(1988) The Golden Room

by Irving Wallace

  ‘Of course I do,’ said Minna. ‘But I have no place for her right now. My limit is thirty girls. However, the other day,

  one of the girls — Fanny, you remember her — went for a walk and didn’t come back. Now she may come back, and if she does I’m full up again. If she doesn’t, there may be an opening.’

  ‘Well, Minna, see for yourself.’

  Minna stood up. ‘I will, in a few minutes. Tell you what, you take Karen to room seven upstairs. Fanny’s room. Have her wait for me. You can come back down and have yourself a drink.’

  ‘Thanks, Minna.’

  ‘I may be thanking you, Tom,’ Minna said.

  Ostrow left Minna in her office, and went off to the foyer to find Karen Grant and take her upstairs to await Minna Everleigh.

  Karen Grant was seated on the brass bed in the boudoir, her apprehension mounting. The door of the bedroom opened and a small, attractive, auburn-haired woman entered.

  Immediately, Karen came to her feet somewhat nervously, as the woman approached her with hand extended.

  ‘I’m Minna Everleigh.’

  Karen shook her hand. ‘I’m Karen Grant.’

  Minna sized her up briefly. Karen was shapely in a street dress of grey cheviot with a white mohair blouse, a white vest with pearl buttons and a wide suede belt. ‘Not bad,’ Minna observed. ‘Despite all that padding you’re wearing, I think Tom Ostrow is right. You’re a well-put-together young lady. Do take a chair. Let’s talk a minute.’

  ‘Very well.’ Karen sat down in an easy chair, while Minna dropped into a chair across from her.

  ‘Now then,’ began Minna, ‘I rarely take on a girl if she is over twenty-three. My customers like young ones. I often think they are mistaken, but that’s what they like, so I cater to their wishes. How old are you, Karen?’

  ‘Twenty-one.’

  ‘Tom tells me you’ve had experience. Amateurs wouldn’t

  do well here. Our customers are generally men of the world. They know a good romp when they meet one. That’s why they leave their wives and come here.’

  The talk - the reality of what she might be getting into — was unsettling, but Karen tried hard to quell her nervousness. ‘I’m experienced enough, Miss Everleigh,’ Karen said. ‘I had a fair amount of activity in New Orleans. I … I don’t remember a man who was dissatisfied with me.’

  Minna laughed. ‘Well, I guess you’d know. Tell me, Karen, are you a widow?’

  ‘A widow? Oh, no. I’m single.’

  ‘I threw that one in,’ said Minna, ‘because widows usually don’t work out. They’re always looking for another husband, and when they find one, they leave me. I really like to take on someone I think can be permanent.’

  ‘I am very serious about wanting to work for you, and to work for you as long as you want me.’

  Minna nodded. ‘You have decent enough manners. You sound like a lady. Are you well versed in - well, what’s your background?’

  ‘You mean, am I educated? I am. I had a private education in Boston.’

  ‘Do you keep up your reading?’

  ‘I do. Books - especially poetry — and newspapers.’

  ‘Fine. About your attitude towards sex. Do you have any particular problems?’

  ‘What do you mean, Miss Everleigh?’

  ‘I mean, among our older visitors, fellatio is very popular. Have you practised it?’

  ‘I have.’

  ‘Does it give you any misgivings?’

  ‘I rather like it. I like to see a man happy, no matter what he wants. You needn’t worry. I’d do almost anything to satisfy a customer.’

  ‘Well, as far as I’m concerned, there’s one thing left.’ Minna paused. ‘I’d like you to take off your clothes, Karen.’

  Momentarily, Karen was startled. ‘You want me to undress?’

  ‘Yes.’

  ‘Everything?’

  Minna nodded. ‘I want to see you completely naked. I want to see you without camouflage. I want to see what a man might see when he has you alone.’

  Somewhat reluctantly, Karen came out of the chair. ‘I’ll be glad to undress.’

  ‘Go into the bathroom and take off your things. I’ll have a maid help you. When you’re nude, step out here and let me have another look at you.’

  Karen watched Minna Everleigh ring for a maid, then take up a magazine. After a moment, Karen headed for the bathroom.

