Waste No Tears by Hugh Garner

Author:Hugh Garner
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781550653717
Publisher: Véhicule Press

[14]

I FOUND THAT I WAS UNABLE to cope with the problem she had dumped in my lap without the help of a good stiff drink now and again. One drink called for another, and soon I was back where I belonged, in an alcoholic stupor most of the time.

One evening I found my steps carrying me back to the old neighborhood around Waltham Avenue. I remembered Nora Ranning’s contacts with the abortion ring, and she seemed to be the logical person to ask for advice.

The district was even worse than I remembered it, with everything diminished in size, as things are when they are seen again through adult eyes. Where our house had stood was a new red-brick wholesale drug house, and across the street, where I remembered a well-filled vacant lot, stood a settlement house with a group of shabby kids hanging round the door.

The smells were also the familiar ones of my childhood, but now I recognized them for what they were, the smell of rotten woodwork and buggy houses, of filthy mattresses and garbage-strewn hallways. Drunk as I was, it nauseated me.

I made my way to Nora’s house and knocked at the door. There was a sound of scurrying feet inside and excited female voices. Then Nora’s familiar croak said, “Come in.”

I walked down a narrow hall and into a lighted room at the end. Nora was sitting at the table wearing a filthy old bathrobe. On the table before her was the remains of a meal and a bottle of cheap wine. A younger replica of herself sat in a chair against the wall, holding a glass of wine in her hand.

“Well, for chrissakes, if it isn’t Tommy!” Nora cried as I entered the room. “I knew you’d come to see your old sweetheart sooner or later.”

She staggered to her feet and pulled out a chair, motioning me to sit down.

When I was seated, she said, “Let me introduce my daughter-in-law, Mary. Mary, this is Tommy, a damn good friend of mine.”

I looked at the younger woman. She was naked except for a grubby cotton dress that she clutched to her breasts. Her knees were brown and scaly with dirt. I felt sorry for Alec, being stuck with two such drabs as his wife and mother.

After the introductions, Nora asked, “What brings you back to our part of town, Tommy? You look too prosperous to be around this neighborhood.”

“It’s just a friendly visit, Nora,” I said.

“Have a glass of wine,” she invited.

I agreed and she poured a dirty tumbler full of the yellow stuff and placed it before me.

She turned then to the other woman and said, “You’d better get out of here so Tommy and me can talk business.”

“Where’ll I go?” the girl whined.

“Go to hell if you want. Just get out of here.”

“You never let me have any fun,” the girl said, her whining voice grating on my nerves.

“Go on, get out!” Nora yelled at her.

She moved into another room.

Nora went on to tell

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