“She calls me all the time. ‘Where does Laura work, what does Laura like, tell me all about her.’” “She asked you that?” Laura was slightly incredulous, but once again, she liked it. She was sorry she liked it, but she did. “Yeah. I’m beginning to think I like her.” “You liked her before.” “I know.” He laughed. “I’m not making sense. I guess I mean I feel sympathetic toward her. We’re both unlucky in love. At the moment.” He looked hard at her then and said, “Please come with me, Laura. I don’t want to go home.” “Why not?” Again he laughed, not so pleasantly this time. “I’m afraid of what I’ll find.” “Like what?” “Like somebody else in my bed with Terry.” After a moment of shocked silence, Laura put her arm in his. “Okay,” she said. “Let’s go somewhere and flatter the hell out of each other.” He chuckled at her. “Mother, damn it, sometimes I suspect you of having a sense of humor.” They went down to The Cellar, in spite of Laura’s misgivings. Jack seemed so unhappy that she wanted to indulge him. It was crowded as always on Friday nights, but Beebo wasn’t in sight. “She’ll be in,” Jack observed. “She’s late on Fridays.” They stood at the bar until a couple of stools were vacated and then sat down. “What does she do?” Laura asked rather shyly. “Who? Beebo?” “She must get money somewhere. She has to pay the rent like everybody else.” “She runs an elevator. In the Grubb Building. They think she’s a boy.” “My God—an _elevator_.” It seemed wrong, even ludicrous. Beebo had too much between her ears to fritter her youth away running an elevator. “What does she do _that_ for?” “She doesn’t have to wear a skirt.” Laura was stunned. It was pathetic, even shameful. For the first time she saw Beebo not as an overwhelming, handsome, self-assured individual, but as a very human being with a little more pride and fear and weakness than she ever permitted to show. Laura didn’t know how long they had been there when Beebo walked in. She only knew she had had plenty to drink and it was time to go home. Beebo walked up to her, and Laura saw her face first in the mirror. She turned around with a start and stared at her. Beebo was wearing a dress. A dress. And high heeled shoes. She was over six feet in the high heels. Strangely enough she wasn’t awkward in them, either. She wasn’t comfortable, but she could walk a straight line and keep her balance. “Hello, Bo-peep,” she said quietly in Laura’s ear. Laura felt a grateful response flow down to her toes from the ear. “Hello,” she said to the mirror image and then turned to face her. “Hello, Betty Jean.” She looked at her skirt. Beebo gave her a wry smile. “You remembered?” she said. “Do you remember the good things, too?” “Yes,” said Laura, smiling back. And surprised herself. For a moment she felt curiously receptive. She had no idea why. Beebo gazed at her and then she put a hand on Jack’s shoulder. “Hello, fellow sufferer,” she said.