The Erection Set

Then the girl with the tinkly laughter came out, a big beautiful brunette who slithered over the carpet like opening the centerfold of Risqué magazine, and handed me a drink. She didn’t have anything on except a black-satin sash tied around her waist and for some screwy reason it was the only thing noticeable.

“Dog, this is Rose,” he said.

“So you’re the Dog?”

“The Dog?”

“From the stories I heard, I was beginning to think you were one of Lee’s war stories. A myth.”

“Rose is a whore,” Lee laughed. “First-class and high-priced. We’re friends.”

I sipped at the drink. It was my usual. A good inexpensive whiskey blend and plenty of ginger ale. I looked at Rose and nodded. “Then we’re friends too, kid. Am I interrupting anything?”

“Come off it, buddy. We’ve been waiting for you.” He stepped back and took a good look at me. “Same damn disreputable Dog,” he said. He glanced at Rose and shook his head. “Never did own a pressed uniform. The only reason the old man in the squadron didn’t chew his ass was because he had more kills than anybody else. Besides, he never left the base anyway.”

“I had more fun in the revetments with duty personnel while you were boozing it up in London,” I reminded him.

Rose sidled up, took my arm to escort me into the living room, Lee behind us carrying my bag. “Like always,” he said, “one lousy suitcase filled with trade goods for the natives, the only clothes the ones he wears on his back and he still needs a shave.”

“I had a half-day layover in Shannon, kid. We got socked in right down the coast. Shannon was the only place open.”

“So you grabbed a bottle and a broad and hit for the hills?”

“I grabbed a book and a beer and hit the lounge.” I stopped at the end of the foyer and let my eyes sweep around his apartment. It was a wild place, this; big, bachelorized, with all the junk professional seducers could ask for and ready for takeoff at the first scramble horn. “Nice,” I said. “Why the hell didn’t you ever get married?”

Rose squeezed my arm and let out that laugh again. “Kids never get married. They just want to play.”

“A pretty expensive playground.” I looked at Lee. “What are you up to now?”

He picked an ice cube out of his drink and popped it into his mouth. “I’m an arranger, old buddy.” He caught my frown and grinned even bigger. “Not that kind, you nut. I dumped advertising and busted into show biz. What I arrange is hard-to-get properties or people for the theatrical trade. It pays for the playground.”

“Who pays for the playmates?”

Lee reached out and tugged the black satin cord at Rose’s waist and it came loose in his fingers. Somehow it was like undraping a nude. Suddenly she was really naked and the effect was startling. I shook my head and took a sip of my drink.

“Friends are for fun,” he said.

Rose tipped her head and her hair swirled down around her shoulders. “Dog,” she said, “you should be staring. You’re not. Why?”

“I wouldn’t want to embarrass myself so early in our meeting. You won’t be forgotten so easily, so don’t worry.” She finished her drink and put the empty glass down on the table. “Why don’t I leave you two retreads to get your old-timer talk out of the way and when you both sober up I’ll get another girl and we can plow this city up a little.”

I said, “Look, Lee ...”

But he stopped me right there with a wave of his hand and gave a handful of her hair an affectionate tug. “You get to be more of a woman every day, sugar. She’s right, Dog. We got a lot of time to make up for in a hurry.” He gave her fanny a tender pat. “Better not go out looking like that.” He handed her the satin cord and she knotted it around her wrist. “That’s more like it,” Lee told her.

I shook my head and laughed. I thought a scene like this had died with the war. We both watched her deliberate burlesque-stage walk toward the bedroom with sheer appreciation, fascinated by the way the muscles of her thighs and back rippled in the light. At the door she turned and looked over her shoulder. “Dog,” she said, “what’s your right name?”

“Dogeron. It’s an old Irish name.”

“I like Dog better. Do you bite?”

“Only in the heat of passion,” I said.

REFLECTIONS ROSE PORTER, SINGLE, AGE 28.

Three years in whoredom and no married woman can match my knowledge. Except the answer to why to have a man. One push from a forty-five-year-old fat grocer and my virginity became history with two boxes of Shredded Wheat and a candy bar for silence.