"So would I, Wise Guy, but all the dames I know are dated up. So here I am all dressed up and no place to go."
"You got two reservations, aint you? Well, let's you and me go in," Bunny suggested. "We may be able to break in on some party."
Max visibly brightened. "That's a good idea," he said. "You never can tell, we might run in on something good."
Swinging their canes, the two joined the throng at the entrance of the Honky Tonk Club and descended to its smoky depths. They wended their way through the maze of tables in the wake of a dancing waiter and sat down close to the dance floor. After ordering ginger ale and plenty of ice, they reared back and looked over the crowd.
Max Disher and Bunny Brown had been pals ever since the war when they soldiered together in the old 15th regiment in France. Max was one of the Aframerican Fire Insurance Company's crack agents, Bunny was a teller in the Douglass Bank and both bore the reputation of gay blades in black Harlem. The two had in common a weakness rather prevalent among Aframerican bucks: they preferred yellow women. Both swore there were three things essential to the happiness of a colored gentleman: yellow money, yellow women and yellow taxis. They had little difficulty in getting the first and none at all in getting the third but the yellow women they found flighty and fickle. It was so hard to hold them. They were so sought after that one almost required a million dollars to keep them out of the clutches of one's rivals.
"No more yallah gals for me!" Max announced with finality, sipping his drink. "I'll grab a black gal first."
"Say not so!" exclaimed Bunny, strengthening his drink from his huge silver flask. "You aint thinkin' o' dealin' in coal, are you?"
"Well," argued his partner, "it might change my luck. You can trust a black gal; she'll stick to you."
"How do you know? You ain't never had one. Ever' gal I ever seen you with looked like an ofay."
"Humph!" grunted Max. "My next one may be an ofay, too! They're less trouble and don't ask you to give 'em the moon."