy government position, you understand.”

“I dunna know the Congressman well enough to do what ye’re asking.”

“Then, know him well enough, if you get my meaning.”

Jesus, Mary, and Joseph. “That . . . could take time.”

“Are you kidding me? We’re talking about Lyndon Baines Johnson, who will fuck anything in a skirt.”

“Moe, this is a party line, for Saint’s sakes!”

“Well, any eavesdroppers offended by my remarks are welcome to hang up now.”

No ensuing clicks. With that, her tone burnt with helplessness. “The Congressman is in Washington.”

“He’ll be back. Everyone between Texas and Kingdom Come knows that family ranch of his means more to him almost than the crown jewel he has his eyes set on – the presidency.”

“And after this, Moe? What next will ye blackmail me with?”

“’Yours is not to question why – yours is but to do or die.’ Well, maybe not you, Romy, but your brother.”

There it was again, the persecution. Did it never end for the poor and the different?

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