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rainy-night woman



Jasper Dagget was a two-bit hood, the kind that made
the dirty streets dirtier. he got college girls hooked on
snow, then turned them out to support their habit. people
on both sides of the law wanted him exterminated, but
that still didn’t make it legal.

his slick John Garfield looks rated him a classy doll named
Laura. I’d seen her in some of the clubs, & she got to me;
somewhere deep inside, someplace no dame ever broke
into before. when they dragged Jasper out of the city river
with a half dozen bullet holes in his Brooks Bros suit, she
was the prime suspect.

I got a call the night she was brought in for questioning, &
drove to the station. she looked beautiful, she always did.
but the strain of grilling was getting to her, the repetition of
her whereabouts the night Dagget bought it. she was in the
soup without a life-jacket, ready to sink, so I said it. I didn’t
think, I just said it: ‘she was with me.’

I normally stick my neck out for nobody, but for even one
night with Laura, my neck was a cheap payoff. it stunned
the room into silence, me included. when the fog cleared,
I signed the paperwork & we left.

here I was with a broken Doll that had no place to go, so
I took her there. the no place I call home.

‘Laura,’ I said, ‘like the movie.’ traffic lights glinted in her misty
eyes. she spoke softly.  ‘no. nothing at all like the movie.’

maybe I was tired of sleeping alone. maybe I wanted
someone to fix me coffee & pancakes in the morning. or
maybe I….. no, I wouldn’t let myself say it. I always figured
that word was nothing but trouble.

she told me something then that I didn’t want to hear. ‘I did it.’
she blurted it out. ‘you’d never sleep, not knowing for sure. if
you’re taking me, you take me clean.’

‘what’s a girl supposed to do,’ she continued, ‘when he beats her
wearing gloves so it doesn’t leave marks. he’d hit me in the belly
so I’d drop to my knees quick, that’s where he wanted me.’

‘he let his buddies use me too, like I was one of his cheap whores.
they couldn’t just stick it in & be done with it, they had to slap me
around when they finished!’

she broke down then, & I held her. held her tight…

…just outside, in the moonlight, soft music plays. we dance a
tender, sleepy dance, my rainy-night woman & I; the velvet
ribbon of love surrounds us, & I am not afraid.

the screen slowly fades…



Written by JohnFeddeler
Published
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