45

“I was just a sap, a juvenile. I didn’t know any
better. I had gotten myself into the ‘gay world’ but I
didn’t know anything about it.”

“What happened next?”

“Can’t you guess?”

“Maybe you’d better tell me.”

“Okeh. The love story’s over. Now the old tear-
jerker begins for real. Back in my mind I had
f always known what I'd do when the booze was
finished and I had no money. I'd go to one of the
old aunties, the male madams around town.”

Carl caught the look of surprise in my face.

“So you don’t know such people exist. Well, they
do. And let me tell you, they’ve got a flourishing
trade. They serve nothing but the best and only to
guys who can afford the best. Your bankroll is the
" key to the kind of lay you’re going to get.

“One of the less repulsive madams was Max, a
swarthy, little man of indeterminate age who seemed
_ out of place in the “gay world.” He looked and
talked like a small time hoodlum. Eventually I
, found out that’s exactly what he was.

“He ran a call boy service out of his haberdashery
shop. That was only a front. His clients used code
' words like necktie, striped shorts, soft collar, to
describe the boy they wanted. Necktie could mean