  Inside the bathroom, Karen was soon joined by a young coloured maid. With her assistance, Karen’s gown was unfastened in the back. Having dismissed the maid, Karen began to strip slowly, removing her skirt, her white mousseline and Irish lace vest, her frilled bust improver attached to a narrow corset, and the sleeveless silk chemise that came to her knees. She unfastened her silk petticoat and underskirt, and after that her cotton drawers gathered just below her knees. Next, she removed her high-heeled, strapped kid shoes. Finally, she rolled down black silk stockings, patterned with embroidered red roses.

  She caught sight of herself naked in the full-length mirror. She thought that she looked rather good. At least, she hoped she did. Her first instinct, before leaving the bathroom, was to cover her pubic hair with one hand. But she realized that an experienced girl would never do that. With effort, she dropped her hands to her sides, sucked in her breath, and stepped out into the bedroom.

  Minna was still seated, absorbed in the magazine. When she heard Karen enter the room, she stopped reading and threw the magazine to one side.

  Leaden-legged, Karen brought herself to the centre of the bedroom, and then stood still at the foot of the bed.

  Minna sat unmoving, peering up at her.

  At last, Minna rose. She approached Karen, examining her more closely, from her face to her breasts, to her abdomen, to her pubis, to her thighs and legs.

  ‘Turn around, Karen. Let me see how you look from behind.’

  Karen pirouetted as gracefully as possible, and could hear -Minna behind her, clucking softly.

  ‘Nice shoulders and back,’ Minna said. ‘Very nice ass. All right, you can turn towards me once more.’

  ‘Yes, Miss Everleigh. Uh, are you satisfied?’

  ‘To say the least, you’ll do. However, there remains a problem.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘I have thirty rooms here and they were all full - until one of my girls left a few days ago. I have no idea where she went. I’m giving her until tomorrow to come back. If she does, we’ll be a full house, and I’ll have to keep you in mind for another time. If she doesn’t, there’ll be a slot open, definitely a place for you.’

  ‘How will I know?’

  ‘I’ll call you at noon. Will you be at home?’

  ‘Yes, I have a room not far from here. I’ll leave you the number of the phone in the hall.’

  ‘If I tell you to come in, it means you have the job, subject to one more formality.’

  ‘What’s that?’

  ‘Our house physician examines my girls every week, over a period of two days. I think I can get him here for a third visit. If I hired you, it would be subject to your passing Dr Holmes’s examination.’

  ‘Examination? For what?’

  ‘Venereal disease, Karen.’

  ‘Oh, I have nothing like that -‘

  ‘How do you know? Let Dr Holmes decide, if I call you in. Now get dressed, and come down to my office and give me that telephone number.’ She smiled at Karen. ‘You are one beautiful young lady, no question. I’d like to employ you. We’ll have to wait and see what tomorrow brings.’

  Dr Holmes was excited about his next examination at the Everleigh Club.

  He was going to see Avis, the small brunette he had first examined a week ago.

  What he had found instantly erotic about Avis was the size of her breasts, huge yet rosy and standing absolutely straight out. Her fleshy hips tapered into smooth shapely legs.

  Having seen what he had seen of Avis, and considering what he had heard from her, he knew that she must become his
, in more ways than one.

  He also sensed that this was a girl who could be pressed. With enough aggression and a fair amount of charm from the doctor, she might be had.

  He knocked on her door. ‘It’s Dr Holmes.’

  Muffled, through the door, he heard her voice. ‘Come in, Doc, come on in.’

  He entered with his bag, hoping that she looked as seductive as she had a week ago.

  He saw at once that she looked even better.

  She was lying sprawled on her back on the bed, wearing only a loose Japanese kimono. Her knees were raised, and the kimono had fallen aside to reveal her wide thighs and a slither of her backside. She had been reading a novel with a lewd cover, and now she set it aside.

  ‘I have nothing venereal, Doc,’ she chirped, ‘but I don’t mind you poking around in there. You have good hands. I’ll confess something - I find it rather stimulating. Does that sound naughty?’

  ‘It sounds very female and I like it.’

  Avis possessed hair tightly bunned at the back, almond-shaped grey eyes, pert nose, a slash of red mouth. As Dr Holmes neared her, she sat up, and threw off her kimono. The milky-skinned, outsized breasts stared back at him.

