Msthed Logo Volume 12 Issue 2 Spring-Summer: Extended Outlooks: The Iow Review Collection of Contemporry Writing by Women The Iow Review Article 43 1981 Plces Lois Eline Griffith Follow this nd dditionl works t: https://ir.uiow.edu/iowreview Prt of the Cretive Writing Commons Recommended Cittion Griffith, Lois Eline. "Plces." The Iow Review 12.2 (1981): 137-149. Web. Avilble t: https://doi.org/10.17077/0021-065x.2712 This Contents is brought to you for free nd open ccess by Iow Reserch Online. It hs been ccepted for inclusion in The Iow Review by n uthorized dministrtor of Iow Reserch Online. For more informtion, plese contct lib-ir@uiow.edu.
Plces Lois Eline Gri?th THE GIRLS FROM the lterntive nnex hung out in the re dining fter school. The boys from voctionl engineering would lredy be there since they got out t 2:00. Everything plstic nd chrome-lit under fluorescent light. Ornge bng nd coconut frost. While the st boys round sipping sods, the Chllenger nd Honey Bun girls hd their fter noon fight. There were few drops of nose blood nd prt of sleeve from florl printed blouse on the floor when security cme. The best punches hd lredy been thrown. Mintennce to quick follow nd clen up the wet spots. Someone might slip nd fll nd sue. Mrsh wtched the whole scene over Gussie's shoulder. They took their coffee brek time to mke out in the stirwell of the emergency exit. "Give it to me, bby. Spred out." Mrsh obeyed nd opened her legs little wider. "Come on, let me mke you feel good. Let me give you some tongue." "Augustin, re you crzy. Not here." "Come on, bby, I need you." Mrsh's pnts were lredy round her knees. Why not she thought. She wtched the girls get the on fight in the plstic eting re. Every body's got to get their rocks off somehow. When Gussie finlly mde her come, she djusted her clothes nd the two women strted mking their wy bck to work long the indoor venues of the shopping mll. "Relx next time. Then I won't hve to work so hrd," Gussie sid. "Someone's going to ctch us one of these dys, you know." "Admit it. Tht blck beefeting dick you go out with doesn't turn you on hlf s much s I do." "Tony's O.K. You're just jelous. He hs his good points." "So do I," Gussie reminded her, "otherwise you wouldn't be out there in the emergency exit." She lughed. "You wnt some ice crem. My tret." Mrsh stopped t the slush stnd between Wendy's nd Itlin Blimpy's. "I wish tht Tech HiFi would get it together with their system." 137 University of Iow is collborting with JSTOR to digitize, preserve, nd extend ccess to The Iow Review www.jstor.org
Gussie wtched the workmen in the spce llocted for sound trying to hook up the pre-mps to the power-mps. "I cn't et ll this. You tke some." "Just little." Mrsh licked wy ll the swirls the mchine hd mde pumping out the chocolte cone. "It's definitely not H?gen Dzs," she sid, returning it hlf eten. "Bby, for not being good, you sure like how it tstes." Gussie pulls t the fly of her pnts like mn. She spreds her legs little s she wlks, s if hiking up something tht might get cught in the crotch. "Will you stop tht.... O look t tht dress. It's on sle. They must hve chnged Gussie?" "Wht for." "Just for the hell of it." "It's not my style." "O come on...." their windows lst night. Hve you "You come on. I'm not so stupid tht I fll for mteur "Well, if I'm so stupid why do you bother with me." ever worn hype." dress, "I didn't sy you were stupid, Mrsh. You just never let on how freky you re. It hs to be sucked out of you." Gussie hd her rm linked through Mrsh's s the two stood in front of the Phse HI window. She gently rubbed the bck of her hnd on the side of Mrsh's brest. "Cut it. Someone's going to see." The two strted wlking gin. "Why do you cre?" "I hte gossip." "You tlk bout people you don't know." Gussie lughed nd her chest strted to jiggle under the tight-fitting red T-shirt tht hd Puerto Rico written on it in itlic script. "Wht's tht supposed to men?" "Como sentimientos, bochincherit." Gussie squeezed Mrsh's rm gin. "Cut it out. Why do you like to tese me. You wnt to be so superior." "Me tese you," Gussie bcked wy. "You cn't give me nything more thn the bck of your tit." "O come on, I give you lot. You don't know how to tke me. But you lwys mnge to get wht you wnt, nywy. It comes round you." 138
