Too Darn Hot Read Online Free PDF Page B

Bird?”
    “Not since I came to work.”
    “It’s hell out there. Don’t go if ya don’t hafta.”
    “Me and Pete are goin to Coney tonight, sit on the board-walk, take in the breeze.”
    I unwrapped my sandwich and took a bite. Delish.
    “You seein Johnny tonight?”
    “Yeah.”
    “Ya oughta go someplace cool.”
    “I think we’re goin to the movies where they got airconditionin.”
    “Whatcha seein?”
    “
This Is the Army,
that new musical.”
    “I hear that’s a good one.” She started singing the title song.
    “Can it, Bird.”
    “Ya don’t like my singin?”
    “I like it fine. I’m just not in the mood.”
    “Well, tell me when ya are and I’ll do all of ‘Yankee Doodle Dandy’ for ya.”
    “I’ll be sure to let ya know.”
    “You want anything else?”
    “I’m just gonna eat my pastrami and read my book.”
    “Suit yerself.” She left my office swinging her behind and singing “You’re a Grand Old Flag.”

FOUR
    V
an Widmark lived on the Upper West Side. There was almost nothing worse than going down into the subway on a hot, humid day. Beyond the smells that could turn a girl’s stomach, it felt like walking into a public bathhouse. Steam seeped from the walls, the ceiling, the floor, and from the trains themselves.
    The platform was crowded and I wondered where all these people were going in the middle of the day. Same thing I wondered when I went to daytime movies. Didn’t anybody in New York City work? Course I worked and I was there.
    The train and its load of steam came in. I got a bench seat next to the window. Not that I could see anything through it. I eyeballed the people around me and once again decided that the human race was a funny-looking bunch. Would somebody from Mars think that?
    A guy down the line was reading the
Daily News.
The back page was hollering about the Yankees being Number One. Of course they were number one. With a roster like they had, who could beat em?
    A woman sat down beside me and said, “I haven’t slept in two years.”
    I turned and gave her the once-over. She didn’t look crazy so I said, “How come?”
    “I know if I close my eyes and sleep, I’ll never wake up again.”
    An interesting theory. This gal had white hair and by the look of her pleated skin, I figured she was in her late seventies.
    “How d’ya keep yerself awake?” I asked.
    “Sew and pull.”
    That was a new one to me. “What’s that mean?”
    “I sit up sewing little squares together and then I pull out all the stitches. It does the trick.”
    “It’s good ya found a way to stay awake.”
    “Yes.” She smiled and I could see how pretty she once was.
    I smiled back and turned away, then opened my book.
    After a few moments she said, “What are you reading, dear?”
    “The Human Comedy.”
    “You’ll like it. I read it when it was first published.”
    “I can’t afford new books. Sometimes I get em from the library, but if I want to own em I gotta wait till they turn up in used-book stores.”
    “But that only came out in February.”
    “Well, that’s six months ago. Anyway, I found it in my favorite store.”
    “And what’s that?”
    “The Bookman on Fourth Avenue.”
    “I love those stores down there.”
    “Me, too.”
    “I’ve probably been in The Bookman, but I never remember names.”
    No wonder if she hadn’t slept in two years.
    “This is my stop,” she said. “It’s time for me to walk. Nice talking to you, dear.”
    “You, too.”
    I watched her go to the doors, and she was pretty sprightly for somebody who hadn’t had forty winks in two years. Crazy as a loon but a sweet old thing. When she got off and the train started moving again, I laughed in my head cause I figured I’d been had. Couldn’t work out why she’d want to tell a whopper like that, but I had to admit it was a way to get someone to talk to you.
    I opened my book again and read until we got to the Eighty-sixth Street stop, where I got off. As I headed for the