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Page 17.

A few hours later, John Longfield and Kate Morgan were in bed in a shabby hotel. John had paid for their beers, as promised, and he’d paid for the night here. Kate felt a languid sense of generosity and wanted to repay him with something sweet. She did not want him to know about her room not far away, nor could she bring him there. Here, where nobody asked questions, a blanket covered them on a fresh but rude bed. The sheets were clean, but stiff. Their smell had an alkaline bite of cheap soap. John and Kate were naked. Their clothes hung thrown over a chair. Their bare shoulders and faces were sweaty from sex. He noticed she wore a gold locket on a chain around her neck. He was still on top, as they exchanged languid kisses. She was a lively mare of a woman. “You wear me out, my sweet.” He palmed her thigh. “And I love it.” He rolled over beside her.

Kate loved his boyish, irresponsible grin. “My handsome playboy.” She planted a string of kisses across his features. “I’m tired, honey, and I have to be at work early.” She’d had experience with boys very early, even before Tom, but had never cheated on him, not even in their last few years together, when he’d been terrible to her. Since she’d left him, she’d had an occasional quick fling. Tom had been the love of her life, and she never expected to trust a man again or get involved, and had no intention of it with this one, but she knew she would be a little taken with this one and maybe let him under her skin a bit, as long as he didn’t hit her or drink too much. Men were men—there was no changing them. Evolution had worked for women, but men had remained monkeys. She took his sex in her hand and played with it tenderly.

John said: “Where do you work?”

Kate said: “I am a substitute maid. I work all over. A day here, a week there. If a maid has to visit her dying mother, or a maid is out sick, they hire me for the short term.” She felt him grow hard in her hand again. Did this boy have a full coal tender, always ready to roll and toot? What surprised her was that she didn’t want him to conquer her. She wanted to take him, safely control him, enjoy him at arms’ length. She sighed deeply, shuddering, realizing how much she needed a man, and here he was.

John pressed himself upon her once more. She put him into her, and they rocked together with eyes closed. John said: “I want you, oh God I want you.”

Kate said: “I want you too, sweetheart. I’ve been pretty lonely, working for those stiff-neck phonies up in the good part of town.” She chortled softly. “They have no idea about the good parts of town.” She reached down under the covers and palmed his behind. “But I do.”

John groaned and gasped as she expertly rocked him to climax. They moaned together, holding each other. His climax excited her over the top.

He whispered: “Where did you learn these tricks? Where do you come from, woman? Where do they make women like you?”

“You really want to know?”

John nodded as they lay quietly, side by side, in the soft light..

Kate said: “I was born in Hamburg, Iowa, named Katie Farmer. My mother died when I was young. I grew up restless, before the trains came through. I was a wild kid, the devil to my poor widowed dad and my grandfather. I am from a wealthy miller’s family.”

John said: “With all that money, why did you leave them?”

Kate said: “I never could sit still or behave. On a freezing cold day, one of the worst winters in many years, I married a young fellow named Thomas Morgan. He had the same wild streak I did, and we understood each other well, soul to soul. My grandfather, Joe Chandler—he knew I was hard of heart and harder of head. The Transcontinental Railroad came in, which was good for the millers to send their flour far and wide, but Tom and I, we caught the travel bug and ran off to see the world. Once we saw those wonderful trains going far and wide, we couldn’t stop ourselves. We did some nasty tricks on people to stay flush.” She giggled.

“And this man of yours?”

“He turned mean, beat me bloody, threw me down the stairs. I can never have children again. So I left him, and I haven’t seen him in several years. I hope I never lay eyes on him again.”

“Ah. So you have no children then.” It was as much a question as a polite comment. Kate was silent for a while. He stroked her face with his fingers, kissed her gently, and enjoyed being with her. That softened her up, and she cuddled close to him. She touched her locket and said tenderly, breaking up in tears a bit: “Tom and I had a fine little boy. My little Eddie. He lived just two days, the poor little angel. I don’t know why he was taken. He lived long enough to have a little name all his own—Eddie. That’s all he got—two nights and one day of grim, icy gray winter, and then he was taken. Tom and I went a long time before I became pregnant again, and then he got drunk and threw me down the stairs. I can’t have children now. After that I left him. And I still look over my shoulder every day. I’m afraid of him.” She started crying.

John comforted her with kisses and tender words. She held onto him tightly. “You be good to me.”

“I will,” John promised. He felt himself growing hard again.

Kate said: “I’ve been on my own ever since. I’ve figured out how to take care of myself. That’s all it is. Taking care of yourself in a world that takes your babies. There’s a rich family named Spreckels in San Francisco where I worked. They had thirteen children. Only five lived. They lost eight—so what kind of world is this?”

John said: “I know, I know. A tough one. And you have to know how to get through the day and not let the other dogs run off with your bone. You figure losing Eddie made you tough?”

Kate said: “Oh no, the other way around. I was plenty tough. That made me understand what it was to feel something. It softened me a bit. I thank Eddie for it every day. I always had a hard time feeling for other people. Now I cry when I think of that.” She sniffled.

A while later, Kate and John lay drowsily in each other’s arms. They nuzzled slowly on their way to sleep.

John said: “Wake me when you get up.”

“Are you going to work too?”

“Lost my job. I’m fixing a problem for a friend.”

“And what’s that, sweetie?”

“This friend of mine knocked a lady up, and I’m taking her to a doctor to get her problem fixed.”

“She is pregnant?”

“Yeah. In a manner of speaking.”

“How far along?” She knew, from the sound of his voice, what it was about, and she thought of her Spreckels plan.

“Can’t be more than two months. Three at most.”

“Level with me, Lothario. She’s your piece, right?”

“Was. I wish I could shake her. I promised her sister I would take her to this woman for an abortion, but then I lost the money—I was just trying to multiply it, so to speak, so I could double it, take care of Lizzie, and still have a pile. But I ran out of luck, until you helped me, bless your soul.”

“Maybe we can help each other out. By the pale of your finger, I see you’re hiding a wedding ring.”

“You’re sharp. Actually, since I lost my job, I pawned it, along with Lizzie’s earrings. My old lady’s no sweat.”

“I know what you mean. There’s my old man dangling around someplace. So Lizzie is the name of your problem, is it?”

“One of them.”

“Oh yes, the wife and kids. Well, honey, you can warm my bed for however long I am in town. I’ll be no trouble to you. I’m barren as an Iowa field in winter, I don’t carry disease, and I am hot as fire.”

John mounted her again and said: “Oh God bless you. I do love you so. Give me some more of that. I can’t stay away.”

“Have all you want. There’s plenty more for you—all you need.” As they headed to climax, Kate held him and thrust back with all her bodily might while she goaded him: “Come on, give it to me. Give me all you’ve got. More! Harder! Show me you’re a man. Rip me now, in me hard. No shame. Just do me down and dirty so I feel you deep…”

Next morning, in a gray dawn light, Kate dressed. She looked tired but happy. She had her hair up in both hands, and hairpins in her mouth. “John!”

John stirred and moaned faintly. Then he sat up, rubbing his eyes. “My God, is it morning already? You wore me out last night.”

“I’ll wear you out plenty more, don’t worry. Go get the girl, bring her to town. Get her a fancy place that she’ll like.”

John said: “Lizzie is so particular! She’s neat and dainty like a great lady, even though she’s just a fired little factory girl.”

Kate threw down a few bills. “Here—get a dollar-a-day place downtown. That should impress her. I’ll tell you more this evening. I have something in store for that girl—for us three, actually.”