The bar was a filthy hole, a den of sin on Saturday night

epub or mobi

The three girls in the front room were half-naked, drunk and in the throes of sexual pleasure. The three men with them pawed their bodies. From the other room a baby's cry could be heard.

"Aww, let 'im bawl!" said the brassy blonde, working at the buttons of one man's shirt, while another man fondled her.

The third man disengaged himself from the other two girls. "I gotta go," he said. "Gotta make a buck."

"Stay another hour.'' one of the girls said. "Hell, you don't have to work in this country. You've got your unemployment check comin' in, don't you? And Sully's welfare for the two kids … Stick around! If we can't make it on handouts, we'll hold up a gas station!" 

Harry had just enough time to pay the girl and dash downstairs to catch a cab. As he ran through the hall the girl called after him, asking if he was coming back some afternoon, but he made no reply. He knew he wasn't going to bother with her again. She hadn't been worth twenty dollars. Or ten. Not even as good as his wife and that was pretty bad.