Capital Sins Read Online Free PDF Page B

like that.' Connie
laughed, interpreting Tilly's expression. 'We met
boys at dances, places like that, so I'm not quite as green as I look.'
    Her eyes
had a faraway, distant look, and Tilly had the
feeling the girl had forgotten the present.
    'I met this
boy ... Lucas his name was. All my mates envied me for getting him. He was really
something, you know? Well, in the middle of this dance, he pulls me to him and
suggests we go out for a walk... ' Tilly smiled knowingly, but didn't interrupt. '... It was a warm night, I remember,
it being the middle of summer like, so I didn't bother with my cardigan. We
took our cokes and slipped away to this empty barn nearby ...
'
    'Go on,' Tilly said impatiently. 'Did he do it to you?' Connie's
face was comical. 'He sure did, but I was surprised that it didn't hurt.'
    'It doesn't
if you'd been broken before,' Tilly said wisely.
    'I suppose
so. Anyway, it was all a bit grubby and quick, nothing like I'd expected and
afterwards I wished I hadn't let him. I hardly knew what was happening at the
time.'
    'A disappointment, huh?'
    'A bit,'
Connie admitted. 'He wasn't very romantic about it – just pulled down my
knickers and that was it.'
    'Was that
the only time, then?' When Connie nodded, Tilly sniffed snootily. 'So you're not very experienced after all.'
    'I didn't
say I was. I just said I wasn't as green as I look.'
    They drank
in silence for a while, then Tilly said, 'And you
don't know anything about your parents?'
    'I picked
up a bit of news here and there along the way. I'm not sure it's true, but I
heard that my mother was Norwegian, and that she came to this country as an au
pair or something to study the lingo. They said she was beautiful, so I guess
she didn't lack for boyfriends at all.' She drew up her legs and rested her
chin on her knees, looking pensive. 'It seems she met this guy, an actor by all
accounts, and got pregnant by him. I was the result. They said she had a good
home back in Norway and was more or less engaged to a bloke there. I guess she
didn't want to jeopardise her future with him, so after I was born, she dumped
me.'
    'She never
visited you ever?'
    'I don't
remember. Guess she returned to her own country soon after without telling her
folks and got married.'
    'What
happened to your father, this actor?'
    'His name
was on my birth certificate, and I remember when I saw his name I just cried all
day. I'd heard of him, you see. He was quite famous at one time.'
    'Didn't you
bother to contact ' im , or ' im you?'
    'I read
about him in the papers later. The article said that he had once earned as much
as a thousand a week ... ' Tilly's eyes widened. '...
in a musical or play, but then suddenly nobody wanted to employ him, and he'd
been caught shoplifting in a store. He was really down, and couldn't afford to
keep himself hardly, let alone pay the rent.'
    'What ' appened to ' im ?'
    Connie
shrugged. 'Maybe he became nameless and lost among a crowd of tramps, maybe he
turned to meths ... He's probably dead now, I don't
really know.'
    'Don't you
care?'
    'Of course
I do,' Connie said bitterly, 'but where will caring about him get me? Did he
ever care about me – my mother either?' Her eyes darkened.
    'Hell, you ain't had it so bad, kid. I'd say you was one of the lucky ones, not having parents around.'
    Connie
looked sympathetic. 'Rough home life?'
    'Sheer hell.'
    'Let's talk
about you, then,' Connie suggested graciously ..
    'OK,' Tilly said, with obvious relish. 'Ask away.'
    Connie
pursed her lips. 'What do you do?'
    'I'm an ' ostess in a club.'
    'Really?'
    'Why should
I lie? I been workin ' at the
Topaz for about six months now.'
    'Doing
what?'
    '' Ostessing , what else?' And Tilly gave her a look as if she were really dense.
    'What did
you do before?'
    Tilly smirked. 'Believe it or not, I was livin ' with me mum
and dad.'
    'What made
you leave them?'
    'A girl's gotta get out and do things, see things for ' erself , ain't she? Christ, but it
was awful there! They was