Weep No More My Lady Read Online Free PDF Page B

pressed the bell again and didn’t stop until someone yanked the door open. Elizabeth shrank back. The woman had heavy dark hair all done up in braids on her head. Her eyes were coal black, and her whole face was terribly angry. The woman wasn’t young, but she was beautiful. Her white silk suit made Elizabeth realize that the blue shorts she was wearing were faded and the dye on her polo shirt had run around the pocket. She had thought Leila looked so pretty when they started out, but next to this woman Leila seemed overdressed and shabby.
    â€œListen,” the woman said, “if you want to leave your picture you can. You try barging in here again and I’ll have you arrested.”
    Leila thrust out the paper in her hand.” You owe me one hundred dollars and I’m not leaving without it.”
    The woman took the paper, read it and began to laugh so hard she had to lean against the door. “You really are dumb! Those jokers pull that stuff on all you hicks. Where’d he pick you up? In the bus terminal? Did you end up in the sack with him?”
    â€œNo, I did not.” Leila grabbed the paper, tore it up and ground the pieces under her heel. “Come on, Sparrow. That guy made a fool of me, but we don’t have to give this bitch a good laugh about it.”
    Elizabeth could see that Leila was so upset she was about to cry and didn’t want the woman to see it. She shook Leila’s arm offer shoulder and stood in front of the woman. “I think you’re mean,” she said. “That man acted nice, and if he made my sister work for nothing you should feel sorry about it, not make fun of us.” She spun around and tugged Leila’s hands. “Let’s go.”
    They started for the elevator, and the woman called after them, “Come on back, you two.” They ignored her. Then she yelled, “I said come back!”
    Two minutes later they were in her private office.
    â€œYou’ve got possibilities,” the woman told Leila. “But those clothes . . . You don’t know a thing about makeup; you’ll need a good haircut; you’ll need composites. Did you pose in the raw for that creep?”
    â€œYes.”
    â€œTerrific. If you’re any good, I’ll submit you for an Ivory Soap commercial, and right then is when your picture will show up in a girlie magazine. He didn’t take any movies of you, did he?”
    â€œNo. At least, I don’t think so.”
    â€œThat’s something. From now on, I do the booking for you.” They left in a daze. Leila had a list of appointments at a beauty salon for the next day. Then she would meet the woman from the model agency at the photographer’s. “Call me Min,” the woman had said. “And don’t worry about clothes. I’ll bring everything you need.”
    Elizabeth was so happy her feet could hardly touch the ground, but Leila was very quiet. They walked down Madison Avenue. Well-dressed people hurried by; the sun was shining brightly; hot dog carts and pretzel stands seemed to be on every corner; buses and cars honked at each other; nearly everyone ignored the red lights and sauntered through the heavy traffic. Elizabeth had a wonderful sense of being home. “I like it here,” she said.
    â€œSo do I, Sparrow. And you saved the day for me. I swear, I don’t know who’s taking care of who. And Min is good people. But, Sparrow, there’s something I’ve found out from that stinking father of mine, and from Mama’s lousy boyfriends, and now from that bastard yesterday.
    â€œSparrow—I’m never going to trust a man again.”

2
    ELIZABETH OPENED HER EYES. THE CAR WAS SLIDING noiselessly past Pebble Beach Lodge, along the treelined road where glimpses of estate homes could be seen through hedges of bougainvillea and azaleas. It slowed down as it rounded a bend and the tree that gave Cypress Point Spa its name