The Whiteness of Bones by Susanna Moore

Author:Susanna Moore [Moore, Susanna]
Language: eng
Format: epub, mobi
Tags: Adventure
ISBN: 9780307826602
Publisher: Vintage
Published: 1989-01-01T05:00:00+00:00

After the lazy, comfortable weeks with Alysse, Claire, too, was full of energy and ready to direct the lava-flow of her charm into the business community. She answered an advertisement in the newspaper for a hostess at a Japanese karaoke restaurant. She was interviewed in the dark, sticky bar at ten o’clock in the morning by the proprietress, Mrs. Hadashi.

Mrs. Hadashi slowly circled Claire, studying her carefully, and Claire was surprised when the short, elderly woman did not pull apart her lips to examine her gums. Claire had already passed the inspection, but she really impressed Mrs. Hadashi when she spoke several phrases in Japanese. Claire so delighted Mrs. Hadashi with her remarks (“Good morning, it’s a hot number-one day”) that she wanted Claire to return that very evening. The job was not demanding: Claire must wear makeup and sexy clothes; talk to the Japanese men who came into the club every night after work; and, if requested, join the men at the microphone to sing along with the recorded music. It did not seem difficult to Claire. She explained to Mrs. Hadashi that she needed some time to get her very sexy clothes together and it was agreed that she would begin in two days. Mrs. Hadashi said to Claire as she walked her to the door that she was not expected to entertain the men anywhere but in the restaurant. She would be paid a percentage of the charm charge that was added to the customer’s bill.

“Charm charge?” Claire asked.

Mrs. Hadashi nodded and said, “Hai.”

Claire went straight from the restaurant on East Forty-fifth Street to the 92nd Street Y. She took a taxi. Unlike Mamie, she did not believe in wasting her time on social experiments like the subway. As she would not begin work until five o’clock each day, she enrolled herself in a course entitled “Car Repair and Maintenance” that met twice a week in the early afternoon. Then she walked downtown.

Claire had arranged a surprise. She was meeting Mamie at an apartment building on Gracie Square. When Mamie arrived, running from Eighty-sixth Street because her bus had been slow, Claire, who had already spoken to the doorman, took Mamie by the hand and led her into the elevator.

Still holding her hand, she waited with Mamie in front of an apartment door. Mamie was not allowed to raise her eyes from the floor lest she discover their destination, and she was able to study the mail that lay on the doormat. There were many letters from museums and opera companies and ballet troupes, and copies of The Nation and The New York Review of Books. She thought she recognized the name of an American writer. Mamie bent down to pick up the mail just as the door was opened.

She heard a woman’s voice say, “Hi, Claire. Hi, Mamie.”

She stood up. It was one of the sisters. It was Courtney.

“Aren’t you surprised?” Claire asked, turning proudly to Mamie. “It took us months to find you, Courtney. I finally had to steal Alysse’s address book.

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