“Oh, come on, how many men have you kept around till they quit being amusing? Oh wait, I forgot. Terrence is not amusing. Don’t you ever get tired of his asking questions about what everything means?”

“I like that he’s interested in what makes the world work.”

“He doesn’t care how it works! He wants to change it.”

“What’s wrong with that? I’d like to change it too.”

“Look, Quacker,” he said, keeping his voice low, “he’s a Negro; you’re white. You can flout a lot of rules, but not that one. The point is, when you and Terrence get caught—and you will—you’ll lose everything. Not to be ironic, but you’ll be blacklisted. You simply cannot have a Negro boyfriend, Quacker. It isn’t done. It’s worse than anything you could possibly do.”

“And love? What about being in love?”

“What about it? Look at Diana Jordan. She’s been wiped off the face of the planet, hasn’t she? Irv got his revenge. Someone might do the same to you. I’m sure you’ve made enemies.”

Diana Jordan’s fate was, to me, a living nightmare. Though Terrence and I seldom mentioned her or Booker, I know he felt the same. I lied outright. “I haven’t paid attention.”

“Oh, well then, I guess you haven’t heard, have you? She finally got an appointment to see my father, and she went up to his office and flung herself at his feet, and said she was sorry about the black guy, she’d never go to another jazz club, and she would do whatever he wanted—whatever he wanted—to get another role in anything at all. Knowing my father, you can just imagine, can’t you, what he—”

“I don’t want to. Just go on.”

“So the word is now that MGM is looking for some nice young actor of Diana’s own age and race, someone they’ll take off the star-farm, so it will be good for his career too. Soon you’ll be reading all about it in Secrets of the Stars, how they fell in love and eloped! Surprise! And how they’ll be living in domestic bliss in the Hollywood Hills. Isn’t it romantic?” he added acidly.

“Don’t you have any compassion? Diana will never be the same woman who took us to the Comet Club that night. How full of zest she was!”

“She was full of sex, Roxanne.”

“Terrence and I are in love.”

“No one cares. It’s the sex people can’t stand.” Jonathan took a long, thoughtful drag on his cigarette. “Miscegenation and homosexuality are the unpardonable sins. No one gets forgiven for those sins.”