We had another grenadine apiece and decided to call it an evening, but just before we arose to go, I saw Jay-Jay starting up the stairs to the street. He had a girl with him but he looked across at me very perplexedly. When I caught his eye I burst out laughing and held up my hand “thumb down.” He slapped his cap on the side of his head and pushed his baby roughly up the stairs and out of sight. Even a brave man can’t stand ridicule: Jay-Jay would think twice about being laughed at before he tried any more tricks with me. This mademoiselle was too far away to even think about having to pay: hinky dinky parley-vous? Vive le Cognac!
CHAPTER 14
It Takes a Woman to Catch a Woman
—1—
One day Ben was singing and an intellectual sort of chap in the next room piped up to tell him that his voice sounded “like two skeletons dancing on a tin roof and a pregnant bullfrog singing jazz.”
I was reminded of this the next night when I got home and found him there. He wasn’t singing, yet; he was just dying to explode about his adventure of the day.
“I been out with the sweetest little woman ya ever saw! An’ she talks English!” he declared enthusiastically.
“No lovin’ party to-night?” I inquired.
“Sure!” he exclaimed as if I had insulted him. “I’m tellin’ ya: this captain knew all the tricks an’ she didn’t skip any on my account! Boy, that captain made me forget home, mother, religion and all the wars that ever was fought! Why, Leony, that captain....”
“Hey! Hey! Just a minute!” I cried. “What were you telling me about staying clear of men like that?”
“Huh?”