  He set down his bag.

  ‘How’ve you been, Avis?’

  ‘Not too busy, Doc. The sisters have put a clamp on this place. I’ve had half as many customers as I had before. It’s boring, lying around, and I don’t like what it’s costing me. If something doesn’t change soon, I’m thinking of going elsewhere.’

  Dr Holmes sought and found his speculum. ‘You won’t find any house half so generous as this anywhere in the Levee.’

  ‘I know. I was thinking of doing what some of the other girls around have done. Taking a room in a hotel and inviting more action.’

  ‘That’s an idea,’ Dr Holmes said casually. ‘Want to take your position? Let’s get on with the examination.’

  Avis rolled off the bed, stood straight over the doctor and touched her breasts provocatively. She lay back on the edge of the bed, her feet barely touching the carpet.

  ‘Open your legs wider, dear,’ Dr Holmes directed her.

  When she did so, he bent down on his knees. With his free hand he touched her soft vaginal lips, rubbing them slightly.

  ‘Hey,’ she called, ‘let’s not have any more of that. You’re getting me going.’

  ‘I’m sorry. I’ll watch myself.’

  ‘Well, don’t overdo that. I don’t mind your being friendly.’

  With his fingers, he angled the speculum first downwards and then sideways to determine that she was healthy.

  He extended the examination beyond what was necessary because he was enjoying himself.

  Finally, he raised his head. ‘You’re fine, Avis.’

  She sat up on the bed, lifted her knees, and wrapped her

  arms around them. ‘I knew I was. You’re not leaving right away, are you?’

  ‘Not yet,’ said Dr Holmes, sitting down beside her and wiping the mirror of his speculum with a handkerchief he had dipped in alcohol.

  ‘You seem like maybe you have something on your mind.’

  ‘I do, Avis, if you feel like talking.’

  ‘Talking to you is fun, Doc. You’re a cute fellow.’

  ‘Thank you, Avis. I can return the compliment. You’re a cute girl, actually the cutest one in the place.’

  ‘Well, now -‘

  ‘There is something I’d like to talk to you about. The first time I saw you a week ago, and just a little while ago, you voiced some displeasure with Aida and Minna. You spoke of setting up your own shop in a hotel. Were you serious?’

  Avis shrugged her bare shoulders. ‘I don’t know. Just a thought I’d had.’

  ‘Will you do it?’ asked Holmes, putting away his speculum.

  ‘Probably not. I’d like to. I don’t think I have enough initiative. I can’t do things on my own.’

  Suavely, Dr Holmes posed a question. ‘What if you didn’t have to? I mean, have to do something on your own?’

  ‘It would help, but still, for all the boredom, it’s pretty cosy here. Having someone take care of you.’

  ‘What if you left with someone’s help and had that someone take care of you?’

  She considered Dr Holmes curiously. ‘What do you mean?’

  ‘I mean I have an idea,’ Dr Holmes went on. ‘I gather, from something you mentioned last week, that you don’t have any money worries. True?’

  ‘True. I’m a small-town girl. I watch every penny. I’ve seen what happens to other girls in the Levee who spend every dime they have on clothes, on booze, on drugs. I’ve held on to my earnings.’

  ‘I have something in mind,’ said Dr Holmes. ‘Can I ask you this? How much have you saved up?’

  ‘A decent sum. About $2,000, at my last count.’

  ‘Just right for what I have in mind, Avis,’ Dr Holmes continued. ‘I have a suggestion to make, a proposition, really. Right now you keep half of what you earn every night. Isn’t that so?’

  ‘It’s so.’

  ‘How would you like to keep more, much more?’

  ‘I’d sure like that. But how -?’

  Dr Holmes proceeded more confidently. ‘Like letting me set you up in your own house, maybe smaller than this one, but just as luxurious. We could be partners. You would be in competition with the Everleighs, but you would be independent, your own boss, and keep most of what you earn. If you put up your savings, and I put up an equal sum, we could rent and furnish a really classy establishment. You could keep not half your income, but three-quarters, and I’d keep one-quarter for my investment. How does that sound?’

  ‘Too good to be true.’

  ‘There’s more,’ Dr Holmes added. ‘You wouldn’t be alone either. You could move in with me, and stay with me after hours. I’d take care of you.’

