Of Shame and Joy by Lawrence Block

Author:Lawrence Block
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Lawrence Block
Published: 2016-04-05T00:00:00+00:00

Chapter 8

Sheila was still shaking in a weird combination of horror and cold fury. Espresso spilled from the cup when she raised it to her lips and her face was pale and drawn. But her eyes blazed like fiery coals burning themselves up in a heap of fresh snow.

“God,” she said. “I was never so furious—”

“Take it easy, honey.”

“How can I take it easy? When you stop to think what that woman wanted me to do—”

Harvey reached across the table and patted her hand. His eyes assured her that he understood completely.

“I shouldn’t call her a woman,” Sheila said. “She’s not a woman. She’s some kind of unnatural monster. She’s a filthy queer, that’s what she is. Just thinking about what she wanted is enough to make me sick to my stomach. The colossal nerve of that . . . that dike!”

“It’s okay, Sheila.”

“Dammit, it’s not okay! People like her ought to be locked up, and whoever locks them up ought to throw the key into the ocean. Then they should forget which ocean they threw it into just to make sure. My God, you wouldn’t have thought it to look at her. She’s such a pretty little thing on the surface.”

“Not as pretty as you are.”

She smiled at him and her own hand covered his and squeezed it. “You’re sweet,” she said.

Then her face went serious again and the smile evaporated. “Honey,” she said, “I’m not kidding about that . . . that girl. I’m serious. There ought to be some way to get her out of this town.”

“Don’t be silly, Sheila.”

“Silly?”

“Yes, silly.”

“Is it silly to—”

“Provincetown has a large percentage of homosexuals, both male and female,” he explained. “Almost any town like this one does. They keep to themselves most of the time and they rarely bother anyone.”

“Well, she bothered me.”

“Evidently she was strongly attracted to you—I can’t blame her. But I don’t think she’ll bother you any more.”

“She better not.”

“Don’t worry about it,” he said. “I’ll close up in a little while and we’ll go on home. Then you can forget all about lesbians.”

“You think so?”

“Yes.

She smiled. “What makes you so sure?”

He said: “I’ll give you something else to think about.”

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