"Like wht.... O stop. Now I don't wnt to be Wht bout tomorrow." "Wht bout it." "Sme time, sme plce." tlking like kid.... "Mybe." "Mybe. "M?n, Mybe chic." tese." They hd come to the foot of the min escltor nd Mrsh stepped on to mke tht climb to the third blcony. She worked s slesgirl in the Flsh nd Funk Boutique. The clothes were hot nd stylish swet shop productions of Jmicn designer, working for Seventh Avenue import compny, receiving fbrics from Indi nd the Philippines for pen nies yrd, from merchnts who could hire whole villges to weve for food. The job never very txing except on Mondy nd Thursdy nights when the shopping crowd out till ten. The mll new three-level structure, like big store whose were deprtments open, circling nd overlooking promende nd re dining decorted with plstic pot ted plms nd tll dried birch tree limbs. There no connection be tween the shops except they hd spce nd pid rent. It government subsidy's wy of encourging smll business. Gussie worked in the store on drug the min level. She cshier. She didn't especilly like the job, mking chnge, stocking cigrettes nd cosmetics, but she hd her own spce behind the counter. Gussie lwys looked for her own plce within the mze of wherever she found herself. There hd to be corner she could clim s her own. She mde herself t ese. People would mill nd seethe round her, demnding Nturl Wonder mke-up nd Sugr Dddy crmel cndy sucker sticks. Some times she hd to h her hnds fter hndling couple hours' worth of money when things were busy. None of it touched her in her not plce, even the comment tht big gorill Tony mde, the time Mrsh brought him down to buy cigrettes fter work. Gussie beyond the point of embrrssment t comments bout the fuzzy shdow on her upper lip. "You know wht they sy bout women with mustches...." nd she clicked the heel of her red jzz shoes s she gve him her bck to kiss Mrsh good night. "M?n." 139
Mrsh liked working round clothes. She got discount nd first pick of ll the new things tht cme in. She liked to think of herself s stylish, with her processed frizz hirdo, since the Rst look hd plyed out. Coco nd were plum the mke-up colors she wore these dys. They complemented the drk rum tone of her skin. She the girl who mde lep when Cosmopolitn Mgzine sid tke gint step nd look sexy. She mde to be mde up. If sked she'd show you her be fore nd fter pictures. She vlued comments bout her looks, especilly when they compred her to imges of fmous personlities. "O you look just like blck Bette Midler," her fvorite. She hd met Gussie one dy on her brek, buying cosmetics t the drug store. She tken by the look in the eyes. When she sked wht kind of mscr she used, Gussie lughed nd sid she n't into it. "You should try it. You'd be surprised wht it cn do." "It's not my thing. I'm butch," sid Gussie still lughing. Mrsh herd tht lst comment, but didn't let it register. She too fscinted by the possibility of seeing this womn ll done in mke-up. "Why don't you let me do you sometime?" The eyes nd the coloring intrigued her. Gussie's were lmond-shped light brown with thick blck lshes nd brows. The skin smooth nd seemingly trnsprent in the evenness of rich copper brown. The downy hir on the upper lip put the full soft mouth t the petulnt extreme of sensuosity. When Gussie lughed she showed her even teeth nd cut her eyes to Chinese slits. Her hir short nd nturlly curly, except when she put olive oil on it nd slicked it bck in D.A. "You've got the kind of hir I wish I'd been born with," Mrsh sid one s dy she combed it in the bthroom mirror. "Let me try this lip stick on you." It coco plum color, Born to Sin Plum. "Now this is you," sid Mrsh, studying the effect of the color. "A drk crese in the... eyefold there." "You wnt to smoke 'J'? It's cool. I do it in here ll the time. It mkes the dy fly." Gussie reched into her clutch bg for smll mnil envelope. She out one pulled of the hnd-rolled cigrettes, lit it nd pssed it to Mrsh. "I used to wnt to be beuticin," sid Mrsh, not to brethe in speking. She svored the first rush. giving up smoke "Fume, fume." 140
