The Royal Family

by William T. Vollmann

  And lookit him coming. There he goes. Hah! There he goes! Lookit his face. That stupid fuck. I always hated that guy. Now he’s smiling. He thinks he’s really something, since he’s had our Queen.

  Ah, so you’re jealous. Me too. Watch his hips now. So much of this, it’s hard to know what is esentially male and what’s conditioned.

  That stupid fuck! she shouted.

  Domino, I want you to shut up now.

  | 234 |

  Domino’s eyesockets were like twin bites taken out of an apple core which had been forgotten on the grimy dresser of some whore hotel and so oxidized dark brown.

  People think I always push them away, she said. It’s not that I like to push them away. But so many times they just become something untrue. They cheat me once, and then I can’t forgive. I never forgive.

  And what’d she do to you? said Kitty, applying lipstick.

  Oh, nothing. I’m becoming more and more alienated.

  Where are you gonna try tonight?

  Ellis is too hot. Maybe in front of the Wonderbar. Why, you wanna double date?

  No, I got a regular I gotta meet. But seriously now, Dom, you gotta . . .

  Don’t start bullshitting me.

  Aw, why don’t you make up? How can you not be friends with the Queen?

  I just don’t want to.

  You trust me?

  I trust you, Kittypie.

  Then listen to me. I’m tellin’ you for your own fuckin’ good. Get along with the Queen.

  I don’t love her anymore.

  Ooh, that’s cold. You think she don’t know? Besides, what could you do to her? Get her raped and gaffled? Shit, Domino, she’s got the power.

  Black Pam stuck her head in and said: Kitty, don’t talk to her, don’t talk to her; she be bad.

  Now why is that? laughed Kitty.

  She’ll rob you.

  Ooh. How’ll she do that?

  I don’t know, said Pam.

  I was fixin’ to learn, said Kitty, and Domino laughed so hard she almost puked.

  What—how to rob people? said stupid Pam.

  That’s right, Domino cut in. Now get out of here, bitch, and don’t snitch or else I’ll cut your little nigger pussy out.

  Pam squeaked, and ran away.

  Don’t worry, said Kitty. I’ll be watchin’ her.

  Stupid little fraidy-cat bitch, laughed Domino.

  Remember what I said, whispered Kitty. Queen’s got the power.

  | 235 |

  By some bit of synchronicity I once met up with the fellow who had stolen three hundred and sixty dollars from me two weeks before. He was so charming that for an instant I couldn’t believe in his indisputable guilt. He’d had his film stolen since. —I’m so glad I met you, he said. You’ll help me! —This he said with the absent-mindedness of the truly ruthless.

  Yes, very nice to see you again, I said politely. He shook himself, beginning to realize that I just might be cool toward his problems.

  Domino’s ego was a similarly expensive jewel. Although she well understood the expedient consequences of her actions, she remained so precious to herself that no efforts of others on her behalf, voluntary, coaxed, or coerced, could ever strike her as excessive. In every crisis, Domino assumed that aid would arrive. Her attitude was complicated by an increasingly justified mistrust of the aid-givers. The man who robbed me could still believe that he needed but to exhibit his difficulties for me to solve them for him, no questions asked. But Domino was experientially speaking several million years old. She’d reached her millionth birthday when she was a fifteen-year-old runaway coughing, blowing her nose and leaning up against the wall of the San Bernardino bus station (her corn-yellow hair was richer back then). She shivered and her thighs trembled in the pink tights. What to do? A security guard with a T-shaped night stick came to move her on. But Domino had nowhere to go. She was stupid enough to plead. The man took her into the women’s toilet and made her blow him. That bought her an ass-pinch and an hour of peace. Then his shift ended, and her bus of salvation hadn’t come, and the next guard called the police. What was there to learn from this?

  Domino believed as strongly as ever in her right to freedom, cash, drugs and happiness. But she had long since been forced to acknowledge the entirely mistaken attitude of the withholders and nay-sayers who swarmed about. What to do then? What indeed, but lie, trick, cajole, deceive, compel, intimidate . . .

