The Sudden Star (7 page)

Meilani, prancing in front of Lono on the sidewalk, tossed his head. His waist-length auburn hair swayed; his gold earrings shook. He lifted a pale arm and waved to some passers-by. He moved closer to Lono and murmured something to him.

"He's going to have a party here," Aisha whispered.

"Yes, tomorrow. But that's not why he's here."

Meilani twirled around once and again moved closer to Lono. A small group was forming in the street. Meilani, whom everyone liked, drew crowds; he couldn't help it. Aisha wished she worked for him. Meilani was great at little things. During one party he had given Ildico a hairbrush, Juan a framed color photo of two male nudes, and Aisha a copy of
Ulysses,
with only a few pages missing. She couldn't read much of it, but kept it on the shelf in her room upstairs for impressing any customers she screwed there.

Aisha realized that Ildico, with her cat's ears, was listening to Meilani and Lono. She tried to hear them herself, but could not. The crowd was gabbing and the morning helicopters were puttering overhead.

"Smart of him to talk to Lono in front of everybody," Ildico murmured. "But it won't do him any good." She took Aisha by the arm. "Let's go. Be very quiet."

They tiptoed out of the room and hurried upstairs to their own place. Juan, lying in the center of the bed, was asleep. "Listen," Aisha whispered as Ildico closed the door, "what's with Meilani and Lono? You're being kind of—" She paused, then remembered a word she had seen in one of René's books. "Cripetic."

"Cripetic?"

"C-r-y-p-t-i-c," Aisha spelled, showing off. "It means I don't understand."

"Aisha," the blond girl murmured, pulling her closer, "I'm just telling you this. Make sure you get out of here early tomorrow. Don't stay for the party. Take my word for it. I'll make sure Juan and me aren't around, too."

"But you said Meilani—"

"Fuck Meilani. He's going to get his ass kicked, take my word. Promise me you won't stay. You can come with Juan and me."

"All right." She crawled into bed, exhausted, wishing she knew what Ildico was talking about.

"Get up."

Aisha opened her eyes. They ached. Lono was standing over her. "René's looking for you."

"So early?"

"You just shut up and move. It wasn't my idea."

As soon as he was gone, Ildico was awake. She looked at Aisha as if worried. She got up and threw Aisha her blue dress. "You'd better go," Ildico said. "Just be careful. I'm going over to René's street myself. If I come by the window, you just put down your book and get the hell out, through the window if you have to."

Aisha buttoned her dress. "Why don't you tell me what's going on?"

"Because right now it's better if you don't know. Take my word."

Aisha smoothed her hair and left. She hurried downstairs. Paola and Sheryl were awake, sitting on the steps outside. René's guard, a muscular woman with stringy brown hair, waited on the sidewalk. "Poor Aisha," Sheryl said, twirling her pale hair with her fingers. "Gonna miss the party." Paola laughed.

"We gotta move," the guard said. She brushed some dust off her brown pants. "René's waiting." It was growing warm again. The street reeked of garbage. They walked down the street, away from the sidewalk. Men and women stood on the sidewalk, waiting in lines that extended to a ration center a block and a half away. A woman leaned out a window and emptied a pisspot on some of the ticket-holders. Aisha chuckled. Lono always sent one of his guards to pick up rations for the house. He called them a family, told the center all his family were unemployed, and anyway, no one was going to argue with Lono. The food brought in extra money, since he sold most of it.

They passed four boys who lived in a nearby alley. Sometimes the boys ran errands for Lono. They had fixed up the alley nicely. It now had a makeshift roof, with a blanket hanging from it for privacy. They went by the heavily guarded storefronts, where customers were surrendering their weapons to the guards before being allowed to go inside. They turned a corner and passed a viewscreen already surrounded by children. A tank was parked nearby; four policemen were enjoying some beer.

