In this short story, Gil Brewer introduces us to Cora
Fleming a married woman with a past as a “big-time call girl.” Enter Rush Taylor,
who poses as her “cousin” who comes to visit Cora and her husband, Ernie who is
a very busy writer. Unbeknownst to Ernie, Rush would place horrifying sexual demands
on Cora and sometimes even beating her while Ernie is busy typing away on his
typewriter. Cora feared that someday Ernie would start asking her about her
bruises.
The plot thickens when Ernie suspects something isn’t right
with Rush staying under their roof and wants Rush gone. But Cora is in a quandary
because although she agrees that Rush should go she doesn’t quite know how to
do it. And this is where it gets quite interesting.
Let me just say I didn’t know this short story would be packed with such noir. Gil Brewer did an awesome job at wrapping up this
story with a delicious twist!
Great read! Two thumps way up!
Note:
This short story appeared in Gil Brewer’s A
Devil for O’Shaugnessy / The Three-Way Split.
My
favorite lines:
Cora
would stay in her bedroom, reading, waiting for Ernie. Sometimes he never came;
working all night long. Then he would sleep during the day.
And
Rush would corner her. She admitted there was something magnetic about Rush.
Too much of him might turn a girl’s head. Once she’d been deeply in love with
him, even with the things he did. Or so she thought.
Two
days went by. Ernie asked on the second day, “You speak to him yet?"
No.
I haven’t the nerve.”
“Want
me to?”
“Oh,
no!” She tried to hold his gaze. He turned away. “It’s just that—” she said, “that
I should do it. I will speak to him, Ernie. I will.
“He’s
your cousin. Not mine.”
“He’s
so alone.”
“Yeah.”
Ernie left the room, and soon she heard the typewriter hammering away again.”
Rating: 5 stars
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