  She was a good person exactly as often as she could afford to be. What she thought of as standing up for herself might sometimes appear to others as bullying; for her it represented the exercise of a sacred moral principle. As for friendliness, she showed her goodwill whenever she could. By keeping track of all the favors she did, she not only honed their edges, so to speak, into glittering utility—for what favor, once forgotten, gets returned? —but also verified her own goodness. And when necessity struck, as it so often did, then she laid friendship aside, and proceeded by the most direct route to manage whatever needed to be managed. If someone took offense, that was unfortunate, but to Domino’s way of thinking, almost everyone was either a declared or an undeclared enemy anyhow. Domino thus was one of the most reasonable women in the world. Her moral calculus was honest, practical and consistent.

  | 236 |

  And now at last the time had come for Domino to appear in superior court, face to face (as she thought) with her pasty-faced ex-regular out of whose glove compartment the pistol had fallen and under whose passenger seat the cops had found that baggie of methamphetamine. —Gun up, Dom, said the Queen. I’ll be prayin’ over you. You want me to be in court? Or can I send Henry? —Oh, what the fuck’s the difference? said the blonde. If you even have to ask, that means you don’t want to be there for me . . . —C’mere, whispered the sad Queen, but Domino would not. —All rightie, then, Henry and I will both come. Beatrice can watch over Sapphire . . .

  Just to make her feel good, the Queen said in Tyler’s ear, and he nodded. A Mr. Munif had requested his professional services for an infidelity case, but it would have conflicted with Domino’s court date, so he turned the job down.

  The public defender had warned the blonde that her exposure was four years of potential jail time. He tried to explain how all the counts added up but she didn’t even bother to listen. Brisk and enterprising, she only wanted to know what she could do now. She could have pled guilty and gotten probation except that she had already violated probation and parole and everything else long since.

  You haven’t been showing up, have you? the public defender said.

  No, not everytime, Domino replied wearily.

  That’s too bad, Ms. Fine. You know what MTR means?

  No.

  It means motion to revoke. They want to MTR your probation. It’s a real shame. You know, Ms. Fine, if you’re smokin’ crack and you test dirty, they don’t really give a shit as long as you show up for probation. Ms. Fine—

  What?

  Mind if I call you Sylvia?

  I don’t give a fuck.

  Look, Sylvia, parole is a totally different matter. With parole, you screw up, you go straight to the pen.

  Cut to the chase, pal. I hate this.

  I—

  I hate it, I hate it, I hate it!

  You can do up to four violations of probation, so you can do four times as much prison time as in your original sentence, so—

  Look, said Domino. Spare me all the motherfuckin’ math. Just tell me what I’m looking at.

  Well, as I said, your exposure is four years, but we still might be able to suspend your sentence if we can get the guy who was with you in the car to cop a guilty plea to drug and weapons possession, so if you . . .

  Domino stopped listening.

  First, everyone who was anyone had to sit through one of those assembly line arraignments of women in bright orange jumpsuits on which was stencilled SAN FRANCISCO CO PRISONER. They sat with their backs to the spectators. Tyler scanned the backs of their heads, and found a brunette
head, two blackhaired heads, a blonde, head and a greyish-blonde head on a long stately neck. The greyish-blonde might have been Domino. But Domino was beside him. Shall we be more specific? Because the first row of seats on each side of the courtroom had been blocked off with yellow tape which read POLICE LINE DO NOT CROSS, the two well-wishers sat in the second row with the Queen in the corner holding Tyler’s hand, her head against the wall. Domino sat on his right, swallowing over and over, squeezing his hand.

  You doing okay? Tyler whispered into her ear.

  Don’t touch me, said the blonde.

  If that door doesn’t close and lock, the bailiff was saying, just take ’em to a different office.

  Then the voice of justice cried: Remain seated. Come to order. Department Twenty-Two is now in session.

  In terror, Domino squeezed his hand.

  On the stage of justice where all the dramatic actors played their parts, as conspicuous as the yellow teeth amidst a Haight Street tramps’ white stubble, the judge sat down, and a longhaired young lady, a whisperer, bent over flirting with a lawyer while a walkie-talkie crackled. Handcuff-rings swung in the small of a bailiff’s back.

  Your honor, it strikes me that on count two there’s a procedural error, the public defender said.

