by Horace McCoy
‘Some of the girls think it’ll take 2,000 hours to win,’ Gloria said.
‘I hope not,’ I said. ‘I don’t believe I can hold out that long.’
‘My shoes are wearing out,’ Gloria said. ‘If we don’t hurry up and get a sponsor I’ll be barefooted.’ A sponsor was a company or a firm that gave you sweaters and advertised their names or products on the backs. Then they took care of your necessities.
James and Ruby danced over beside us. ‘Did you tell her?’ he asked, looking at me. I nodded.
‘Wait a minute,’ Gloria said, as they started to dance away. ‘What’s the big idea of talking behind my back?’
‘Tell that twist to lay off me,’ James said, still speaking directly to me.
Gloria started to say something else but before she could get it out I danced her away from there. I didn’t want any scenes.
‘The son of a bitch,’ she said.
‘He’s sore,’ I said. ‘Now where are we?’
‘Come on,’ she said, ‘I’ll tell him where he gets off—’
‘Gloria,’ I said, ‘will you please mind your own business?’
‘Soft pedal that loud cussing,’ a voice said. I looked around. It was Rollo Peters, the floor judge.
‘Nuts to you,’ Gloria said. Through my fingers I could feel the muscles twitching in her back, just like I could feel the ocean surging through the balls of my feet.
‘Pipe down,’ Rollo said. ‘The people in the box can hear you. What do you think this is a joint?’
‘Joint is right,’ Gloria said.
‘All right, all right,’ I said.
‘I told you once already about the cussing,’ Rollo said. ‘I better not have to tell you again. It sounds bad to the customers.’
‘Customers? Where are they?’ Gloria said.
‘You let us worry about that,’ Rollo said, glaring at me.
‘All right, all right,’ I said.
He blew his whistle, stopping everybody from moving. Some of them were barely moving, just enough to keep from being disqualified. ‘All right, kids,’ he said, ‘a little sprint.’
‘A little sprint, kids,’ the master of ceremonies, Rocky Gravo, said into the microphone. The noise of his voice in the amplifiers filled the hall, shutting out the pounding of the ocean. ‘A little sprint around the track you go—Give,’ he said to the orchestra, and the orchestra began playing. The contestants started dancing with a little more animation.
The sprint lasted about two minutes and when it was finished Rocky led the applause, and then said into the microphone:
‘Look at these kids, ladies and gentlemen after 216 hours they are as fresh as a daisy in the world’s championship marathon dance a contest of endurance and skill. These kids are fed seven times a day—three big meals and four light lunches. Some of them have even gained weight while in the contest—and we have doctors and nurses constantly in attendance to see that they are in the best of physical condition. Now I’m going to call on Couple No. 4, Mario Petrone and Jackie Miller, for a specialty. Come on, Couple No. 4 there they are, ladies and gentlemen. Isn’t that a cute pair? …’
Mario Petrone, a husky Italian, and Jackie Miller, a little blonde, went up to the platform to some applause. They spoke to Rocky and then began a tap dance that was very bad. Neither Mario nor Jackie seemed conscious that it was bad. When it was over a few people pitched money onto the floor.
‘Give, people,’ Rocky said. ‘A silver shower. Give.’
A few more coins hit the floor. Mario and Jackie picked them up, moving over near us.
‘How much?’ Gloria asked them.
‘Feels like about six-bits,’ Jackie said.
‘Where you from, kid?’ Gloria asked.
‘Alabama.’
‘I thought so,’ Gloria said.
‘You and I ought to learn a specialty,’ I said to Gloria. ‘We could make some extra money.’
‘You’re better off without knowing any,’ Mario said. ‘It only means extra work and it don’t do your legs any good.’
‘Did you all hear about the derbies?’ Jackie asked.
‘What are they?’ I asked.
‘Some kind of a race,’ she said. ‘I think they’re going to explain them at the next rest period.’
‘The cheese is beginning to bind,’ Gloria said.
… that for the crime of murder in the first degree
chapter five
IN THE DRESSING ROOM Rocky Gravo introduced Vincent (Socks) Donald, one of the promoters.
