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white bread town to settle down in. Maybe she’d buy an ice-cream truck. Fannie could find a rich man and be just like Veronica. They’d meet their Archie and Reggie. No Moose, please. Moose was such a fuckin’ idiot. Who the hell walked around saying duh all the time? They needed to lock that retard in some kind of insane asylum.
    “Sheesh,” Annie said, popping her bubble gum and playing footsie with herself.
    “What is it, baby?” Fannie said, dotting her pinky toenail with the polish, pulling her long feet to her mouth and blowing.
    “Moose is just so damned stupid. Just kind of pisses me off.”
    “Yes, baby. You told me.”
    ‘You think we’ll ever be like that? Livin’ like Betty and Veronica or those rich women in Cosmo . All worried about the kind of shoes we wear or if our belts clash with our panties?”
    “Don’t be talkin’ about Cosmo , girl. I just saw a cashmere turtleneck and a pair of silk taffeta pants that I’d kill my grandmama for. Hey, let me show you somethin’, Miss Gemini. Almost forgot.”
    Fannie put her feet to the ground, extending her toes to the sky. She reached under the bed and pulled out the latest issue of the magazine. Its cover read: Is his orgasm really important ?
    Fannie licked her lips: “ ‘A creative door opens. Say yes to a new interesting project and don’t be afraid to take risks.’ “
    “What the hell does that mean?” Annie asked.
    “It means we in the same ole rut. Stagger Lee said last night he wanted us to go back to the South Side and work in some of his jerk shacks. I don’t ever want to do that. Me and you sitting in them shitty old buildings waiting for some old man to come in and want to get his rocks off. I don’t even like to blow my nose in Kleenex anymore.”
    “We’ll run before we do that again.”
    “He’ll find us,” Fannie said. “So you best put that out of your mind.”
    Annie rolled over on her bed, the waves beating against her spine, and looked at her ceiling filled with miniposters of teen heartthrobs and pages from her favorite Archie books. Didn’t matter if she was in her twenties, she’d never give up her friends. When she lay awake at night, some old man’s scent still on her, she’d stare up there at all those smooth-chested guys and friends from Riverdale laughing away.
    “You know, baby, clothes make you feel good,” Fannie said, pulling off her sweatshirt and rubbing lotion down her chest and arms. “Sometimes I feel like I could take on the world when I got a sack of clothes with me. And I saw somethin’ yesterday at the thrift shop that would make you shine like a bright penny in the sun. So beautiful. Sky blue leather skirt and top. Rabbit fur trim around the neck.”
    “Too girly,” Annie said, blowing out her cheeks with air.
    “Too girly?” Fannie rolled her eyes. “That ain’t even the best part. Hey, throw me some Bubblicious.”
    Fannie caught the open pack and unwrapped a juicy piece. “Also found a pair of closed-toe platform shoes that felt sooo soft in my hands. Little wooden crisscrosses on the heel. They must’ve belonged to the same person.”
    Annie’s cell phone rang beneath her pillow. Fannie brushed the dark hair from her eyes and started to massage her face with oil. She hated dry skin.
    Annie picked up the phone and rocked her knees over her head.
    “Hello?”
    “I need to talk to Stagger Lee.”
    “Who’s Stagger Lee?”
    “Don’t whisper bullshit in my ear, woman. It’s Peetie.”
    Annie groaned and tossed the phone to Fannie. Fannie wiped the grease from her knuckles and daintily picked up the phone.
    “Yesss.”
    Annie tossed her legs back over her head and rolled to her side. She halfway listened to Fannie gab with the man until she switched off the phone. “Well?” she asked.
    “Well what?”
    “What was that about?”
    “A creative door has just opened,” Fannie said, laughing.

Chapter 12
    Chicago rammed into your soul like a fist. Made you feel tougher,