  Tyler barely listened. A moment later the public defender was saying: Your honor, I believe that there are waivers of appearance on all three defendants.

  Three defendants! Tyler thought. But there were half a dozen women there. Then he realized that justice was not always slow anymore, that several mini-trials were in progress.

  Ms. Kaye, the judge was saying, you ask that your conviction be set aside. But you haven’t been paying restitution.

  I been paying in monthly installments, the black prisoner said.

  Well, when you want a favor done by the court, you’d better pay what you owe. Motion denied without prejudice.

  Yeah, gimme a call, someone’s lawyer was whispering.

  The Queen kept shaking her head. Her lips moved silently.

  Looks like you’ve got a diversionary felony, misdemeanor loitering, the judge was saying to the next defendant. Tyler held the Queen’s hand.

  Finally it came Domino’s turn. The voice of justice said: On the sentencing calendar, line thirty-seven is Sylvia Fine.

  Clearing her throat, the blonde rose and approached her punishment. Before, no one knew her from a spectator. Now she was the accused.

  Can you see her? Tyler whispered, and the Queen nodded dully.

  Ms. Fine, said the judge, you’re charged with one count of resisting arrest, one count of prostitution, one count of possessing an illegal weapon, and one count of possessing a controlled substance. However, there’s now been a conviction on the illegal weapon and on the drug charges, so those have been dropped. Do you have the money to appoint your own attorney?

  No, said Domino angrily.

  Sylvia Fine. Is that your real name?

  Yes.

  I see you have a pretty long list of priors. Two felony assault convictions among others. Ms. Fine, since you have two strikes against you, your next petty theft may be worth life in prison. Better knock it off.

  Domino was silent.

  Ms. Fine, how do you plead to all these charges?

  Not guilty, your honor. I never resisted arrest.

  We’re down to one count of prostitution and one count of resisting arrest. If you wish to plead guilty, the court will recommend the work project for thirty days. Otherwise, you’re looking at a year in jail. Do you wish to plead guilty?

  Yes.

  How do you plead, Ms. Fine?

  Not guilty, said Domino with a twisted smile.

  I thought you wanted to plead guilty.

  Okay, whatever. Guilty.

  I’ll go ahead and sentence you. Probation denied. You’re sentenced to the work project.

  Thank you, said the girl listlessly.

  My heart breaks for that child, the Queen said into Tyler’s ear.

  Next case. Ms. Browne. Loitering with intent to commit prostitution, on top of the previous charges. They’re recommending a year for this and refiling as a felony. You want to plead guilty now to avoid refiling?

  Yes, I would, the brunette head was saying.

  Scandalous, how they coach them to implicate themselves! whispered the Queen indignantly. But Tyler’s head ached; he scarcely understood any of it. And as for Domino, to her the judge’s words were like steam from the sewers at Bush and Jones . . .

  | 237 |

  Thirty days later, the blonde came home. Nothing could make much of an impression anymore upon her soul’s hardstamped shell except perhaps the forces of petty and determined abrasion. On the thirty-first day, already bored and crack-hungry, she went out to Ellis Street to make money and in a lucky place where the waffle-pattern of windows was reflected in the hood of a shiny red car she was immediately solicited by a Dominican who raped her. The tall man had memorized the Dominican’s license plate number. When the blonde, half dead, told the Queen what had happened, the Queen went to the tall man, who went to Tyler, who ran a reverse trace on his computer, using ROYAL INFORMATION SYSTEMS, change from insecure login to secure login, the icons crawling on his bright green screen until he’d obtained a name and address for the Dominican, together with a physical description which matched Domino’s recollections. —No problem, Tyler said. Happy to help.

  The Dominican had a daughter who was just now completing her first year of study at law school in Baltimore. He fully believed and expected that she would graduate at the top of her class. He expected such greatness of her that she had gone to Baltimore to get away from him. It was her image which he now saw in the mirror. Years later, long after his daughter had dropped out of law school to give birth to her illegitimate child, the Dominican told me this story. He was my taxi driver. He said that the spirit of his daughter in the mirror kept her hair pulled back by pink ribbon. She was smiling at him, telling him not to worry. But when he’d told his daughter about it that day on the telephone, she’d laughed incredulously. When the tall man and the other gangster saw him gazing open-mouthed into the mirror, they whirled around, but could see nothing. Then the tall man told the Dominican to stand up and take it. The Dominican rose, attempting to prepare himself. He told me that he was proud that he neither wept nor begged.

