charge.
“What’s the matter with Daisy? She don’t seem like herself,” he asked Dallas as he sat at the bar and watched all the transactions
around him.
“Yeah, I think her momma died. Trixie was saying something about Daisy. She’s trying to hold it together,” said Dallas as
he wiped off the bar with a clean rag. “You want another one?” he said as he looked at Calvin holding up his shot of Royal
Crown.
“Naw, naw, I’m good,” said Calvin after slinging the shot back. He got up and walked over to where Daisy was hanging upside
down from a pole on the left-hand side of the stage.
“Come on down here and let me talk to you,” said Calvin, yelling above the bass, looking up at Daisy.
“What, can’t you talk to me right here?” she hollered down to him.
“Your titties is hanging upside down,” he hollered back.
“What?”
“Your titties,” he said pointing.
“What about them?” asked Daisy as she tried looking upward at them dangling downward toward her chin.
“They’re upside down,” he hollered.
“What’s that got to do with your mouth?” she asked him back as he began to grow irate.
“Look, get down here so I can talk to you,” he said, watching her turn her body upright and slide down the pole.
“What, Calvin, can you talk to me now because my titties ain’t upside down no more?”
“Don’t be sassy,” he barked, pointing a finger at her. “Come on, let’s go in my office. I want to talk to you.”
“Aww, Calvin, come on, you just looked me over yesterday,” said Daisy, figuring he just wanted to get his rocks hard feeling
on her as usual. He could try it all he wanted, she saw the bulge from the crotch in his pants every time he pretended to
be some type of Mad Hatter gyn inspecting the goodies between her legs.
“Daisy, come on in here and sit down.”
Daisy went in his office, removed her thong, and sat down in the chair next to his desk.
She knew, like everybody else, that you weren’t allowed to wear clothes in Calvin’s office. Whenever you were in the office,
that meant business, and Calvin’s line of business was pussy, and while in his office, that’s what he wanted to see.
“What’s going on with you?”
“What you mean, Calvin? Nothing.”
“Man, I’m watching you out there and I don’t know what you’re doing. You look… awkward, off balance, no rhythm, no sex appeal,
just a body hanging upside down. What’s going on?”
“Calvin, I’m sorry. I just got so much going on. My momma died and I just been—”
“Your momma died?”
“Yeah, four days ago. She was all I had,” said Daisy, fighting back tears. “And I ain’t have no money, so I can’t bury her,
and my aunt is coming, but she don’t know I had Momma cremated.”
“Wasn’t no insurance to bury her?”
“Nope, the policy lapsed for nonpayment.”
“Well, don’t start getting sad on me. Pull yourself together, Daisy. It’s going to be okay. I’m sorry to hear about your momma.
I think it probably be best if I let you take some time. Sometimes, in cases of death, in this line of business, the two don’t
mix.”
“I can’t take off Calvin, I need the money. I need my tips. I have to work,” she said. She appreciated the gesture, but realistically
it just wasn’t economical.
“Don’t worry about the money. Here, take a hundred dollars from me. It’s something I want you to do for me.”
Daisy looked at the money as if Calvin were insane.
What the hell am I gonna do with a measly hundred dollars?
“Listen, I’ve been thinking. And with your mother passing and all, this might be just what you need right now anyway. Yeah,
this could work out better for you and for me,” he said, throwing out brighter possibilities her way.
“What, what you talking about, Calvin?”
“I think it might be better if I put you over in my new spot. What do you think?”
“The Honey Pot?” she asked, confused.
“Yeah, I need you over
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