"I relly wnt to tke some courses nd get license." "It's nice you know wht you wnt to do. I only know wht I don't wnt." Gussie wtched herself in the mirror killing the roch. "This is " me, fter 'the before,' nd she lughed. "You're gorgeous," sid Mrsh. "Every morning you wlk out of your house you sy, this is the first dy of spring. No mtter wht." Gussie looked skepticl. "Is tht wht you do?" "No, I just give dvice," nd they both lughed nd looked into ech other's eyes. Then Gussie gently touched her to lips Mrsh's nd pulled bck to see if there were some mistke. "Why'dyoudotht?" "I wnted to see something." "Don't you like men?" mind?" "Not too often.... Tht hs nothing to do with it.... Did you Mrsh didn't spek, but continued to look t this beutiful fce before hers. Gussie kissed her gin. This time she llowed herself to let go soft sweet juice of feeling tht strted to wrm Mrsh's blood. "Let's get out of here before we strt something we cn't finish," sid Mrsh. "I told you I butch, so wtch it, bby," nd they lughed gin s they returned to wlking through the indoor venues of the mll, bck to their respective jobs. It fter they discovered "the plce" in the hllwy of the emergency exit tht Gussie sked Mrsh if she believed in love. "Sure I do. Somedy I'll probbly mrry Tony nd settle down nd hve kids." "You don't hve to feel nything to do tht." "We get long. Tht's more importnt." "I wnt to feel esy," nd she put her hed on Mrsh's shoulder nd stroked her brest. Tony in trining t the police cdemy. The professors from John Jy College of Criminl Justice would come over strting t 7:30.m. to begin clsses. He erning sixty college credits nd getting pid for it. He twenty-four nd hd voided being "serious" with women. He'd 141
known few but lwys preferred sleeping out rther thn hving sleep over compny. He lived in smll grge converted to bsement prt ment in the Cnrsie section of Brooklyn, close to the Rockwys, close to the se. A smll yellow Ford Pinto ll pid for, but sometimes he liked to trvel on foot. He would wlk to the se nd study the wves. Sometimes out rushing of work he told his buddies he hd n ppoint ment with the devil. He would drive to the bech in winter nd wlk long the edge of the se. In the six months he'd known Mrsh, he'd never explined these p pointments he kept fter work when he sid he couldn't meet her. He didn't know if she'd understnd. She'd wnt to come probbly long when he wnted to be in his plce lone with the se. He enjoyed the senstion of mking love with her, but there some thing inside her tht n't full. Thinking mybe he could tke her by surprise, he would rush in like the se, trying to mke the rhythm of wve h over the silence of tht plce inside her where she llowed him to wnder lone, exploring his own skin on the wlls of her womb. "Why don't you give me ring, Tony," Mrsh sid to him one dy fter he picked her up from work. They were driving t the edge of night in the cold before spring. "Wht for? I cn lwys pull you by the hir," "As sign of our feelings bout ech other." "I told you how I feel, didn't I?" "It would men tht we're engged." "Engged for wht?" "Engged to be mrried, of course." "Why do you wnt to mrry me?" "I think we'd be good for ech other, don't you?" "I never thought bout "I'd like to hve kids." it." "Why, wht's the rush?" "I'm yer older thn you." "There's plenty of time." we "Mybe should live together." "You're tlking bout settling down?" "In wy... getting closer." nd he lughed. 142
