Taming a Sea Horse Read Online Free PDF

time, Ginger said, "No."
    "It wasn't money?"
    "No."
    "It was love," I said.
    "I'm sick of looking at this fucking bear," she said.
    "Sure."
    We moved toward the monkey house. In front of a cage full of capuchin monkeys Ginger turned and leaned her fanny on the railing and said, "Yeah. It was love."
    "Better reason than money," I said.
    "Bullshit," Ginger said. "Men think shit like that. Women don't."
    "Hard to generalize," I said. "What happened when you got to New York?"
    "He put me on the street."
    "Now, that's love," I said.
    Ginger looked past me at the monkeys in the cage across the aisle. She didn't say anything.
    "Sorry," I said.
    She looked back at me silently and nodded. "So you were on the street."
    "Robert was studying music and he needed time and so I split my money with him."
    "And what did he contribute?"
    "I thought he loved me," Ginger said. "And he was protection."
    "Against what?"
    "Whatever. He'd hang around in case the john was freaky. Or tried to rip us off. Make sure I came out when I was supposed to. Stuff like that."
    We walked toward the lions. On the other side of the pit was a guy selling popcorn. "You want some?" I said.
    "Sure," Ginger said.
    I left her leaning on the railing looking at the lions and walked over to the popcorn cart. When I came back two teenage Hispanic kids were talking to her. The heavier of them made a kissing sound with his lips and rubbed his thumb across his fingertips. He had on a yellow silk jacket. I handed Ginger the popcorn. And looked at the two kids.
    "She wit' you, man?"
    I nodded.
    "We thought she was alone, man." Both kids were much shorter than I was and I was looking down at them. Always effective. I kept looking. The kid in the yellow jacket shrugged and he and his pal swaggered away.
    "I'm impressed," Ginger said.
    "At what?"
    "You. You must be fairly scary. Kids like that aren't normally scared of anything."
    "They are, they pretend they're not," I said.
    "With you they didn't pretend. They must have seen something."
    "They probably sensed I am pure of heart," I said. "What happened? How come you're not in a classy call house? Why'd he turn you out on the street?"
    She shrugged again. In the strong sunlight there were small wrinkles around her eyes. Her makeup looked harsh.
    "He says I'm shopworn," she said. I raised my eyebrows.
    She nodded and ate some popcorn. She held the box out toward me. I shook my head. "So Rambeaux moved you down scale."
    "Un huh. A lot less money per trick."
    "So more tricks," I said.
    "Robert's tuition payments didn't drop," she said.
    "They never will," I said.
    "Tell me something I don't know," Ginger said.
    "And when you get a little more shopworn?"
    "There's a place in Miami," she said, "where the girls never get out of bed. Guys get fifteen minutes, by the clock, then a bell rings and they gotta get off, and the next guy gets on."
    "A little short on foreplay," I said.
    "It's a living," Ginger said.
    "No," I said. "It isn't."

7
    We were in a place on Seventh Avenue called Freddy's, sitting at the bar. Ginger was drinking a Tequila Sunrise.
    "Robert doesn't check me during the day," Ginger said. "He has an idea how much I should average, I don't come up with it and he gets sort of nasty."
    I had a draft beer. I took a small sip. It was only two in the afternoon. I had a long day ahead.
    "So he don't care. I'll give him a nice take for today. He don't care if I earn it fucking or talking."
    "Except about him," I said.
    Ginger's eyes got rounder and she stared at me. "He won't know that," she said.
    "Not from me," I said.
    She drank some more of her drink, and looked at the bartender. He nodded and brought her another one.
    "He can be awful mean," Ginger said.
    "Musicians are sensitive," I said. "They're easily upset."
    "Shit," Ginger said. There was a big purple bruise on her upper right arm. But she had that kind of pale northern European skin that bruises easily and she may have earned the bruise in plying her trade.
    "You like