‘Lissen, kids,’ Socks said, ‘don’t none of you be discouraged because people ain’t coming to the marathon dance. It takes time to get these things going, so we have decided to start a little novelty guaranteed to pack ’em in. Now here’s what we’re gonna do. We’re gonna have a derby race every night. We’re going to paint an oval on the floor and every night everybody will race around the track for fifteen minutes and the last couple every night is disqualified. I guarantee that’ll bring in the crowds.’
‘It’ll bring in the undertaker, too,’ somebody said.
‘We’ll move some cots out in the middle of the track,’ the promoter said, ‘and have the doctor and nurses on hand during the derby. When a contestant falls out and has to go to the pit, the partner will have to make two laps to make up for it. You kids will get more kick out of it because the crowds will be bigger. Say, when that Hollywood bunch starts coming here, we’ll be standing ’em up …Now, how’s the food? Anybody got any kicks about anything? Alright, kids, that’s fine. You play ball with us and we’ll play ball with you.’
We went out to the floor. None of the contestants had anything to say about the derbies. They seemed to think that anything was a good idea if it would only start the crowds to coming. Rollo came up to me as I sat down on the railing. I had about two minutes more of rest before the next two-hour grind.
‘Don’t get me wrong about what I said a few minutes ago,’ he said. ‘It’s not you, it’s Gloria.’
‘I know,’ I said. ‘She’s all right. She’s just sore on the world, that’s all.’
‘Try to keep her piped down,’ he said.
‘That’s a hard job, but I’ll do the best I can,’ I said.
In a moment I looked up to the runway from the girls’ dressing room and I was surprised to see Gloria and Ruby coming to the floor together. I went over to meet her.
‘What do you think about the derbies?’ I asked her.
‘It’s one good way to kill us off,’ she said.
The whistle started us away again.
‘There’s not more than a hundred people here tonight,’ I said. Gloria and I weren’t dancing. I had my arm around her shoulder and she had hers around my waist, walking. That was all right. For the first week we had to dance, but after that you didn’t. All you had to do was keep moving. I saw James and Ruby coming over to us and I could tell by the expression on his face that something was wrong. I wanted to get away, but there was no place to go.
‘I told you to lay off my wife, didn’t I?’ he said to Gloria.
‘You go to hell, you big ape,’ Gloria said.
‘Wait a minute,’ I said. ‘What’s the matter?’
‘She’s been after Ruby again,’ James said. ‘Every time I turn my back she’s after her again.’
‘Forget it, Jim,’ Ruby said, trying to steer him away.
‘Naw, I won’t forget it. I told you to keep your mouth shut, didn’t I?’ he said to Gloria.
‘You take a flying—’
Before Gloria could get the words finished he slapped her hard on the side of the face, knocking her head against my shoulder. It was a hard wallop. I couldn’t stand for that. I reached up and hit him in the mouth. He hit me in the jaw with his left hand, knocking me back against some of the dancers. That kept me from falling to the floor. He rushed at me and I grabbed him, wrestling with him, trying to jerk my knee up between his legs to foul him. It was the only chance I had.
A whist
le blew in my ear and somebody grabbed us. It was Rollo Peters. He shoved us apart.
‘Cut it out,’ he said. ‘What’s coming off here?’
‘Nothing,’ I said.
‘Nothing,’ Ruby said.
Rollo raised his hand, waving to Rocky on the platform.
‘Give,’ said Rocky, and the orchestra started to play.
‘Scatter out,’ Rollo said to the contestants, who started to move away. ‘Come on,’ he said, leading them around the floor.
‘Next time I’m going to cut your throat,’ James said to Gloria.
‘—you,’ Gloria said.
‘Shut up,’ I said.
I walked away with her, down into a corner, where we slowed up, barely moving along.
‘Are you crazy?’ I said. ‘Why don’t you let Ruby alone?’
‘Don’t worry, I’m through wasting my breath on her. If she wants to have a deformed baby, that’s okay by me.’
‘Hello, Gloria,’ a voice said.
We looked around. It was an old woman in a front row box seat by the railing. I didn’t know her name but she was quite a character. She had been there every night, bringing her blanket and her lunch. One night she wrapped up in her blanket and stayed all night. She was about sixty-five years old.