  The other man went to the window. —Somebody on the sidewalk, he said.

  All right, the tall man said to the Dominican. Down on your belly. Greasy Spic hands behind your head. Close your eyes. I said close your eyes.

  The Dominican closed his eyes.

  Now say a prayer to Jesus. Go ahead, man.

  The Dominican stuttered, but could not speak.

  Now count real slowly to twenty, said the tall man. Then stand up.

  The Dominican, waiting for the bullet or the knife, counted as slowly as he dared. When he’d uttered the ominous number twenty, he was still alive. Keeping his eyes tightly shut, he rose to his knees. Nothing. Unable to bear it anymore, he stood up, looked behind him, and found the door open and the two killers gone.

  After paying the other gangster, the Queen and the tall man gave everything else to Domino: the Dominican’s Rolex watch, his diamond wedding ring (the tall man had broken the man’s finger getting it off), his wallet with six hundred dollars in cash, thirteen hundred dollars cash which the Dominican had hidden in the freezer (the tall man had broken the Dominican’s nose in the process of learning where that was), and his station wagon with the keys. Domino might have made a couple hundred dollars more had she sold the car to a certain fence she knew, but it pleased her far better to drive it out to Hunters Point and smash the windshield, slash the tires, sledgehammer the engine, pour gasoline all over the upholstery and torch it.

  Stupid bitch, sighed Justin, but she hugged him tight and stuck her tongue in his mouth.

  I asked the Dominican whether the Queen’s retribution had altered him, and he said: Well, those two niggers,
they were some evil characters. They taught me to fear God. After I got over my resentment, I realized that I had done wrong. My face was all split up, and my finger is still crooked, as you see. Perhaps my nose is also not the same as it was when I was born; what do you think? You know, I was living the wrong kind of life at that time. I was in the habit of thinking that women were meat. And then, to find out that this Queen of the Whores wasn’t just a legend, but she really existed and had the organization to track me down and punish me for what I had done, well, it made me realize that there are women with balls.

  Skeptical of his conversion, I inquired whether he still went to prostitutes, and, if so, whether he ever raped them. His face grew ugly then, and he told me to mind my own business.

  | 238 |

  Strawberry, Domino and Beatrice stood in the doorway of the bar smoking. Later, considerably after their days and nights together had ended, Domino would always remember a gleam of light on a heap of garbage bags, and Strawberry leaning up against the wall of the Wonderbar with a long, long cigarette in her hand, her arm around one of the regulars’ necks as she tried to wheedle five dollars out of him. She remembered Strawberry as being continually with men, touching men, holding men’s hands as if she liked it—no wonder Justin smacked her around! Strawberry had the marijuana giggles. A police car drove by and Strawberry ran inside in a panic, discovering Tyler, who, flush-faced, was gripping a beer in both hands like a praying mantis, leaning on the bar as he gazed at the Queen with a foolish smile. The Queen laughed hah-haaw! —When Strawberry came out, Beatrice was gone on a date (having gigglingly whispered in the blonde’s ear: That’s a good idea to hide it in my shoe. You gave me a good idea!) and Domino was speaking with the Queen about a private thing as Strawberry should have comprehended but could not because she was still paranoid, so she kept asking about the police car, worrying that it might not be entirely gone in search of other victims, until Domino finally told her to shut up. Strawberry was hurt. She had wanted to tell Domino: Look! Maj’s got this skimpy little lace top on, like she’s planning to go to work tonight. You think she . . . ? Instead, there was nothing to do but turn her back to Domino and the Queen. The Queen sighed. When Domino had completed her sad worrying and confessing, she went up to slip her arm around Strawberry’s neck, but was angrily thrown off, and just then one of the girl’s regulars, who had not been seen for a long time, rolled up almost silently in his black pickup truck, and Strawberry, screeching with excitement, flew across the sidewalk and into the opening passenger door of the already moving vehicle which carried her off.