A Pretty Pushover

Danny’s parties always made me feel so ignored. At the crowded speakeasies, he had the prettiest dolls hanging on both his arms, and they were always lifting their short flapper dresses to give a peak at them gams.1

He always left me all alone, so it gave those spifflicated sheiks a chance to make a move on me. One after the other, they came over and they said something like, “Well, well, well…aren’t you just the keenest thing I’ve ever seen? Cash or check, baby?” ‘Cash or check’ meant that that were askin’ me if I wanted to kiss ’em now or later. I guess none of them knew I was attached to Danny, but then I guess none of them would know with the impression that he gave. Sometimes because of the way he hung around with other girls, I even forgot that we were together.2

All those night owls at the speakeasy were so completely drunk that even some of ‘em were upchucking in the alley. And the ones that weren’t nearly as ossified were still wobbling around like nobody’s business and knocking into things and even other people. I couldn’t even see what the place looked like, there were so many people. All I could really see was the table I was sitting at. And I was the only one sitting at that table. I lay my head down on the brown, hard, wooden surface and tried to sleep. It was way too late in the night for me, far later than what I was used to, but Danny insisted that I’d go. Seeing that he was all hotsy-totsy with every other sheba in the joint, I finally decided to throw out his invitation and take off.3

It wasn’t until 3 hours passed that Danny realized I had left. I don’t even think he noticed that I had to walk home, seeing as he’s the one that drove us. It’s not like it mattered though; we didn’t live too far off. He just loved to show off that struggle buggy of his.4

“Baby, why’d you leave the joint, we were having such a good time!” Danny treated me as if I was a wet blanket, as if I ruined his exciting party. Yeah right! He hardly even noticed I was gone until two minutes before.5

“Maybe you were havin’ a good time, Mr. Big Shot, but all I did was sit there and watch all of the flappers around me neckin’ with drunken guys, and most of the time foolin’ around with ‘em too…inside the speakeasy no less! They all looked like rag-a-muffins to me, let me tell ya. And you! You left me to hang around all those pretty dolls. Do you care about me at all?” I started to cry. I was a hysterical wreck, and I kept screaming at my scum boyfriend, pointing my finger in his face so that I hoped he would pay more attention to me instead of something else in the room, just like he did at the speakeasy.6

“Awe sweethart, you know I’m goofy for ya. I was just havin’ a good time. You’re the cat’s meow to me, and you know it. And if you don’t, you should. So don’t go takin’ any wooden nickels, got it? Don’t go breakin’ off what we got together. I still wanna be with you. We’ll go down the middle aisle some day okay, baby?” Danny tried his best to convince me. His words rolled smoothly off the tongue all the time; he didn’t even have to try very hard. All he had to do was tell me that he was committed and I was copacetic.7

“Alright, alright,” I told him I was just jake, that I’d be okay, and I dabbed away my tears with the exact same finger I pointed at Danny not long before.8

Danny and I both knew I was a pushover to his clever words, though I can’t say I really ever did anything about it. I accepted it. I knew that he made empty promises, but I hoped that somehow he would make up for them later.9

One night we went again to one of those speakeasies of his and I tried to chat with some of those Janes that were standing around my usual table, but they were only smoking’ cigarettes up the wazoo so they couldn’t hear a word I was saying. It wasn’t that they couldn’t hear me because they were smoking, it was because they ignored me, just like Danny had. They all gave into the flashy men who tried to seduce them and who had succeeded. It was then I realized that they were the real pushovers. In both ways, I could have touched their forehead and they would have fallen hard to the ground from being so off balance from the five or more drinks they had that night. In the other aspect, they always believed everything those men told them. Dumb, dumb Doras.10

I stopped and thought to myself, “That’s the very reason why I never drink.” Even when I commented silently in my own head I had to scream so that I could hear myself think.11

Just then, a spiffy young man who had the face of a man in his early 20s walked up and sat next to me at that hard, brown, and wooden table that I was sitting at. He sat in a hard, brown, wooden chair that looked like it was nothing more than a few stubs of wood slapped to each other. We were the only ones sitting at that table, and now I wasn’t alone. The speakeasy was crowded, as always, only more so this time. The speakeasy was a sardine can, and all of the spifflicated folk were the skinny, disgusting sardines. This young man and myself were the anti-sardines. Whatever the sardines did, we did the exact opposite, including the exact opposite of what Danny did.12

“How are you, pretty lady?” the stranger greeted me politely.13

“I’m good. Actually, it’s rather stuffy in here, and I’m not exactly have the niftiest time,” I responded, as truthfully as I could. A puff of smoke smothered me and an uncontrollable coughing fit had overtaken me. My eyes welled with tears as I continued to cough.14

