descriptions. They were all beautifully dressed. Me?
I felt like a pig. But, that curly hair and those blue
eyes did it. They were over me like flies around the
honey. They bought me drink after drink, stuffed
little papers into my pockets with their phone num-
bers and asked me to call. I didn’t get looped be-
cause I was careful. I knew I wanted to come back.
I took a taxi home—my fiver was still intact—and
planned for the next night.

“I was back the next night, the following one and
the night after that. I didn’t play hard to get. I just //
didn’t know which one I wanted among the guys /
who propositioned me. So I kept going home. That
only made them more excited about getting into my
pants. I could feel that, yet I probably wanted sex
more than they did.

“One thing I knew. I had to get out of the Bronx,
get myself a decent job and some clothes. Until then
I'd done odd jobs in the neighborhood to earn
spending money and help out at home. My whole
life had been my music.

“Getting a job in a department store was easy. In
a month I was out of the Bronx, installed in a cheap
little downtown apartment with no furniture but a
bed. A few wire hangers in the closet took care of
my wardrobe. - The store gave us discounts and