Audrey Hepburn's Pearls: Part I

Chapter 21.2: 1967, Georgina

Chapter 21.2: 1967, Georgina

 

It was the Wednesday before Thanksgiving and I was helping Carl wash glasses when a peculiar noise startled me, making me drop a glass into the sink, shattering it. 

"Oh fuck meee," I swore, my hands diving into the sink to retrieve the heavy glass pieces of the pint glass. 

"Don't touch that, I'll get it," Carl said, suddenly behind me, taking me away by the shoulders in a gentle manner. I looked up at him with a shocked face. He wrapped his hand in a towel and started to pick up the glass pieces with it, putting them into a bowl. 

I stood there, still, watching him. My brain could almost not comprehend what was going on here. Could it be real? It seemed almost as if...ever since I had told him I am a woman he had been treating me differently, more gently. Like a man would to a woman. 

But I couldn't think about that right now because of that noise. 

"Carl, did you hear that?" I asked tentatively. 

"Hear what?"

"You didn't? It was a-"

Knock knock knock knock knock. Five raps in quick succession.

My eyes went wide. I knew it. 

"Carl, that's the safety knock," I said quietly. 

"You sure about that?" 

"Yeah, I'm sure. Its unmistakable. Nobody would do that unless they knew what it means," I said, my voice breathy in the startle.

"Let me get the door, though," Carl said. "Never know who it could be." His eyes darted towards the back wall of the kitchen, and I knew exactly what he was thinking. 

"Its the Wednesday before Thanksgiving, though. You don't think..." I began, thinking, too.

"Business is business for them, doesn't matter when. I've seen them here on Christmas before, made them egg nog myself," Carl informed me, unwrapping his hand from the towel. "Kinda weird they'd use the kitchen door, though. Side alley and all. But let me get that."

He made his way to the door and I stood, watching him again. I knew absolutely that if I hadn't told him I was a woman he wouldn't have thought twice about letting me open that door. My body relaxed, knowing he was treating me as a lady, protecting me.

Around the corner, I heard the heavy metal door open and immediately sounds like rushing water reached my ears.

"Sir, this is Majesty Club? Is? Sir, I come inside? Please? Please, its so cold. Please let me come inside. I heard this place...this place is...safe place?" 

Shit. What was this? My eyes softened. The voice...was a feminine one, but not female. I bounced on my heels, readying myself and walked towards the door. As I rounded the corner, I found Carl speaking gently to a young looking boy with violently curly black hair and slightly tanned skin. 

"You from Harlem? What're you doing all the way over here? Where's your coat?" Carl was asking him. He was towering over the boy, and the boy looked very frightened.

"I don't have coat, sir. I don't have coat. Please let me inside," the boy said, his eyes desperate.

It was my turn to take Carl by the shoulders and move him away. This was my territory.

The boy's eyes lit up when he saw me. 

"Come inside, what's your name?" I asked him with concern.