A Stone for Danny Fisher (1952) by Harold Robbins Page A

“I already asked her. She don’t want to stay.”
    His voice grew confidential. “Listen, kid. I’m dependin’ on you. If you ever had a yen for a babe like I got for her, you’d know what I mean. Get her anythin’ she wants, but keep her there. I’ll be back before one in the mornin’.”
    The phone went dead in my hand. I looked at it bewilderedly. What did he expect me to do? Kidnap her? Slowly I put the receiver down and turned to the door. Sam had spoken as if I knew what to do, as he would to another man, not a kid. I began to feel a glow of pride as I started for the door, but before I reached it she stood framed in the doorway.
    She peered into the bungalow curiously. “May I come in?” she asked.
    I stood still in the centre of the room. “Sure, Miss Schindler.” I pushed some boxes from the floor in front of her so she could pass.
    “I was supposed to straighten up, but I haven’t had time,” I explained.
    She closed the door behind her and I straightened up to face her. My face was flushed.
    “Was it Sam?” she asked.
    My eyes met her gaze. I nodded silently.
    “What did he say?”
    “He said for me to get you a room an’ anything you want an’ to keep you here until he comes,” I said boldly.
    Her voice grew challenging and suspicious. “He seems pretty sure of himself, doesn’t he?”
    I could feel the flush grow deeper and my eyes fell away from her piercing look. I didn’t answer.
    She sounded angry now. I had been too wise. Somehow she realized that I knew. “What will you tell him if I don’t stay?” she snapped.
    I turned away from her and fiddled with a few of the boxes. I still didn’t answer.
    Her hand gripped my shoulder and turned me around. Her face was flushed now. “What will you tell him?” she repeated heatedly.
    I looked deep into her eyes. To hell with her. There was nothing she could do to me. I wasn’t in school now. “Nothing,” I said mockingly. I took her hand from my shoulder.
    She looked at my hand gripping her wrist, then slowly around the room. I could see she was making up her mind. Her eyes came back to me. “All right,” she said suddenly, “I’ll stay. Clean up this room for me.”
    I was startled. “But Sam said for me to get you a room——”
    Her voice grew stubborn. “I said I’ll stay here.”
    “But it’s all messed up,” I protested. “You’ll be much more comfortable up in the hotel.”
    She turned toward the door and opened it. “Sam said you were to do anything I wanted if I stayed. I’m staying here.” She stepped over the threshold and looked back at me. “I’m going down to get my car. You can clean up the room while I’m gone.”
    I watched her close the door. She had me and she knew it. I wondered why she was so angry, I couldn’t have let on that much. I walked over to the window and looked out after her.
    She disappeared below the swimming-pool. I could understand how Sam felt. She sold more with her walk than most of the broads up here did in a bathing-suit.
    I turned back from the window and looked disgustedly around the room. Mamma’s last letter gleamed whitely at me from the table. I hadn’t answered it yet, in more than a week. Now I wouldn’t have time.
    Mamma tied the smock around her as she walked down the stairs. The air was still and quiet and she knew it would be another hot day. She was tired before the day began. She was always tired lately. She hadn’t been sleeping well.
    Papa had brought home a tonic for her. She had taken it every morning for a week, but it hadn’t helped. Of course she had told him that it had helped her—it made him feel good. A man had to feel useful, and he felt bad enough over the way business was going.
    She felt sorry for Papa. Last night in his sleep he had cried. His voice in the dark woke her up and she lay there quietly, listening to the soft, mumbled words coming from his heart. He seemed so bewildered that tears had come to her eyes.
    She hadn’t been able