‘Hello,’ Gloria said.
‘What was the matter down there?’ the old woman asked.
‘Nothing,’ Gloria said. ‘Just a little argument.’
‘How do you feel?’ the old woman asked.
‘All right, I guess,’ Gloria replied.
‘I’m Mrs Layden,’ the old woman said. ‘You’re my favourite couple.’
‘Well, thanks,’ I said.
‘I tried to enter this,’ Mrs Layden said, ‘but they wouldn’t let me. They said I was too old, but I’m only sixty.’
‘Well, that’s fine,’ I said.
Gloria and I had stopped, our arms around each other, swaying our bodies. You had to keep moving all the time. A couple of men moved into the loge behind the old woman. Both of them were chewing unlighted cigars.
‘They’re dicks,’ Gloria said under her breath.
‘… How do you like the contest?’ I asked Mrs Layden.
‘I enjoy it very much,’ she said. ‘Very much. Such nice boys and girls …’
‘Move along, kids,’ Rollo said, walking by.
I nodded to Mrs Layden, moving along. ‘Can you feature that?’ Gloria asked. ‘She ought to be home putting a diaper on the baby. Christ, I hope I never live to be that old.’
‘How do you know those fellows are detectives?’ I asked.
‘I’m psychic,’ Gloria replied. ‘My God, can you feature that old lady? She’s a nut about these things. They ought to charge her room rent.’ She shook her head. ‘I hope I never live to be that old,’ she said again.
The meeting with the old lady depressed Gloria very much. She said it reminded her of the women in the little town in West Texas where she had lived.
‘Alice Faye’s just come in,’ one of the girls said. ‘See her? Sitting right over there.’
It was Alice Faye all right, with a couple of men I didn’t recognize.
‘See her?’ I asked Gloria.
‘I don’t want to see her,’ Gloria said.
‘Ladies and gentlemen,’ Rocky said into the microphone, ‘we are honoured tonight to have with us that beautiful moving picture star, Miss Alice Faye. Give Miss Faye a big hand, ladies and gentlemen.’
Everybody applauded and Miss Faye nodded her head, smiling. Socks Donald, sitting in a box seat by the orchestra platform, was smiling too. The Hollywood crowd had started coming.
‘Come on,’ I said to Gloria, ‘clap your hands.’
‘Why should I applaud for her?’ Gloria said. ‘What’s she got I haven’t? …’
‘You’re jealous,’ I said.
‘You’re goddam right I’m jealous. As long as I am a failure I’m jealous of anybody who’s a success. Aren’t you?’
‘Certainly not,’ I said.
‘You’re a fool,’ she said.
‘Hey, look,’ I said.
The two detectives had left the box with Mrs Layden and were sitting with Socks Donald. They had their heads together, looking at a sheet of paper one of them was holding.
‘All right, kids,’ Rocky said in the microphone. ‘A little sprint before the rest period …Give,’ he said to the orchestra, clapping his hands together and stamping on the platform, keeping time to the music. In a moment the customers were clapping their hands together and stamping too.
We were all milling around in the middle of the floor, all of us watching the minute hand of the clock, when suddenly Kid Kamm of Couple No. 18 began slapping his partner on the cheek. He was holding her up with his left hand, slapping her backwards and forwards with his right hand. But she did not respond. She was dead to the world. She gurgled a couple of times and then slid to the floor, unconscious.
The floor judge blew his whistle and all the customers jumped to their feet, excited. Customers at a marathon dance do not have to be prepared for their excitement. When anything happens they get excited all at once. In that respect a marathon dance is like a bull fight.
The floor judge and a couple of nurses picked up the girl and carried her off, her toes dragging, to the dressing room.
‘Mattie Barnes, of Couple No. 18, has fainted,’ Rocky announced to the crowd. ‘She has been taken to the dressing room, ladies and gentlemen, where she will have the best of medical attention. Nothing serious, ladies and gentlemen—nothing serious. It just proves that there’s always something happening at the world’s championship marathon dance.’
‘She was complaining last rest period,’ Gloria said.
