Peggy Holloway - Judith McCain 01 - Blood on White Wicker Read Free

2

    This was the most exciting thing that had ever happened to me. You can’t drive down Bourbon Street, so we parked the car in a parking garage on Canal Street. As we walked down Bourbon Street, I could hear music coming from everywhere. Everything was all lit up.
    There were black boys tap dancing on the sidewalk. One of them came up to me and said, “You give me $10, I’ll tell you exactly where you got those shoes you got on.”
    Dave took my arm and guided me away from him. I would have like to have had $10 to give him just to find out if he could really do that.
    Men were standing in doorways yelling for everyone to come in and see the show. You could actually see strippers on stage from the sidewalk. The street and sidewalks were filled with people carrying drinks in clear plastic cups, cans or bottles of beer. It was the noisiest place I had ever been and it was the most exciting.
    The only clothes I had owned at the time were jeans, tee shirts, shorts, and a couple of dresses that Dave said weren’t suitable for Bourbon Street.
    After trying on several outfits of Jesse’s and Rhonda’s, it was decided that I would wear a short stretchy tube of a dress of Jesse’s. It was royal blue, covered with sequins, no straps, and came up almost to my thighs. Rhonda had taken the braid out of my hair, and by using almost a can of hairspray, had given me very fat hair. She then put tons of makeup on me. I thought I looked very glamorous and grown up.
    Dave told us to wait a minute. He went into one of the clubs and came back with a cardboard tray filled with five drinks. He handed one to me.
    He winked and said, “Try this doll. It’s just bourbon and Coke, but I told them to go easy on the bourbon in yours.”
    I tasted it and didn’t like it. In fact, it almost took my breath away. I coughed and my eyes started tearing. They all roared with laughter. I didn’t want to appear ungrateful, so I just drank it down. This made everyone laugh even harder.
    After we had been walking around awhile, Dave said he wanted to see a new show at one of the clubs. I was grateful to be able to sit down. I wasn’t used to wearing high heels. We went into a dark club where there was a stage. There was a very tall woman on stage, wearing underwear, a pushup bra, high heels, garter belt, and stockings, telling jokes. I didn’t get most of them, and the ones I did get, I found to be embarrassing.
    I caught Dave staring at me, and I turned to him and said, “She sure is tall.”
    That set them all off to laughing again, and I couldn’t figure out what was so funny. They kept saying, “She’s so tall!”
    I was beginning to get angry because I thought they were making fun of me. Finally Dave leaned over close to me and said, “She’s not a she, but a he.”
    I couldn’t believe it. She—I mean he, was so pretty, and even sounded like a woman. We stayed in the club, and Dave kept buying me bourbon and Coke. By the time we left, I was beginning to like it.
    While we were there, there were many men that looked like women to entertain us. Some told jokes, some danced, some sang, and there was one that did everything. Toward the end he was joined by all the others. It was quite a show. I loved it and felt very sophisticated having seen it.
    We got home around four a.m., and we were all pretty drunk, and by that time, I was laughing as hard as everyone else.
    When we were inside, Dave put his arm around me and whispered in my ear, “Did I tell you how delicious you look tonight, dahlin?”
    I thought this was the funniest thing I had ever heard, and I screamed with laughter.
    “Well, she be feeling no pain,” Jesse said.
    Dave put his other arm around Jesse and started leading us up the stairs. The other two girls were stumbling after us. When we got to the top, Dave took his arm from around Jesse and gave her a push toward her room.
    He then started pulling me in the opposite direction from my room. I broke away from him and started