"I thought we understood ech other." "We do." "Well, tht mens we tke things "I'm going too fst for you?" "You too spend much time compring "I just wnt wht ny womn wnts." "Wht's tht?" step t time." notes." "A plce for myself." Tony didn't nswer. He kept his eyes stright hed on the rod nd his two hnds on the steering wheel. Mrsh wtched him drive the little Pinto over series of trecherous potholes. Bronco style. "Where re we going?" she sked. "I thought we'd get some Chinese tke-out nd go up to your plce." Mrsh's plce fourth-floor wlk-up in n old brownstone ner Prospect Prk in Brooklyn. There were two prtments on the floor. Her one-nd--hlf rooms overlooked the bckyrd where n old tree grew tll nd pushed its brnches to scrpe her windows when the winds were strong. When she opened the couch there n't much room to do nything else but lie in bed. She kept the couch open most of the time. She'd found this plce few yers go fter she moved out of grnd mother's prtment. Until then she'd lwys slept in twin bed with the old womn on the other side of the room. Pink with white trim. Red shg rug. Mrsh hd hbit of turning on the T.V. or rdio s soon s she cme in. Even with Tony the silence too loud. Gresy brown suce drying in plstic-coted continers. Florl sheets. In the drk there silence even with the rdio s she took off her clothes nd felt him lredy lence s he shoved himself inside her. hrd without preliminries. "How it, bby," he sid fter he cme ll over her, leving crotch soking wet "Mmmmmmm." nd feeling drught. Si her "Nothing specil," sid Gussie. She nd Mrsh were sitting in the stir well of the emergency exit. "Just plin ordinry life, only with too mny people." Gussie lived with her sister nd her sister's two boys. "So why don't you move out. You've got job." "Millie nd I, we help ech other. You know her oldest kid born 143
the dy bortions got legl. It freked me when she sid she hving kid. I smll but we out hung sometimes. There my big sister redy to be someone's mother. She thinks I'm fst girl. I hd to tell her I'm gy, nd then ll she could sy she used to feel uncomfortble when she first strted being round men. But then you get used to it." Gussie kept her friends wy from the prtment she shred with her fmily. It so crowded lredy, nd then everyone lwys ended up round the room dining tble looking in ech other's fces nd tlking bout wht Tito did in school nd how Lverne nd Shirley would even tully find husbnds. "Do you ever go cruising, Mrsh?" "I don't like clubs by myself." "There's this plce clled Seren's I go sometimes. You cn go in the video room nd mke out. It's definitely clss ction. I lwys hve good time when I go. I'll tke you there." "Tony would dig it." "Gret, the three of us sitting round mking wedding plns," nd they both lughed. "You brek my hert." Hertbrek is wild orchid crushed under heels in the night of wet street. Lemon oil becomes musk on the skin. Compress the so petls there is no ir for definition. Mrsh opened smll vil of scent. She touched it to her throt, behind her ers, then put some t the npe of Gussie's neck. were They cuddled on the stirwell of the emergency exit. They smelled sweet in the drk. Mrsh liked being round Gussie. They hd fun. Tony picking her up nd they were ll going to meet t Seren's Plce on Fltbush Avenue. She little nervous. She wnted to look good. Gussie so beutiful without even being interested in herself. Mrsh didn't wnt Tony getting ny ides. She stood in her little pink bthroom nd picked out her hir. She thought bout the time they spent together in the emergency exit, out. hnging She didn't know why she tlked Tony in to going out tonight with her nd Gussie. When she nd Tony got inside she sw it big plce. They ll wouldn't hve to stick to ech other. Gussie stnding t the semi circulr br ginst the mirrored wll under the blcony. The music mde the free-form crystl chndelier vibrte. 144
