Carrol was sitting near the window with his legs up on an ancient desk, reading a newspaper. He didn’t put the paper down, just looked at her over the top of it. Terry experienced a shaky moment as she felt Carrol’s heavy, penetrating eyes boring through the clinging dress she wore, running over her body from head to foot. She had a wild sensation of being stark naked in front of this man. His eyes seemed to strip away her clothing in order to rest lasciviously on the curves of her breasts and her tapering white thighs.

“Are you Mr. Carrol?” she asked nervously.

“Yeah,” he said. His tone promised nothing and carried an implied suggestion that she had better get to the point in a hurry.

She moistened her lips.

“I’m looking for a job,” she said simply.

Carrol shrugged. “There’s an employment agency around the corner.”

It was a rebuke, she felt, because she hadn’t made her meaning clear enough.

“I meant a job here,” she said nervously.

“Who told you we needed anybody?”

“No one. I’ve been going from door to door.”

“Done this before?”

“No.”

“There’s a lot of angles, kiddo. I ain’t running a goddam kindergarten here.”

“I could manage it,” she said quickly. “I can take care of myself.” She walked up and back before him, chest inflated, breasts thrust out. He signaled for her to turn around, and she did. She felt ridiculous—but Carrol seemed to be impressed. He gave her another deep, searching look, and she felt queasy and dirty all over from the unblushing intimacy of the glance.

“It ain’t bad,” he said finally. “But the customers here don’t know a good one from a bad. You gotta know how to talk to ’em.”

“I’ve been talking a long time.”

A faint smile broke through the crustiness of his face. But he wiped it off quickly.

“Got a dress?”

She held up the little bag in answer.

“Seven a week and a nickel on each drink they buy with you,” he said. “That sound okay?”

“Y-yes.”

“It damn well better, on account of that’s all you’re gonna get out of me,” he said. “You stick around till closing, too. Any invites look good to you, you forget ’em. They spend whatever they spend right here, you understand? You walk off with some Johnny one night, just don’t bother to come back. Everything okay?”

“I understand.”

“Good. Put the dress on and you can go out.”

She looked uncertainly around the room, waiting for him to show her where she could change. He said nothing, just looked expectantly at her. After a moment she said, “Will you tell me where the dressing room is?”

“There ain’t none. The girls show up for work dressed. You put your clothes on right here.”

“In front of you?”