to do that. I’m fine. And what would your parents say?”
Suddenly, he looked older, not the schoolboy I thought he was. “I don’t care what they say. I’m coming.”
After the show Ted came in to give us pointers. I’d been a Lido Doll for over two weeks now, and I still wasn’t used to being in my bra and tights when he came in. I quickly dived behind the wardrobe rack. A couple of the girls — Darla and Mickey, I think — snickered at me. I guess I was more modest than they were. They walked around practically naked without a second thought.
Ted popped out again and Mickey said, “Honey, he’s a fairy. He couldn’t care less. He’s in love with Arthur Frye.”
“The actor?” I squeaked. “In all those Westerns?”
She laughed again and patted my shoulder. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio.”
“What are you telling the kid, Mickey?” Darla asked as she handed her costume to Sonia. “Who’s Horatio? Did Ted break up with Artie? What’s the news?”
Mickey rolled her eyes. “Just because I’m a chorus girl, I can’t know Shakespeare? I’m an actress.”
“Who’s talking Shakespeare?”
“I am. That’s the point. It’s Hamlet. Oh, never mind. I was telling the kid from Rhode Island that she now lives in Manhattan, U.S.A., and to keep her eyes open. There’s lots of ways to live, and she’s going to see them all.”
“Well, sure.” Edna stepped into her pumps. “You see all types. Just the other day on the subway…”
Edna went on with her story, and with a raise of arched eyebrows from Mickey, I realized I didn’t have to listen.
I slipped into the robe I kept at the club just before Ted popped his head back in. When he headed for me, I retied it nervously, afraid I’d done something wrong.
“Mr. D wants to see you up in the lounge,” he murmured.
I looked at him in the mirror and saw my own apprehension. The lounge was upstairs, the private part of the club, where celebrities and the best customers went if they wanted a quiet table away from the crowd, or to keep the party going after hours.
I got my first smile from Ted. “Don’t worry, beautiful, you did fine. All you have to do is have a drink — a soft drink. Then you can go home.”
Ted moved away, dispensing compliments as he went.
“It’s all right, sweetie,” Barb said. “Mr. D likes to meet the new girls.”
Darla frowned. “Did you wear a good dress to work? If you go up to the lounge, you should look like a glamour-puss.”
I shook my head.
“Don’t worry, we’ve got a few numbers stashed here for cases like this.”
Within a few minutes, I’d squeezed into a flame-colored brocade cocktail dress.
“Sonia, don’t we have matching shoes for these somewhere?” Pat called, searching on the shelves. “Kit, what size are you?”
“Seven,” Sonia answered, giving me a pair of matching shoes. “Mr. Benedict asked your size just the other day.”
“I hope he went to I. Miller,” Darla said. She handed me the shoes.
Why had Nate asked my shoe size? And why did he feel so free to talk to Sonia? Was he that much of an insider at the club? I thought uneasily of the clothes and shoes Nate had brought. Had he told me the truth about them?
“Don’t look so nervous.” Polly grinned at me. Without her makeup on, she looked freckled and young, her hair swept back and tucked behind her ears. “Mr. D’s not a wolf, he’s a family man, so you don’t have to worry about that. Just have a club soda. It’ll take ten minutes, tops. He’ll slip you a ten spot for the cab home, too.”
Darla and Mickey and Polly patted and primped me and sent me up the back stairs with a gentle push. They watched like a trio of aunts as I hesitated on the landing, then made shooing motions with their hands until I kept going, up the last flight, down the threadbare green carpet, straight to the lounge.
Cigarette smoke swirled in the dim light. A trio softly played “What Did I Do.”
Mr. D was across the room at a small table, bald spot shining, one hand waving a cigar held down low in the V of his thick short fingers. There was a dapper man sitting with him, his hair combed straight back, smoking a cigarette. I saw the singer Johnnie Ray sitting with the comedian Jerry Temple. Other famous faces were sprinkled around, people I