"Isn't tht your friend?" sw Tony her first. Gussie wering stright blck stin skirt slit up the thigh, high heeled blck suede pumps nd gold sequined tube top under blck blzer. She tlking with tll blck womn in mn's tuxedo nd long red wig. "Well, you're certinly dressed to kill." Mrsh took Gussie prt with her eyes nd put her bck together gin. "You look gret." Tony smiling. His teeth were very white ginst his drk skin. "I hope you feel s s good you look." He flirting. "I figured since I'd be with friends, I'd be sfe to feel nything." Gussie smiled bck nd turned to the womn t her side. "This is Hze. Mrsh. Tony." "How you ll doing? Listen Gussie I got to split. Business uptown. Bye honey. Nice meeting you ll." Hze rubbed cheeks with Gussie so s not to smer her with hevy red lipstick nd gone. "Who tht?" Mrsh wtched her dispper through the exit mrked Exit. "An old friend who used to look out for me. She's relly good people." "Sure, s s long I don't find her working my streets. Everything in its plce you know." Tony lughing but no one joined him so he stopped. The music thumping, but in the plce where they stood to gether there only silence. "Let's get drink." Mrsh motioned the brtender nd ordered rum nd coke. "You cn hold up the br, but I'm going to dnce." Gussie moved to the rhythm of the funky disco bet onto the color-lit Lucite floor. She didn't need prtner. "Do you ever do tht?" Tony kept his eyes on Gussie. "Do wht?" Mrsh sipped her drink through strw. "Dnce by yourself." "Why should I dnce by myself when I hve you?" "Just becuse you like dncing." Tony wlked cross the min room of Seren's Plce, crystl nd deep red except for the dnce floor tht rinbow lighted from beneth the surfce. He brushed pst Gussie who feeling the funk nd no giving mind to nything else. There were crpet-covered low benches round the edge of the room nd exits with neon signs. He pushed open the blck vinyl-pdded nd silver-studded 145
door mrked Gents in iridescent blue. Mrsh stood t the br in her pink high-front, low-bck jumpsuit. She t sipped the drink nd chewed on the strw. Gussie hd to touch the bck of her neck with the coolness of wter glss to get her ttention. Mrsh's eyes were ll over the room. "You know how to hustle?" Gussie hd to rise her voice in Mrsh's er. "Cn you led?" The two moved onto the dnce floor nd strted some doing bsic steps, getting into the groove of things. When he cme out, Tony stood ginst the wll next to the Gents' door. He wtched the women cut their turns hrd. They did some spin-offs tht sprked. The fever mde their dncing spek. He wnted to be in the plce where they moved, but he too fr wy from delighting in the motion of sound. He wtched them from his plce. Running wter nd flushing toilet from behind the swinging door were sounds tht mingled with the music. Girls sy they dnce together for prctice. Women need the fmilirity of shring wht is common mong them. He wnted to step bck. Let it go for being strnge intruder, but the locker room isn't n esy plce. Tony pulled out cigrette nd lit it. He smoked in the shdows, wtching the two women dnce. The crowd strted to sing long with the record: Put your hnds up in the ir. Shke it like you just don't cre... Ain't to nothing it you got to do it... Frenzy building. It lmost 1:00.m. Mrsh cught Tony's eyes through the drk nd smoke s the d.j. did mix. She cme over nd Gussie followed. "Hving good time?" His expression hidden. The ir thick. "Let's check out the buffet," Gussie suggested. They mde their wy one through of the exits mrked Buffet. Inside the redwood picnic tbles were set up round food br with red wning. "How bout n ice crem sod," sid Gussie. "Chocolte works you up, right?" Mrsh smiled nd nodded. "I'll get them. You girls grb tble cuse I wnt hmburger." 146
