anisette shots & a hooker

it's late. the bar's gettin ready to close. the last business suit stumbles    
out the door, after arguing with a girl that he a was annoying. she comes    
over to me,says got a light? I pick up matches from the bar, fire up her    
virginia slim. I'm in town lookin into a business deal that didn't pan out.    
she's got dark hair, but kind of an Ann Sheridan look to her. I look at the    
bottle she's holding: Colony Grace Anisette.    
   
I ask, does she want to come to my hotel with me. she says what I expected    
her to say: I don't come cheap. I say no problem, let's go. in the room, she's    
real casual, like she owns the place. I don't like it, so maybe I'll scare her a    
little. didn't your mother warn you about guys like me?    
   
she stays tough: I never had a mother, & I ran away from my father & the    
tramps he shacked up with when other girls were preparing for 1st communion.    
I been runnin ever since, & I'm tired. I'm real tired. she gets a sad look in her    
eyes, the kind that could bust up a heart as cold as mine.    
   
all I could do was hold her, hard. she clings, like it's exactly what she wanted me    
to do. after a minute she pushes away, goes to the bathroom & gets two plastic    
cups, pours out double shots. I take $200 & put it on the table.    
   
she undresses slow. the dim light shows me beauty that would have made me    
cry if I was more human. I take off my clothes, that all of a sudden feel like    
sandpaper. in bed, we are arms & legs & movements made of desperation.    
we maybe took a trip thru heaven, but I don't know, 'cause I wouldn't recognize    
heaven if I had the blueprints. I know it was never that good before, & never    
would be again.    
   
when the night songs & the bottle were empty, she moved toward the door as I    
watched in bed. she said: don't take no wooden nickels, stranger.    
and she was gone.    
   
the money was stilll on the table.