"Could I come back to see you sometime?" I asked.

     Princessa smiled. Hedy Lamarr vanished. Princessa had one slightly crooked upper front tooth the sight of which made me want to kiss her. I smiled back, memorizing her face.

     "It was nice to meet you," I said, and turned to go.

     "Buddy?"

     I turned around. Hedy was back.

     "You can call me, if you like. My last name is Paris. I have my own phone, the number's in the book."

     I went out with Princessa a couple of times. She talked about her boyfriend, who was already in college; and about Turquoise, who, Cessa told me, was a party girl.

     "What's a party girl?" I asked.

     "She gets fifty dollars when she goes to the powder room, sometimes more. My parents don't know."

     I didn't ask any more questions about Turquoise, but I did repeat what Princessa told me to Gus Argo.

     "Fifty bucks for the powder room? You're shittin' me," he said.

     "Does that mean she's a prostitute? I asked him.

     "I don't think so," said Argo. "More like she goes out with visiting firemen who want a good lookin' date."

     "Visiting firemen?"

     "Yeah, guys from out of town. Salesmen, conventioneers."