Aisha followed the guard, thinking about the party she would miss. She was angry—angry at Ildico, at the old man for dragging her over today. So what if she had to roll around naked and do it with all those people watching? The pay was good, and Meilani always made sure they were treated right. The last time, a roof man had given her a lot of money, and Lono had been so happy he brought her to his room later. She had liked Lono then; sometimes at night she imagined his surprisingly gentle hands on her and—she remembered the silver coin she had been given last night. She had forgotten to tell Lono about it. Now it was too late; he would think she was holding out on him.

The guard stopped. Aisha almost bumped into her. They would have to go through the next few blocks with gougers; it was better than having to go around them.

"Only five creds each," a thin dark man said to her and the guard. "Only five creds. You lucky ladies just in time for the next roll-through."

The guard said, "It was four creds this morning."

"Sampson's Escort Service got to keep up with expenses," the man replied. He grinned, showing gaps in his front teeth. "Five cred a head." He took some bills from a man next to them, then shoved them back. "Credits, not dollars. No Federal paper here. City issue or coins."

The guard paid for both of them. The man led them to his small truck and they climbed in. In the back of the truck sat six men with rifles and an old machine gun. They had barely settled themselves with the five other customers when the truck began to move.

They rumbled down the street, bouncing over the potholes, followed by a larger truck with other customers. The street was quiet. Aisha drew up her knees, thinking of Ildico. Ildico was always right, Aisha told herself. If she wasn't, she was going to pay for it this time. She almost laughed, knowing she couldn't stand up to her friend, but imagining a violent scene anyway with the blond girl. She thought of pulling Ildico's long blond hair and listening to her scream.

At last the truck stopped. They climbed out with the other passengers. "Five cred a head," the dark man was shouting to a group standing near a police tank as he climbed down from the cab. René's street was not much farther. She followed the guard's long paces, skipping a bit to keep up, passing a street bazaar with brightly colored booths. She wanted to stop and look at the paintings, or buy some beer. "Hurry up," the guard said. They turned the corner and were in René's street.

The street was even livelier than usual. Two trucks and a tank were parked in front of the old man's house. As they approached, the tank and trucks moved away, rolling on down the street.

"What's going on?" Aisha asked the guard.

"You ain't here to ask questions," the woman said. She grabbed Aisha's arm and propelled her toward the house. Aisha stumbled, trying not to trip; the fingers were claws digging into her muscles. The guard led her up the steps and into the hallway to René's room.

She went in, rubbing her arm as the guard closed the door. She was alone with René. The old man was out of bed, sitting up in a deep blue velvet chair, dressed in a green silken robe. He seemed livelier today, more agitated. He motioned her to her usual chair.

"I'm very happy you got here," he said tonelessly. His fingers danced restlessly on the chair's arm. She sat down, picked up the book that rested on the small table next to the bed, and waited.

The old man was silent. She tried not to fidget. She turned in the chair, making sure she could see out the window in case Ildico walked by. She wondered why René was out of bed.

"Are you feeling better?" she asked. Her voice sounded shaky to her ears. "I haven't seen you sit up before." She tried to smile. The old man wasn't so blind he couldn't see a nice smile.

"Do you ever think of doing anything besides whoring?" he asked.

She sat up, startled. "I don't know. I think about it, but I can't do anything about it." She paused, feeling that sounded wrong. "Lono needs his money. There's worse things," she added hastily.

"You want to keep doing it?"

"No. Nobody wants to keep doing it."

"Some do. Some are just made for it. What if you had a choice?"

"I guess I wouldn't do it." She wished she knew what he wanted. "Unless maybe there was a nice man who liked me," she finished, trying to keep her options open.

"I had a daughter once." The old man seemed to be speaking to himself more than to her. "She was just a kid when we came here. We lived up in the Bronx. I didn't have papers, so I worked at what I could get and thought someday I could give her things."

"Where is she now?" Aisha asked tentatively.

