* * * * *
She was pink and clean and her platinum hair was pulled straight back,
drawing her cheek-bones tighter, straightening her wide, appealing
mouth, drawing her lean, athletic, feminine body erect. She was wearing
a powder-blue dress that covered all of her breasts and hips and the
upper half of her legs.
The most wonderful thing about her was her perfume. Then I realized it
wasn't perfume, only the scent of soap. Finally, I knew it wasn't that.
It was just healthy, fresh-scrubbed skin.
I went to her at the bus stop, forcing my legs not to stagger. Nobody
would help a drunk. I don't know why, but nobody will help you if they
think you are blotto.
"Ma'am, could you help a man who's not had work?" I kept my eyes down.
I couldn't look a human in the eye and ask for help. "Just a dime for a
cup of coffee." I knew where I could get it for three cents, maybe two
and a half.
I felt her looking at me. She spoke in an educated voice, one she used,
perhaps, as a teacher or supervising telephone operator. "Do you want
it for coffee, or to apply, or a glass or hypo of something else?"
I cringed and whined. She would expect it of me. I suddenly realized
that anybody as clean as she was had to be a tourist here. I hate
tourists.
"Just coffee, ma'am." She was younger than I was, so I didn't have to
call her that. "A little more for food, if you could spare it."