“You damn right! Why should I? You know, for a long time it really drugged me that I couldn’t lose any weight. Then I realized that it was because of my weight that men would joke and kid but never play with me. That’s your problem, ain’t it, Alice? Men always playin with you! But maybe you like bein played with. Shit! Don’t tell me people change.

“You know, I been doing hair at Terry’s for quite a while. The finest hussies around come in there. They tell me things they wouldn’t dare tell anyone else. They figure they can tell me cause I don’t have their problems. Now, ain’t that some shit! Their problems come from bein touched. Mine come from not bein touched at all! But you know what? The more I listen to them hussies the more I believe I’m in good shape, cause most of them are just as treacherous as the men they badmouthin. Shit! Don’t tell me people change!”

“Have you seen Otis around?” I asked.

“Yeah, he’s around.”

“How’s he doing?”

“He’s doin fine as long as he keeps his hands in his pockets.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?”

“He lost a hand in Vietnam,” Alice said.

I shook my head but didn’t say anything because I was afraid it wouldn’t have sounded sincere. And it wouldn’t have been. I felt a malicious pleasure over the news that after all those years of flawless movement through the chippies’ playground, Otis finally had a handicap.

“What’s he been doing since he got out the service?”

“He’s been workin as an engineer at that black radio station in Harlem, WHIP. He’s definitely played that no-hand bit to a bust,” Pauline said.

“Why do you say it like that?”

“Hey, I’m not knockin it. Shit! Behind what happened to him he should get everythin he can. That’s more than I can say for you, Mouth. The only thing you gonna get for your trouble is time served.”

“That’s cool with me.”

“Aw, Mouth, come off that noble bullshit! There ain’t no difference between you goin to jail and Otis goin in the service. You both were just tryin to impress somebody.”

“At least I didn’t lose my hand.”

“Yeah, but you might a lost something else and don’t know it’s missin yet.”

“Hey, look, Pauline, who are you to question me?”

“Who are you to think you can’t be?”

“Well, I don’t want to talk about it anymore. All right?”

“That’s fine with me.”

“Do you know what hours Otis works? I was by his house earlier but no one was home.”

“He works the four-to-twelve shift.”

“Where’s the station at?”

“It’s at 128th and Seventh.”

I looked at my watch. It was after six. My folks were probably at home by now.

“I’m gonna split.”

“If you want to come,” Alice said, “some of us are going to a disco later on at this place downtown called La Magnifique.”