Gussie nd Mrsh fced ech other cross tble. Mrsh eyes on Tony. "Wht's the mtter with your boyfriend?" Gussie took off her jcket nd exposed her bre shoulders. "Wht's with you, dressing ll sexy in front of him?" "I'm not doing nything. You're me to telling look t him. You wnted to bring him." "He's not hving good time. I cn tell." "So wht re you going to do bout it?" "I don't know, we mybe should leve." "Let him work it out. It's still erly for bed." Gussie nudged Mrsh's clf s she crossed her legs under the tble. we "Mybe should both show him good time." "He's not into tht." "He's not into wht?" Tony slid onto the bench next to Mrsh nd put the try on the tble. "Well, wht m I not into?" "Mrsh doesn't think you'd dig mking it with both of us together." "Why not?" "She thinks you're too stright but won't dmit it." "Since when re you into men, Gussie." Mrsh chopped up the whipped crem on top of her sod before tking sip. She rolled her eyes nd strted on mking footprints Gussie's suede shoes. Tony opened pcket of ketchup nd fixed his cheeseburger. "You see, I'd get ll the ply. The question is could you two girls hndle it?" His cheeks bulged out when he tlked with full mouth. "Ye, I women. dig Mrsh knows." Mrsh st chewing her strw nd wtching Tony gulp down the bur ger in three bites. "You et too fst." Tony: "My mother doesn't even ng me." Gussie: "Tht's cuse he's such n industrious boy." Tony: "Your friend here tlks with lot of experience." Gussie: "I'm fresh girl. Mrsh knows how fresh I m." Tony: "How fresh is she, Mrsh?" Gussie: "He thinks he cn hndle it. You don't know women." nything kept her bout Tony: "I know when they hide." Mrsh st chewing her strw in tht plce where silence is louder thn words. 147
"I think I'm being hd. You sked me out to ply bitches' gme?" He wiped his mouth. "I'm not plying. I'm serious bout the three of us," sid Gussie. "We'll tke you never someplce you've been." "Don't let's get into this." Mrsh's eyes were swimming. "We'll tke you to the emergency exit." "You re serious." Tony put his hnds under the tble between his legs s if to protect his blls, but they were in the wy there too. A ter rolled down from under the mscr hevy lshes nd t hung the corner of Mrsh's nose. Sometimes she cn't help being shken by how outside ffects her insides. She herd Gussie's voice coming t her from beyond the plce they hd shred. "You only get into it when there's nothing else. You tke me, but tht doesn't count for much." Gussie doesn't like to look t ters. "I don't know wht's on. going You two wnt to cut me up nd ply gmes. Well, it's lte, I relly didn't wnt to come out so tonight, you ll cn sty nd enjoy your fun." "Tony, I.... " Mrsh didn't know wht else to sy, so she wtched him wlk wy. When Tony got home he relized he n't tired. He didn't know wht to think bout Seren's Plce, only tht the music too loud nd the decor too red. Not his kind of plce. He got bck in his cr nd drove ll the wy out to Jones Bech. A solitry cr on the expresswy breks the wind on cold, cler night. He st in the empty prking lot nd wtched the sun come up, seeing Mrsh's fce in ll tht pink. And the other one trying to tese him. Smrt he hdn't tken her seriously. Smrt he hdn't styed. They probbly hd good lugh nywy. Bitches' gmes. And then they wnt to hide. Tht Mrsh, plying full house. It Sundy nd the mll didn't open up till noon. Gussie got there bout 11:30 nd went stright up to Funk nd Flsh. The young Pkistni mnger over tripping his pltform shoes trying to be rty in setting out disply of some new T-shirts. "She won't be in. She clled in sick. You tell your friend if she leves me short gin, she's hd it." 148
"You tell her yourself." Gussie went down the escltor. She tired. She punched the time clock in the room supply of the store drug nd took her plce behind the csh register. Super slicker stick. Strw berry nd douche. chmpgne-flvored Roulette red. "Where re the Wipe nd Dries?" The womn wore oversized tinted glsses nd crried n oversized cnvs bg. She mde her purchse nd gone. "Hey, your flowers." Gussie picked up the te single rose, nestled in fern, hloed in bby's breth nd wrpped round with florist pper. She mde no further effort to go fter the womn. Alredy she intoxicted by the frgrnce of the flower. Throughout the rest of the dy she kept finding spce to refresh herself with its scent. She told herself the flower n't hers. It would be retrieved. So, there no to thought given no to cre. possession, thought By closing time the rosebud hd become lifeless thing, wilted nd unopened. 149