Page:Levenson - Butterfly Man.djvu/191

Rh clothes, dressing me when you're not busy dressing yourself. Be a regular valet to me. I'll pay you for that.

"That's all right with me."

"And finally, this is my first trip around the circuit. It's your eighteenth or so."

"That's right."

"I'm out for a good time. I need a guide. I want to hit the high spots. And make no mistakes en route. You're a friend of Ernie Emerson's, aren't you?"

"That queen?"

"No kidding."

"You bet he is."

"When I get to Boston, I want to throw a party for him."

"He won't let you. He goes in for that sort of thing himself. I hear he took care of you in New York before I joined the show."

Ken flashed the platinum wrist watch before Joe's eyes.

"You're in," Joe chuckled, "or at least part way."

"In more ways than one—"

"If you want to be. But—" Joe looked around, "you ain't got nothing to wear at a drag, have you?"

"No."

"I'll take you where you gotta go for the right kind of togs, when we hit Boston."

"Right you are, Josie." He held a hand outstretched to the Italian. "Is it agreed?"

"And how!"

Joe shook Ken's hand. Ken nodded in the direction of the corridor. "Unlock the door," he said, "and get Frankie and that Jean Pond. Tonight we'll have a quiet, private party."