“Come on, miss. We need to get you outside in the fresh air,” the stranger asserted himself though the crowd and help me close to assure my safety. We eventually made it outside where we could see rundown homes with trashed cars parked in front. Cross the street there was a house with a loud ruckus coming from within. There were at least a dozen struggle buggies lined up out in front. The windows were fogged to at least an inch it seemed! I could only imagine what they were doing. And to think, they probably only just met.15

I got warm chills all throughout my body when the kind and thoughtful stranger gently rubbed my back as my coughing fit settled.16

“Hi, my name is Veronica,” I stuck out my hair to the stranger after I finally had a chance to breathe natural air instead of smoke.17

“Pleased to meet you, darlin’. The name’s Billy,” he said as he smiled from ear to ear. That smile was a real McCoy: the genuine article. I had never seen a smile as good looking; as that one before I had met Billy.18

“Hey, you wanna get out of here? I just can’t handle the smoke in there. We can listen to the radio at my place if you’d like,” I offered, hoping he would oblige. He was the first person I had met in months that truly interested me, and that had included Danny.19

We started to head off. As we did, though, a chill began to pick up. I clutched my arms close and rubbed them quickly in an attempt to keep myself warm.20

“Here, take my jacket,” Billy draped his jacket over my shoulders ever so gently. As he did, he carried that same smile on his face, the smile that I loved.21

“Why, thank you. Wow…how ritzy is this? I mean, I have never seen anyone dressed like you come into a speakeasy like that one back there., I m.. that joint is so run down and so full of people that…aren’t like you. Why were you there?” I questioned him, honestly curious.22

“Well,” he scratched the back of his ear with his index finger, “I guess you can tell I’m a pretty…rich fella, but I still like to have fun. Not the kind of fun with rich snobs, but with normal people,” he attempted to explain his point thoroughly enough. He wasn’t sure I would understand, “I mean, I hoped I would find someone in there that I could talk to. But when I saw all of the types of people that were in there, I lost hope. I wanted to have fun, not get trashed. Until I layed eyes on you, that is.”23

I smiled and blushed at his comment, “I understand. I don’t fit in with those people though; I would rather have a fun time. That, to me, wasn’t fun; that was madness. I was disgusted,” I tried to show Billy that I wasn’t an alcoholic dumb Dora, but that I was more. I was trying to impress the guy. Because, in all honesty, he was a good-looking guy but he wasn’t a guy with a lot of sex appeal. His personality and the way he carried was amazing. He was beautiful in all aspects.24

We arrived at the place Danny and I lived and I put Billy’s jacket away on the wooden coat rack in the corner. I tuned the radio to my favorite channel, and my heart jumped. Louis Armstrong was playing. He was my favorite. He was the bee’s knees. The cat’s pajamas. I loved that jazz.25

Billy and I both sat next to each other on my town up couch and listened intently. Billy then stood up, turned, looked me in the eyes, presented his palm to me and asked me, “Veronica, may I have this dance?” I giggled, stood, and draped my left hand on his right shoulder as he took my right hand in his. We talked for, it seemed, hours on end. The glow in his eyes drew me in closer. At this point, I couldn’t concentrate on anything else. Everything in the room became hazy. The torn up couch, the radio, Billy’s silky smooth, black jacket, the glowing lamp in the corner…it all became hazy.26

It was then that Danny barged in, enraged.27

“WHAT ARE YOU DOING? SO THIS IS WHY YOU ALWAYS LEAVE THE SPEAKEASY EARLY, HUH? TO HIT THE SAC WITH PRETTY BOY OVER HERE?” He started directly at Billy, and Billy stood there, calm and collected. He didn’t look scared, but instead looked like he was ready to defend me if the need should arise. “What are you doing with my doll, buddy?” he then looked back at me, raised his arm as if ready to slap me across the face, and came rushing toward me, “COME HERE! NO ONE DOES THIS TO ME, INCLUDING YOU HONEY!”28

“Hey!” Billy came to my rescue, just as I had predicted. He stood strong, facing Danny, and stopped him dead in his tracks. Danny took a swing at him, and Billy quickly dodged. He punched Danny right in the kisser. Danny fell to the floor, motionless. Motionless and pathetic.29

I walked up to Danny and stood over his wretched body as he drooled, bled out the nose, and looked up at me with bloodshot eyes, and I screamed in his face so I was sure he could hear me, “It’s over! You don’t care about me at all. You never did. Yo take me for granted, you try to act like a hood. All you do is drink…the bank is closed for all eternity, buddy!”30

Billy picked up his jacket, put his hand on the small of my back and pulled me away from that place. We started to head off to his place. On the way, he stopped me, looked into my eyes, ever so gently placed his palm on my cheek, slowly pulled me in closer, and before I knew it, I was kissing the most wonderful man I had ever met. Warm chills rushed throughout my body and I felt as thought I was about to melt in his arms. It was amazing.31

“You deserve so much more than him you know, Veronica,” Billy smiled, then kissed me again, and we walked away as the sun rose. It was the start of a brand new, better day.32