79 Park Avenue Read Online Free PDF

For a dime you could stay in there all day and beat the heat.
    "Marja!" A girl's voice behind her called.
    She turned and looked back. It was her friend Francie Keegan. She waited for the girl to come up to her. "Hi, Francie."
    Francie was out of breath from hurrying up the block. She was a big girl, heavy-set, with full, ripe breasts and hips. She was a year older than Marja and had thick black hair and dark-blue eyes. "Where yuh goin', Marj?" she asked, still breathing harshly.
    "Home," Marja answered succinctly. "It's too damn hot to stay out."
    A look of disappointment crossed Francie's face. "I thought we might go to a show."
    "Got money?" Marja asked.
    "No."
    "Neither have I," Marja said and turned back up the block.
    Her friend fell into step with her. "Christ!" she exclaimed- "Everybody in the whole world is broke!"

    A half-smile crossed Marja's face. She looked at her friend out of the corners of her eyes. "Now she tells me."
    They walked another few steps silendy; then Francie put her hand on Marja's arm. "I got an idea."
    Marja looked at her.
    "Old Man Rannis," Francie explained. "Maybe we can promote some change outta him."
    Marja shook her head. "Uh-huh. I just been there."
    "An'?" Francie asked curiously.
    "Nothin'," Marja said. "I got a candy bar after lettin' him use his X ray on me."
    "So?"
    "That's all," Marja continued. "Then he wanted me to go in the back with him an' see the new paint job, but no money. I owe him three and a quarter already. I even gave him a feel, but all he wanted was to go in the back."
    Francie thought over her friend's statement. At last she spoke. "Akey's on the candy bar."
    Marja smiled. "Too late." She rubbed her stomach meaningly. "1 already ate it."
    "Damn!" Francie swore. "I got no luck today at all." She began to walk again. "I guess we might as well go home." She wiped her face on the short cotton sleeve of her dress. "Damn! It's hot."
    Marja didn't speak. They walked silently. They were almost halfway up the block before they exchanged another word.
    "Who's home?" Francie asked.
    "Everybody, I guess," Marja answered. "My mother doesn't go to work until five o'clock." Her mother was a cleaning woman in an office downtown and worked until two in the morning.
    "Your stepfather, too?"

    A cold look came into Marja's eyes, making them almost black. "Especially him," she said contemptuously. "He wouldn't leave his three cans of beer for all the money in the world."
    "Doesn't he work at all? Ever?" Francie asked.
    Marja laughed. "Why should he? He never had it so good. Three squares an' all the beer he can drink. He's no dope. Jus' sits aroun' all day an' burps."
    A strange look came into Francie's eyes. "He stopped me in the hall the other day."
    Marja turned to her. "What'd he want?"
    "He asked some questions about you."
    "Like what?"
    "Like about what you did outside. With boys. That kind uh thing."
    "Oh." Marja thought for a moment. "He's always asking me, too. What'd you tell him?"
    "Nothin'," Francie answered. "I'm no dope."
    A mild sigh of relief escaped Marja's lips. "He'd just love to get somethin' on me. He hates me."
    "I know," Francie said. "Sometimes I can hear him hollerin' upstairs." Francie lived in the apartment over Marja.
    "He's always hollerin'," Marja answered.
    They were almost at the house now. The tenements were all alike on this block. The same faceless brown stone that once had known better days, black and durty windows staring bUndly into the street.
    They stopped at the stoop. There was an uncovered garbage can near the entrance. While they stood there, a gray alley cat jumped up onto it, chasing the swarm of flies, and began to rummage through it. They watched him silendy.

    Marja wrinkled up her nose. "You'd think the super would have the brains to cover the can in this weather." She sniffed the air. "It stmks."
    Francie didn't speak. They started up the steps. A wolf whistle came from across the street They both turned around.
    Three boys had just