Desert of the Heart: A Novel Read Online Free Page A

a date for the operation. A week from tomorrow.
    “That’s good news,” Ann said. “Have you got time off?”
    “Do you think I ought to ask, Ann? They might just say I needn’t come back.”
    “But you have to be with the baby,” Ann protested. “Ask Bill. He’ll understand. He can work it for you.”
    “I was late twice last week.”
    “So you were late.”
    “I can’t lose this job, Ann. I’ve got to have the money. And Ken can get off. He’s already checked with his boss. He can have ten days.”
    “Ten days isn’t enough, is it?”
    “No, but by then we’ll know. If he’s going to live, he’ll live.”
    “He’ll live,” Ann said.
    “Your name’s crooked.” Janet undid the plastic nameplate: F RANK’S C LUB I NTRODUCES (a picture of a covered wagon) A NN . She repinned it neatly over Ann’s left shirt pocket. “There.”
    “You see Bill tonight. It won’t hurt to ask.”
    Janet nodded, uncertain. She closed the locker door. “Well, here we go again.”
    Ann would have spoken to Bill herself if Janet’s uncertainty had been a simple matter of time off, but ten days away from work meant a loss of about a hundred dollars. She and Ken had not finished paying for last year’s operation. They were buying their child’s life on the installment plan without so much as a thirty-day guarantee. Well, Frances was right. Ann did not like gambling, but the sort people indulged in at Frank’s Club, even when they lost more than they could afford to lose, was innocent enough. And at least, here, they knew the odds. Great signs in the lavatories announced, “Remember, if you play long enough you’ll lose.” And pamphlets handed out to customers carefully explained the varying disadvantages of each game. It was all a public relations stunt, of course, a way the Establishment denied that it was the House of Mammon in the City of Dis. But it was honest advertising. No university published the odds against learning, no hospital the odds against surviving, no church the odds against salvation. Here, anyway, people weren’t being fooled. They were told that no one was intelligent enough or strong enough or blessed enough to be saved. Still, they played.
    As Ann and Janet reached the top of the stairs, their way was blocked by a small crowd of employees, watching Silver give instructions to a new girl.
    “Look, kid, out on the floor it’s hell. Ask anybody. Isn’t that right, anybody?” Several nodded, amused. “For instance, it gets so crowded one woman passed out and had to ride two floors on the escalator before she had room to fall down. I’m not kidding. Am I kidding?” The others shook their heads. “One Saturday night some very cooperative customers helped us carry out ten drunks. We didn’t find out for an hour that those ten drunks were slot machines with coats and hats on. Tricky, eh? But what you’ve really got to watch out for is pickpockets. Now, do you know how to walk to keep off pickpockets?”
    The youngster shook her head. Watching Silver, she tried to cover her fear with a mild scepticism.
    “You hook your thumbs like this, see?” Silver demonstrated, her thumbs in her pockets, her hands cupped over her hip bones. “And use your elbows to keep them clear.” She walked half a dozen steps. “Now go ahead. Try it yourself.” The girl hesitated. “Go ahead, I said. You have to learn.”
    “She’s right,” Ann said. “You couldn’t learn from anybody better. Silver was a pickpocket before she came here.”
    “Only as a hobby,” Silver shouted above the laughter. “Only as a hobby.”
    “And she’s proud of her amateur standing, because next year she goes to the winter Olympics.”
    “Ann?”
    Ann turned to find Bill standing behind her. “Yes, Bill.”
    “I want you to take the new girl tonight.”
    “I like that!” Silver said. “Here I am, volunteering my long experience … but you’re in good hands, honey. Ann’ll take care of you fine.”
    “This is