Gay Place by Billy Lee Brammer

Author:Billy Lee Brammer [Brammer, Billy Lee]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 978-1-4804-6103-1
Publisher: Open Road Media
Published: 2013-11-20T17:43:00+00:00

Seven

THE BELLBOY WAS NOT entirely sure of his ground. Sleepy-eyed and merely sullen in the beginning, an expression of concern and vast bewilderment soon clouded his face as if he half suspected the great joke being played on him.

“Mistah Diz-ray Lee?”

“What?” Stanley stood in his oversized shorts, staring at the boy through the doorway.

“Ben Diz …”

“Ben Diz-ray-lee, sir. Are you Mistah Diz-ray-lee?”

“No, for Chrissake. What’s all —”

It was some horrible mistake, some monstrous joke played on the young man … by the town drunk, maybe, at two in the morning. The bellboy backed off, making apologies.

“Wait a minute,” Stanley said. “Hold it a second.” He stepped round the corner of the room and reached for a pack of cigarettes. He had not been really asleep — just partly mesmerized by the Mexican music on the radio, lying on the bed and wondering if he ought to switch off the lights. The bellboy had been knocking for only a minute or so. Stanley returned to the doorway.

“Now … What’s all this again?”

“I’m sorry. Hope I didn’t wake you. The radio — I could hear the radio, and I thought —”

“That’s okay … What were you saying? Just now.”

“I had a message for Disray Lee. Or a Ben Raylee … It was supposed to be this room. He insisted it was this room and he wouldn’t let me call. Gave me two bucks to deliver the message personal.”

“Okay. What’s the message.”

“Are you Mistah —”

“No. But what’s the message? Who’s it from?”

“He wants you to meet him outside. He wouldn’t come in. He’s parked out front. He said he couldn’t come up. He didn’t have any shoes on. And he was wearing Bermuda shorts.”

“Wait a minute now. Who wants me to come downstairs?”

“His name was Stevenson.”

“Stevenson?”

“He said he wanted to show you his hair.”

“Oh! Ah! I’ll have to dress …”

“Yessir.” The boy continued to stand in the doorway.

“You said he gave you two dollars?”

“Yessir. I’ll give him the message.” The boy began backing off again …

“Wait a minute,” Stanley said. “Come on in here.”

The boy followed him into the room. Stanley gathered up the newspapers.

“Give him these while he’s waiting.”

“All right.”

“And this. Can you carry this?”

Stanley poured half a glass of whiskey and handed it to the boy. Then he cleared the top of the desk of change. The bellboy had both hands full, and Stanley dropped the coins into the boy’s jacket pocket. Then he began dressing.

The hotel lobby was deserted. Stanley moved between potted palms and Grecian spittoons, the bottle under his arm and the speech folded inside his coat pocket. The desk clerk did not look up and the bellboy was nowhere in sight. The little red car was parked directly in front; Neil was slumped in the seat with the newspapers spread out against the steering wheel. Stanley moved through the revolving doors and stepped out into the warm air.

“Couldn’t sleep?”

“Out of the habit.” Neil folded the papers without looking up and started the little car. At the first stoplight Stanley refilled the glass and they passed it back and forth.

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