Women by Charles Bukowski Read Free Book Online Page B

and drinking. The night harness racing meet was on. I took a pint and went out to the track. I arrived early and got all my figures together. By the time the first race was over the pint was surprisingly more than half gone. I was mixing it with hot coffee and it went down easily.
    I won three of the first four races. Later I won an exacta and was nearly $200 ahead by the end of the 5th race. I went to the bar and played off the toteboard. That night they gave me what I called “a good toteboard.” Lydia would have shit if she could have seen me pulling in all that cash. She hated it when I won at the track, especially when she was losing.
    I kept drinking and hitting. By the time the 9th race was over I was $950 ahead and very drunk. I put my wallet in one of my side pockets and walked slowly to my car.
    I sat in my car and watched the losers leave the parking lot. I sat there until the traffic thinned out then I started the engine. Just outside the track was a supermarket. I saw a lighted phone booth at one end of the parking lot, drove in and got out. I walked to the phone and dialed Lydia’s number.
    “Listen,” I said, “listen, you bitch, I went to the harness races tonight and won $950. I’m a winner! I’ll always be a winner! You don’t deserve me, bitch! You’ve been playing with me! Well, it’s over! I want out! This is it! I don’t need you and your goddamned games! Do you understand me? Do you get the message? Or is your head thicker than your ankles?”
    “Hank . . .”
    “Yes?”
    “This isn’t Lydia. This is Bonnie. I’m baby sitting for Lydia. She went out tonight.”
    I hung up and walked back to my car.
    15
    Lydia phoned me in the morning. “Whenever you get drunk,” she said, “I’m going out dancing. I went to the Red Umbrella last night and I asked men to dance with me. A woman has a right to do that.”
    “You’re a whore.”
    “Yeah? Well, if there’s anything worse than a whore it’s a bore.”
    “If there’s anything worse than a bore it’s a boring whore.”
    “If you don’t want my pussy,” she said, “I’ll give it to somebody else.”
    “That’s your privilege.”
    “After I finished dancing, I went to see Marvin. I wanted to get his girlfriend’s address and go see her. Francine. You went to see his girl Francine one night yourself,” Lydia said.
    “Look, I never fucked her. I was just too drunk to drive home after a party. We didn’t even kiss. She let me sleep on her couch and I went home in the morning.”
    “Anyhow, after I got to Marvin’s, I decided not to ask for Francine’s address.”
    Marvin’s parents had money. He had a house down by the seashore. Marvin wrote poetry, better poetry than most. I liked Marvin.
    “Well, I hope you had a good time,” I said and hung up.
    I had no sooner hung up when the phone rang again. It was Marvin. “Hey, guess who came by real late last night? Lydia. She knocked on the window and I let her in. She gave me a hard-on.”
    “O.K., Marvin. I understand. I’m not blaming you.”
    “You’re not pissed?”
    “Not at you.”
    “All right then …”
    I took the sculpted head and loaded it into my car. I drove over to Lydia’s and put the head on her doorstep. I didn’t ring the bell. I started to walk away. Lydia came out.
    “Why are you such an ass?” she asked.
    I turned. “You are not selective. One man’s the same as another to you. I’m not going to eat your shit.”
    “I’m not going to eat your shit either!” she screamed and slammed the door.
    I walked to my car, got in and started it. I put it in first. It didn’t move. I tried second. Nothing. Then I went back to first. I checked to be sure the brake was off. It wouldn’t move. I tried reverse. The car moved backwards. I braked and tried first again. The car wouldn’t move. I was still very angry with Lydia. I thought, well, I’ll drive the fucking thing home backwards. Then I thought about the cops stopping me and asking me what