(1988) The Golden Room Read Free

this library? “Minna, that’s educating the wrong end of a whore.’”
    Next door was the art gallery, where oils and lustrous marble sculptures were shown, among them a copy of Bernini’s Apollo and Daphne.
    Entering the dining-room, Foley saw a handsome restaurant, tables laid with gleaming silverware on damask linen. Centred on each table was a burst of fresh flowers.
    ‘One millionaire brought his business associates for dinner,’ said Minna with pleasure, ‘and his bill came to $1,500. We threw in the orchestra free.’ She moved through the restaurant. ‘Now come closer, Chet. What do you see at the far end?’
    ‘A railroad Pullman dining-car,’ said Foley with amazement.
    ‘Correct. It’s a replica, really, with the interior done in mahogany. Here we are. Look inside. There’s the buffet. The guest may choose the food he wants and take it to one of the small tables in the Pullman, or go into the dining-room itself. Now I’ll show you my very favourite chamber, used for conversations - and sometimes for orgies.’
    Foley followed Minna into a parlour that glittered like El Dorado. He stood breathless, gaping at what he saw.
    ‘The Gold Room,’ announced Minna happily. ‘You can see the furniture is all gilt, the hangings gold, the fishbowls edged in gold. Those eighteen-carat cuspidors cost me $650 apiece. The fountain in the middle of the room is spraying perfume. My favourite object is over there - the gold piano, real gold, cost me $15,000. It’s two-thirds normal size, and except for the keyboard, every inch of it is pure gold, including the foot pedals. This is a wonderful room to chat with other male guests, or have some fun relaxing with one of our young beauties.’
    As they left the Gold Room, Foley had a question. ‘Minna, how do you decide which girls you want to work for you?’
    ‘It’s easy,’ said Minna. ‘You see a pretty and shapely girl, no more than twenty-one, working behind a counter in Mandel Brothers or Carson, Pirie, Scott. She works endless hours every day for six dollars a week. You learn if she’s had sexual experience — the chances are she has — and you ask her if she’d like to make $300 a week with little real work and if she’d like to live in the lap of luxury. The odds are she’ll grab at the offer. She must be over eighteen and use no drugs or alcohol or foul language. We never take on inexperienced girls or widows, because they are more apt to want to leave the moment someone asks them to marry. Every girl must be healthy, be polite, have the gift of being amusing. She must be ready to learn how to use make-up, how to dress well, how to have good Southern manners, and how to stay well informed. I encourage my girls to read the books in my library. Above all, I tell each new girl to give sex, but give it interestingly and with mystery. Now let’s move on. I have more to show you on this floor before I take you upstairs.’
    They entered what Minna described as the Japanese Room. The floor was covered with finely woven straw matting and there was a bamboo umbrella stand inside the door. Dominating the room was a carved Oriental chair on a dais over which was hung a canopy of silk. The chandelier suspended from
    the deep-blue ceiling had small Osaka parasols instead of lamp shades. The walls were painted with Japanese flowers in their natural colours. Above was a frieze of flying storks, with bronze panels depicting sacred dragons of mythology. Decorative artifacts strewn about ranged from iron tea kettles from Kyoto to hangings of Japanese fans.
    Next door was the Chinese Room. The chandelier was a fringed temple lantern with painted scenes of Peking life. Carved ebony furniture was everywhere, and on one wall in a teak frame was an embroidered peacock. In the room’s dim corner, Foley made out cabinets filled with exotic artifacts — snuff bottles, porcelains, and small bronze figures.
    Dizzied, Foley trailed Minna into a vast ballroom with bandstand,