79 Park Avenue Read Online Free PDF Page B

come from the pool parlor opposite their house and were looking at them. One of them called out: "Hey, Francie, who's yer blond friend?"
    The girls exchanged looks quickly and a tight smile came to their hps. "Why'n't yuh come over an' find out?" Francie called back.
    The three boys whispered something to each other in the doorway while Marja tried to recognize them. The one who had called to Francie she had seen several times before. He Uved down the block. She couldn't remember his name. The other two she had never seen.
    The two strangers were both tall. One was fair-haired— brown, almost blond—with an open face and gentle blue eyes; the other, almost the opposite. Dark, good-looking, with handsome Grecian features and a fuU, sensual mouth. After a moment the blond one walked away from the others with a wave of his hand and the remaining boys sauntered slowly across the street
    "HuUo, Jimmy," Francie said as they drew near.
    Jimmy was a thin boy, his eyes sUghtly protruding, his face covered with the remains of a vanishing acne. He smiled, showing white buck teeth. "Where yuh been keepin' yerself, Francie?" he asked.
    "Aroun'," she answered. "You?"
    He looked down at the sidewalk a moment before he answered. "Around." He looked at his friend quickly. "What're yuh doiu'?"

    "Nothin'," Francie answered. "We were jus' goin' up to get outta this heat."
    "Ross an' me were jus' goin' fer a swim," Jimmy said quickly. "Wanna come?"
    Francie looked at Marja, who had been silent up to now. There was a glimmer of interest in Marja's eyes. "If we go upstairs to get our bathing-suits," she explained, "we couldn't come back."
    The other boy laughed. His laugh was surprisingly deep. "We can get suits where we're going," he said.
    "Ross's got a car," Jimmy said. "We were goin' out tuh Coney Island."
    Marja spoke for the first time. "Then what're we standin' here talkin' for?"
    The other boy reached for Marja's arm. His grip was firm and sure, and she came down off the stoop toward him. The laughter was still deep in his throat. "That's it, baby," he said, his eyes challenging her. "I Uke a girl what knows her mind."
    She fell mto step beside him and looked up at him, her own eyes meeting his challenge. "It ain't my mind I know," she laughed. "It's my body. And it's hot."
    "Can't be too hot for me," he said.
    The others fell into step behind them. She looked over her shoulder at Francie. Jimmy was whispering something to her and Francie was smiling and nodding. She looked up at the boy next to her. "Where yuh parked?"
    "Just around the comer," he said. "My name's Ross Drego, what's yours?"
    "Marja," she answered.
    "Your whole name, I mean," he msisted.
    She looked mto his eyes. "Marja Anna Flood."
    "Flood's an English name," he said in a puzzled voice.

    "I'm Polish," she said quickly. "It was changed from Ruudjmcki."
    "I can see why." His smile took the edge off his phrase.
    They were around the comer now, and he steered her to a Buick roadster with the top down. He opened the door wi± a flourish. "Your chariot, giris."
    Marja stopped and looked at the car, then at him.
    "What are you waiting for?" he asked. "Get in."
    She shook her head. "Uh-uh. This looks like the wrong kind uh hot to me."
    A puzzled expression came into Ross's eyes. "What do you mean?"
    "I ain't goin' for no joy ride in a stolen car," she said. "I can get into enough trouble on my own."
    Ross began to laugh. "The car isn't stolen," he said. "It's mine."
    She looked at him doubtfully. "Oh, yeah? Where do you come to a job like this? That's probably why your friend didn't want to go with yuh."
    Ross grinned. "You mean Mike Keyes? He had to go back to work. He helps his old man around the house. He's the super."
    She was still skeptical. "I don't buy it," she insisted stubbornly.
    Jimmy's voice came over her shoulder. "Go ahead, get in. It's his car, all right. His old man gave it to him."
    She stepped back from the car. "Prove it first," she said.
    The laughter had