‘What’s the matter with her?’ I asked.
‘It’s that time of the month,’ Gloria said. ‘And she’ll never be able to come back either. She’s the type that has to go to bed for three or four days when she gets it.’
‘Can I pick ’em,’ said Kid Kamm. He shook his head, disgusted. ‘Boy, am I hoodooed! I been in nine of these things and I ain’t finished one yet. My partner always caves in on me.’
‘She’ll probably be all right,’ I said, trying to cheer him up.
‘Nope,’ he said, ‘she’s finished. She can go back to the farm now.’
The siren blew, meaning it was the end of another grind. Everybody ran for the dressing rooms. I kicked off my shoes, piling on my cot. I felt the ocean surge once—just once. Then I was asleep.
I woke up, my nose full of ammonia. One of the trainers was moving a bottle across my chin letting me inhale it. (This was the best way to arouse one of us from a deep sleep, the doctor said. If they had tried to wake you up by shaking you, they never would have done it.)
‘All right,’ I said to the trainer. ‘I’m all right.’
I sat up, reaching for my shoes. Then I saw those two detectives and Socks Donald standing near me, by Mario’s cot. They were waiting for the other trainer to wake him up. Finally Mario rolled over, looking at them.
‘Hello, buddy,’ said one of the detectives. ‘Know who this is?’ He handed him a sheet of paper. Now I was close enough to see what it was. It was a page torn out of a detective magazine, containing several pictures.
Mario looked at it, then handed it back. ‘Yeah, I know who it is,’ he said, sitting up.
‘You ain’t changed much,’ said the other detective.
‘You wop son of a bitch,’ Socks said, doubling his fist. ‘What’re you trying to pull on me?’
‘Nix, Socks,’ the first detective said. Then he spoke to Mario. ‘Well, Giuseppe, get your things together.’
Mario started tying his shoes. ‘I ain’t got nothing but a coat and a toothbrush,’ he said. ‘But I would like to say good-bye to my partner.’
‘You dirty wop son of a bitch,’ Socks said. ‘This’ll look good in the newspapers, won’t it?’
‘Never mind your partner, Giuseppe,’ the second detective sa
id. ‘Hey son,’ he said to me, ‘you tell Giuseppe’s partner good-bye for him. Come on Giuseppe,’ he said to Mario.
‘Take that wop son of a bitch out the back way, boys,’ said Socks Donald.
‘Everybody on the floor,’ yelled the floor judge. ‘Everybody on the floor.’
‘So long, Mario,’ I said.
Mario did not say anything. It had all been very quiet, very matter-of-fact. These detectives acted as if this kind of thing happened every day.
… of which you have been convicted by verdict of the jury …
chapter six
SO, MARIO WENT TO jail and Mattie went back to the farm. I remember how surprised I was when they arrested Mario for murder. I couldn’t believe it. He was one of the nicest boys I’d ever met. But that was then that I couldn’t believe it. Now I know you can be nice and be a murderer too. Nobody was ever nicer to a girl than I was to Gloria, but there came the time when I shot and killed her. So you see being nice doesn’t mean a thing …
Mattie was automatically disqualified when the doctor refused to let her continue in the contest. He said if she did go on with the dance she would injure some of her organs and never be able to have a baby. She raised hell about it, Gloria said, calling the doctor a lot of names and absolutely refusing to quit. But she did quit. She had to. They had the axe over her.
That teamed her partner, Kid Kamm, with Jackie. Under the rules you could do that. You could solo for twenty-four hours but if you didn’t get a partner by then you were disqualified. Both the Kid and Jackie seemed well satisfied with the new arrangement. Jackie had nothing to say about losing Mario. Her attitude was that a partner was a partner. But the Kid was all smiles. He seemed to think that at last he had broken his hoodoo.
‘They’re liable to win,’ Gloria said. ‘They’re strong as mules. That Alabama is corn-fed. Look at that beam. I bet she can go six months.’
‘I’ll string along with James and Ruby,’ I said.
‘After the way they’ve treated us?’
‘What’s that got to do with it? Besides, what’s the matter with us? We’ve got a chance to win, haven’t we?’
