Just smile, Braun said.

Smile, Stanley said. Show us what you’ve got.

I tried to smile, but my lips refused. They faltered, falling, close to a frown.

I knew they were both likely to start laughing at me, so that’s why I raised my chin and looked toward the back of the restaurant. Sunlight slanted through slats of the venetian blinds—the girl I saw seemed to be surrounded by a warm shadow. Her blond hair was feathered and she had a ski-jump nose.

It was Heather! If those two hadn’t been staring so hard at me, I swear I would have screamed.

LOVE’S BABY SOFT

HEATHER was French-kissing an American sailor. Soon as she stopped, I realized she wasn’t Heather after all, and I had a sudden urge to cry. Don’t ask me why. Heather wore a lot of makeup, but this girl was even more heavy with the Maybelline. With her blue eye shadow and pink cheeks, she still managed to look wild and rowdy and a little wasted.

Give me a hamburger! she screamed raspily. Then she crashed into the sailor’s arms. She punched his shoulder, and he lit her cigarette.

Hey, I said to Braun, that’s a friend of mine over there. I’ve got to go say hello.

That is not a friend of yours, Stanley said.

She is. She goes to my high school. You guys should go scout her.

Scout her? Braun said. You have got to be kidding.

But I wasn’t kidding. If I saw a fierce, fighting girl like her in a magazine, I’d never want to turn the page. Do your goddamn job, I thought. Get her into the pages of every fashion magazine.

Braun looked really offended. That was another reason I didn’t talk much. I was always offending people.

He sighed. I drank his water since he hadn’t touched a drop. Then, as if I’d been in a desert for years, I reached down and grabbed Stanley’s glass and drank all of his water as well. The stolen ice cube felt so good, better than candy. I wished I could order one hundred ice cubes and keep them pressed against my parched tongue.

Why in God’s name would I scout her? Braun said.

She’s prettier than me.

That may be so, but unlike you, she’s lost the necessary innocence.

Unlike you, she’s lost the necessary innocence.

Occupational hazard, Stanley said, and he snickered as if he’d just told a dirty joke.

What does that mean? I said.

It means, Braun said, leaning closer as if he wanted to slap me with his nose, it means that she’s a hooker.