  ‘You would?’

  ‘I’d like to. You’re a very special sort of girl. We’d get along very well. Of course, only if you’d want to live with me. Would you?’

  ‘And how! I already hinted to you, I find you — well, attractive, and someone I’d like to bed down with on the side.’

  ‘Well, there you have it,’ said Dr Holmes, exhilarated. ‘Our own business, and our own home - together. You ready to do it?’

  ‘Just say when!’

  ‘Tonight, Avis. Tonight. I’ll go back to my office and prepare the contract for our partnership. You pack up and meet

  me at my place. Here’s my card. Come at six o’clock. Bring all your things. Can you do that?’

  ‘I’ll manage.’

  ‘Then we’ll celebrate. I’ll take you to the Palmer House for dinner -‘

  ‘Oh, my, I’ve never been there.’

  ‘Just the beginning. Then you can look over our partnership contract and we’ll both sign it. In a week I’ll pay down on the lease of a building, and we’ll furnish it together. In a month you’ll be in business and making a fortune.’

  ‘I’m so thrilled.’

  ‘And you won’t be alone at any time. We’ll be together.’

  He stood up. Immediately, she was on her feet in front of him, naked and wildly aroused. She hugged him tightly and kissed him.

  ‘You’ll never regret it,’ she whispered.

  ‘Neither will you, Avis,’ he said wryly. ‘We have a memorable date for tonight.’

  ‘I’ll be there,’ she promised. ‘I can’t wait.’

  It was early evening, and they were seated in the grand dining-room of the Palmer House.

  Avis — decorously dressed in a pink blouse, and broad-lapelled Eton jacket, and tailored brown skirt — and Dr Holmes held hands across the table, as a uniformed waiter served them soup out of a silver tureen.

  After the waiter had discreetly receded, Holmes was amused to see the awe on Avis’s face as she repeatedly scanned the rich furnishings of the room.

  ‘This room,’ said Holmes, ‘is fashioned precisely after the dining-room of the Potsdam Palace in G
ermany.’

  ‘That chandelier is a knockout,’ Avis said.

  ‘It’s an Egyptian chandelier,’ Holmes explained. ‘The mirrors around the room are Venetian, and that staircase over there is made of Italian Carrara marble. Nothing is too good

  for you, my dear. Do you wish another bottle of Veuve Clicquot?’

  ‘I’d better concentrate on my soup. What did we order? I forgot.’

  ‘Terrapin a la Maryland for your main course. I ordered prime roast beef.’

  They spooned their soup in momentary silence. Avis spoke up again. ‘You saw I brought two suitcases into your house. I moved out of the Everleigh Club completely. They never saw me go.’ She hesitated. ‘I hope you meant every word you said - about me moving in with you. And about our partnership.’

  ‘I couldn’t have been more serious. You can believe everything I told you.’

  ‘I’m glad,’ Avis said, ‘because I took it very seriously.’ She touched her purse on the table. ‘I even brought my share of the investment. I withdrew my $2,000 from the bank.’

  ‘Excellent,’ said Holmes. ‘As I promised you, I’ll match it.’ He put down his spoon. ‘I drew up the contract for your approval.’ He reached into a pocket, brought out a piece of paper, and unfolded it. ‘Here it is. Just as I outlined our agreement. Have a look.’ She glanced at the page.

  ‘You can see,’ Holmes went on, ‘exactly as I told you. Your $2,000 and my $2,000. You run the place we lease, and you keep 75 per cent of the profits. I keep 25 per cent for my share. Can you see that?’

  ‘I’m not good at reading contracts. I’m sure I can trust you.’ She handed the contract back. ‘Why don’t you hold on to it until we’re ready to sign.’

  He slipped the contract back in his pocket. ‘We can sign right after dinner, when we get back to my place. How’s that?’

  ‘I look forward to it,’ Avis said, watching the waiter as he removed her soup plate and then replaced it with an elegantly presented Terrapin a la Maryland.

  After dinner, Avis waited for Dr Holmes to reclaim his hat and cape, and then she accompanied him outside to the corner of Monroe and State Streets. When the Packard was brought around, Holmes helped Avis into the front seat and took his own seat behind the wheel.