The Bookstore Clerk Read Online Free PDF Page B

area. The hell with Connie, I thought, she’s a frustrated slut, anyway. I shrugged and got her out of my thoughts.
Danny was in right after me, but he kept yawning and could hardly keep his eyes open. I knew that he’d sleep off his hangover as he’d done many times before. He collapsed into a chair and let his head drop forward.
A few times me or Danny, who finally got out of his chair, answered calls for some book that someone wanted and we sent it up on the dumbwaiter. At other times a clerk would come downstairs and get herself a book; it was an easy way to take a break from the selling floor while sneaking in a cigarette.
“You know, I’m going to be a bookstore clerk one day,” I blurted out to Danny when we were alone.
He sneered and made a face.
“What the hell for?” he said, shaking his head. “You ain’t going to get me up there. Nosirree. Anyway, what makes you think they’ll let you up there? You’re a stock boy, accept it.”
I shook my head.
“Mr. Jennings said he was going to help me,” I said, nodding my head, but I knew I had already said too much.
“Mr. Jennings? That faggot, he wants only one thing, your dick. What have you got to do with him?” He grinned lecherously. “Or have you two already done it, you pussy?”
The phone rang and I reddened, grabbing it. One of the clerks spouted off a title and I went to get it, Danny smiling wickedly after me and shaking his head. When I sent the book upstairs, Danny still was grinning and shaking his head. “I always knew that you were one of them, a pussy faggot.”
“Fuck you!” I spat out. But then I said, “So what if I am? I don’t want to stay in this grubby old stockroom. You want to call me a faggot for that? Good, that’s what I am, but you’ll be in this stockroom for the rest of your life. Me? I’m going where I belong, up on top.” I folded my arms and stood looking at him.
“Faggot,” he simply repeated, leering at me. “Cocksucking faggot.”
We heard heels on the steps; we both looked, it was Connie.
“Hey Connie, what you think about the new bookstore clerk? He said he’s going to work with you, you ready for another sissy up there?”
Connie scowled, staring at me.
“Stop calling people names. You’ve been warned about that.” She turned to me. “Anyway, all the positions are taken. We don’t need anyone else.”
Danny smirked.
“He said Mr. Jennings will help him. I wonder what he’s doing for Mr. Jennings,” and he winked at Connie.
I was very red-faced, as Connie shook her head.
“I only said that one day I might. What’s the point of working here in the basement if you can’t move up?”
Danny sneered.
“That’s right, get yourself an older sugar daddy like Mr. Jennings and bend over. He’ll have you in a nice position, if you know what I mean.”
“Fuck you, you idiot!” I spat.
“Faggot!” Danny responded, sneering at me.
Connie shook her head again and went back upstairs.
“Fuck you, you motherfucker!” I spat at him.
It was 5:30 in the afternoon, near closing time anyway. It was after 6 p.m. as I let myself in the apartment. “Hi sweetie,” Timmy called from the other room. “Be right out.”
I heard what sounded like a closet being shut and went to the couch, removing my shoes and collapsing onto it. Timmy entered the room.
“What’s wrong?” he immediately asked.
“Nothing,” I muttered. “Had some words with Danny, you know, that stock boy in the basement.”
“Over what?”
“About being a bookshop clerk and working upstairs with the other clerks.”
“But I told you not to mention it,” he said, rubbing his head.
“I didn’t mean like right now, but maybe one day in the future. That’s a good way to get out of the basement, that’s all.”
“And what did Danny say to that?”
I frowned. “I mentioned your name and he called me a faggot,” I said, looking up at him. “I really hate him, he’s an asshole.”
Timmy sat down beside me and put his arm around my