I first came to The Pink Flamingo when I was down on my luck. I had squandered most of the $50,000 my old man left me on booze and dames, and I got hired on as a bouncer in the Corner Pocket Cocktail Lounge. It wasn't a lounge, no matter how far you stretched that word. More a hole in the wall where the hookers and all-night truckers drank watered down booze, played a little pool, and then went off to exchange cash for a blowjob.
It was Ricardo, the midget working as night manager on the front desk, who introduced me to Lucy Sky Diamond. She was mostly Apalachee Indian, with a dash of Irish mixed in for good measure, and she'd left the reservation to chase her American dream, as ironic as that may sound given her current circumstances. Much younger than most of the other ladies at The Pink Flamingo, she had a Hollywood smile, iridescent green eyes, and long, flowing black hair. I involuntarily chuckled when I met her, and asked if she had been named after some song I'd heard just recently. She looked me square in the eye, but she didn't say nothing. Just cocked an eyebrow, as if to say I must be crazy.
Before I knew it, I was crazy — crazy in love with Lucy Sky Diamond from the first moment I saw her. She knew it too, and in a matter of just a week or two, we were slipping away to my room, where we travelled what Lucy called the pathway to love. But Lucy was a working girl. There were no free rides at The Pink Flamingo, and as hard as it may seem, I had no choice but to watch Lucy hustle lonely guys night after night. My only consolation was that it was me she wanted, me she returned to every morning.
We slept most of the day in my main-floor room with windows that opened to the trash dumpsters out back. Consuela, the Cuban maid, knew better than to disturb us. Instead, she stayed late and waited for my nightly shift to begin. Then she snuck into my room, made my bed, and left some of those little soaps and toiletries in the bathroom. She also helped herself to a couple of shots of Jack Daniels from the bottle I kept in the dresser drawer. Lord knows what else she did. I never asked.
It was the Memorial Day weekend when Big Tom Tunney rolled his rig into the parking lot. For some reason, he was looking for trouble. I could tell just by the way he sauntered into the Corner Pocket with a fistful of cash and a head full of some kind of itchy anger. I knew bad news when I saw it, but you didn't mess with paying customers. So I left him alone and let him spend his road-weary cash.
Of course he was quick to spot Lucy among the other middle-aged dollies. The two were carrying on like a couple of school kids on prom night. Watching them irked me, but I let the scene play out. She was keeping him under control, and if I was a little jealous, well, that was my problem. Before long, they disappeared through a back exit, and I didn't bother thinking what was going to happen next.
By the end of the night, I was dead-tired. I went to my room and fell fast asleep, only to be startled out of dreamland by the wail of police sirens. I rolled over in bed and tumbled onto Lucy's warm body. I pulled her close to me, but she pushed me away.
"Shhh," she murmured, "you need to hide me."
"Hey," I said through a fog, "what's the matter?"
"I'm in trouble," she muttered quietly.
"What?"
"I'm in trouble."
"What?" I repeated, as the fog quickly lifted.
"Some trucker ... last night ... he ..."
Her voice broke off.
"What happened?" I asked blankly.
I watched her eyes drift off into nowhere. Then, after a moment, she sobbed, "He's dead."
I propped myself up on one elbow. She was completely naked, and her body glistened in the half-light from a film of sweat.
Just then, a pounding at the door sent shivers up and down my back. A loud voice from outside bellowed, "County police, open the door."
Lucy slipped out of the bed and ducked into the bathroom. She closed the door, but not before whispering, "I'm not here. Please, you have to protect me."
Suddenly, I found myself complicit to a murder. But I was no sooner going to give her up than I was about to confess to the murder myself.
Seal ♫ Lucy In The Sky With Diamonds
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