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Nora had gotten up before hiain in the only Clothes she had Her hair was daly to the nape of her fleck "The water’s hot and forceful," she told hi her
’Then you better cool off," she said, pulling away fro"
’Einstein? He has big ears"
In the bathroo out of a sinkful of cold water that Nora had drawn for his, the toilet is a perfectly adequate source of drinking water"
Einstein sneezed at him, jumped down from the counter, and padded out of the bathroo, but he decided a day’s growth of beard would give him the look he needed for the work he would have to do this evening in the Tenderloin district
They left the motel and ate at the first McDonald’s they could find After lunch, they drove to a local branch of the Santa Barbara bank where Travis had his checking account They used his co card, his MasterCard, and two of his Visa cards tofourteen hundred dollars Next they went to an A one of Travis’s checks and his Gold Card, they acquired the maximum allowable five hundred dollars in cash and forty-five hundred in traveler’s checks Combined with the twenty-one hundred in cash and traveler’s checks left over frohty-five hundred in liquid assets
During the rest of the afternoon and early evening, they went shopping With credit cards, they bought a coh clothes to fill the bags They got toiletries for both of theht a Scrabble game, and Nora said, "You don’t really feel in the a her puzzlement "I’ll explain later"
Half an hour before sunset, with their purchases packed tightly in the spacious trunk of the Mercedes, Travis drove into the heart of San Francisco’s Tenderloin, which was the area of the city that lay below O’Farrell Street, wedged between Market Street and Van Ness Avenue It was a district of sleazy bars featuring topless dancers, go-go joints where the girls wore nothing at all, rap parlors wherewomen and talk about sex and where eneracy was a shocking revelation to Nora, who had begun to think of herself as experienced and sophisticated She was not prepared for the cesspool of the Tenderloin She gaped at the gaudy neon signs that advertised peep shows, fey baths, andof some of the billboard come-ons at the worst bars baffled her, and she said, "What do they mean when thefor a parking place, Travis said, "Itthe dance, they spread their labia to show themselves more completely"
"No!"
"Yes"
"My God I don’t believe it I mean, I do believe it-but I don’t believe it What’s it ht at the custo, but the girls dance close, swinging their bare brsts in the customers’ faces You could insert one, maybe two, but not three sheets of paper between their niles and the men’s lips"
In the back seat, Einstein snorted as if with disgust
"I agree, fella," Travis told hi red and yellow bulbs and rippling bands of blue and purple neon, where the sign promised LIVE SEX SHOW
Appalled, Nora said, "My God, are there other shohere they have sex with the dead?"
Travis laughed so hard he ale boys "No, no, no Even the Tenderloin has some limits They mean ’live’ as opposed to ’on film’ You can see plenty of sex on filraphy, but that place proe I don’t know if they deliver on the promise"
"And I don’t care to find out!" Nora said, sounding as if she were Dorothy frohborhood of Oz "What’re we doing here?"
"This is the place you cos they don’t sell on Nob Hill-like young boys or really large amounts of dope Or phony driver’s licenses and other counterfeit ID"
"Oh," she said "Oh, yes, I see This area is controlled by the underworld, by people like the Corleones in The Godfather"
"I’m sure the mob owns more of these places than not," he said as hespace at the curb "But don’t ever -the real mob is a bunch of honorable cuties like the Corleones"
Einstein was agreeable to re with the Mercedes
"Tell you what, fur face If we’re real lucky," Travis joked, "we’ll get you a new identity, too We’ll make you into a poodle"
Nora was surprised to discover that, as twilight settled over the city, the breeze off the bay was chilly enough for theht earlier in the day
"Even in su rolls in The stored-up heat of the day pulls it off the water"
He would have worn his jacket even if the evening air had beenhis loaded revolver under his belt and needed the jacket to Conceal it
"Is there really a chance you’ll need the gun?" she asked as they walked away fro it mainly for ID"
"Huh?"
"You’ll see"
She looked back at the car, where Einstein was staring out the rear , looking forlorn She felt bad leaving him there But she was quite certain that even if these establishood for Einstein’s moral welfare