"She isn't dead, far as I know. She might as well be. My wife died years ago." He paused. "I think about them now, sometimes. Kathleen says I'm getting soft. How would you like to live here?"

She was stunned. She fumbled for words, trying to sort out her thoughts. "I'd like it," she said. "I could read to you more, I could—" She leaned back, pulling up her dress a bit to show her legs.

He squinted. "Don't act like a whore with me. I'm asking because I think you're better than that."

She looked down, oddly ashamed. She thought of Juan and Ildico. She sighed, knowing she couldn't just forget about them. She had to ask. "Uh, I don't want to sound—" She took a breath. "I have these two friends, we were friends a long time." She gazed at René.

"Go on."

"I don't want to sound greedy, but if I could just help them, too—they're good kids, really. They aren't like the others. Juan's trying to better himself. I'm teaching him how to read. Ildico can't read, but she always stuck by me and helped me out, especially in the beginning when I was really scared." Aisha waited, ready to back down if he got mad.

Unexpectedly, René smiled. "So you want to help your friends. I like that. A lot of people think that's bullshit, but I helped people and they helped me or I wouldn't be here. Nowadays they think that's soft." He smoothed his jacket. "They at Lono's now?"

"No." She tried to think of something else to say. "Lono told them to work the streets, and Ildico said they might come down here." That sounded convincing, she thought. "Meilani's having a party, and—"

"I know that," René said, scowling. The line between his eyebrows grew deeper. "Your friends can stay here too." He glared at her. "But I'll be watching them to see if they're worth it. If they're trash, out they go."

"Oh, you'll like them." She grasped the arms of the chair and sighed with relief. At least Ildico would behave; Aisha wasn't so sure about Juan, but Ildico could handle him. She saw herself meeting important people, greeting them graciously in a long silk dress, impressing them with her literacy and learning.

René said, "You can begin reading now."

Aisha had been shown to her room by one of the guards. The old man had sent others to find her friends. He had dismissed her after only half an hour of reading; she was sure he had not been listening anyway.

She sat on the bed, smoothing the blue bedspread. The room was small, but clean. Bright yellow walls reflected the sunlight that shown through the small curtained window. A red carpet covered the floor. A blue armchair stood in a corner next to a wooden dresser with a mirror. A night table with a lamp sat on the other side of the bed.

With all the furniture, the room seemed cramped, even smaller than it probably was. She thought of her aunt's home, where she had shared a room something like this with two cousins. The thought disturbed her. She slumped on the bed, tears stinging her eyes. She would never be like that again; Lono had ruined her.

She heard voices in the hallway. A door slammed. She heard loud laughter. The door next to the dresser was flung open. Juan and Ildico stood there, grinning. "Know what's between our room and yours?" Juan said. "A bathroom. With a toilet." He disappeared. Aisha could hear running water. "Hot water, too," he shouted. He reappeared in the doorway and struck a pose, legs apart, hands on his head. "This morning I didn't know what to
do.
There I was with Ildy in the streets, not even knowing if we could go back to Lono."

"I wouldn't talk about that here if I was you," Ildico muttered.

Juan danced over to Aisha and threw himself next to her on the bed. "What do we have to do for all this?"

"I don't know," Aisha replied. "I'm warning you, though, if René doesn't like you, he'll throw you out."

"I can make him like me." Juan rolled over and curled up.

"He doesn't want sex. Don't even say that to him. He told me I better stop acting like a whore."

"If he doesn't want a fuck, and he isn't working us, what does he want?"

"I don't know." She paused, thinking she might as well make it clear to Juan who had brought him his luck. "He took you two because you're my friends, so he'll throw you out if he thinks you're not." She looked at Ildico and smiled triumphantly.

Juan shook his head. "Who does favors?"

"I did you one, and don't forget it."

Ildico wandered over to the window and peered outside. "I wish I could see the look on Lono's face," Aisha said. "He must be wondering how we got so lucky."