Tales of the City 01 - Tales of the City

then.”
    “Have you been reading Roots again?”
    “I like soul food, D’or!”
    D’or scowled at her. “Would you like me if I weren’t black?”
    “D’or! What a thing to say!”
    After studying Mona’s face for a moment, D’or ended the discussion with a smile and a wink. “I’m just tard, honey. Les go eat dem poke chops.”
    After dinner, they lay by the fire and looked at color transparencies of D’orothea modeling Adorable Pantyhose.
    It seemed like a good time to tell her.
    “D’or … Michael’s asked me to go with him to a late show at the Lumiere tonight.”
    “Good.”
    “You won’t mind if …?”
    “You don’t have to ask my permission to go to the movies.”
    “Well, normally I’d want you to come along …”
    D’orothea patted her hand. “I’m gonna crash in ten minutes, hon. You go have a good time, O.K.?”
    Shortly after midnight, Mona’s heart was pounding so fast that the Twinkie factory might as well have been the House of Usher.
    The waiting room reminded her of the lobby of an ancient Tenderloin hotel.
    She rang a buzzer at the information desk. Several minutes later, a man who appeared to be a baker asked if he could help her.
    “Do you know Leroy Wilson?” she asked.
    “Sure … wanna talk to him?”
    “Please.”
    The man disappeared into the back, and another ten minutes passed before Leroy Wilson presented himself to a mystified Mona Ramsey.
    The baker was dusted with a fine coating of powdered sugar.
    And his skin was as white as the sugar.

Anna Crumbles
    T HE COUPLE TRUDGED UP THE DARK MOUNTAINSIDE along a narrow mud path that was slick from similar pilgrimages.
    “What time is it?” he asked.
    She checked her watch. A man’s Timex. “A little before midnight.”
    Something other than the fog caused him to shiver as they moved through the eucalyptus forest. His companion seemed unperturbed.
    “You’re a stout-hearted woman, Anna.”
    “What’s the matter? Can’t keep up? This little jaunt was your idea, remember?”
    “I don’t know what the hell got into me.”
    She didn’t say anything. He looked down at her and brushed a strand of hair away from her face.
    “Yes I do, Anna. Yes I do.”
    At the crest of Mount Davidson, they caught their breath beneath the giant concrete cross.
    Edgar swept his arm over the city beneath them.
    “All my life … all my goddamn life and I never came up here.”
    “Pretend you were saving it.”
    He took her hand and pulled her next to him. “I swear it was worth it.”
    Silence.
    “Anna?”
    “We didn’t come here to neck, did we, Edgar?”
    He sat down on the ledge under the cross. “I … no.”
    She joined him. “What is it?”
    “I don’t know exactly. I got a call today.”
    “About what?”
    “A man who wants to talk to me about madrigals.”
    “What?”
    “That’s what he said. That’s all he said, actually. ‘I’m a friend and I want to talk to you about madrigals.’ He was maddeningly coy about it.”
    “Do you think he …?”
    “What else? He wants money, I guess.”
    “Blackmail?”
    Edgar chuckled. “Quaint, isn’t it? Six months ago that might have shaken me up real bad.”
    “But how would he know?”
    “Who knows? Who cares?”
    “You do, apparently. You just marched me up Calvary to tell me about it.”
    “That wasn’t the reason.”
    “Will you see him?”
    “Long enough to memorize his face and kick his ass down the steps.”
    “Are you sure that’s wise?”
    “Hell, what can he do? I’m a goner. Christ, I never thought that would come in handy someday!”
    Anna picked up a twig and traced a circle in the damp earth.
    “We’re not the only ones to consider, Edgar.”
    “Frannie?”
    Anna nodded.
    “He won’t go to her. Not when he sees how little it matters to me.”
    “You don’t know that for certain.”
    “No … but I’m not losing sleep over it, either.”
    “Are you sure it’s … blackmail?”
    “Positive.”
    Anna stood up and walked away from the cross, closer to the lights of the city. “Did he tell you his name?”
    “Just Williams. Mr. Williams.”
    “When does he want to see you?”
    “Christmas Eve afternoon.” He grinned. “Gothic, eh?”
    Anna didn’t smile. “I don’t want to hurt your family, Edgar. Or you.”
    “Me? Anna, you’ve never caused me a single moment of …”
    “I could, though, Edgar. I could hurt you very badly.”
    “Bullshit!”
    “Your family needs you now, Edgar. It isn’t right or fair for