Border City Blues 3-Book Bundle. Michael Januska

right, but don’t forget your badge and uniform. You’re going to need them this time.”

      — Chapter 29 —

      GET A WIGGLE ON

      Enjoy Some Hot Jazz Tonight

      Music! Oh, boy, hear the harmony when Johnnie Smith’s jazzy melody men play — you just have to dance — no resisting. Come on — bring your partner.

      There’s only one place to really enjoy dancing these summer evenings — that’s out in the cool lake breezes. You’ll feel you made a real discovery after one evening on the S.S. Rapids King.

      Charlie, Pearl, Pearl’s girlfriend Daisy, and Dexter, her blind date, arrived early so they could get seats on the top deck. Daisy and Dexter sat in the bench behind Pearl and Charlie. The girls were hanging over the side, cracking jokes and behaving like a couple of genuine jazz babies. Dexter pulled a flask out of his hip pocket.

      “Let’s get bent.”

      He unscrewed the cap, took a swig, and passed it to Charlie. Charlie almost choked.

      “Jesus, Dex, this is hooch.”

      “You’re spoiled, Charlie. You’ve been sampling too much of your boss’s liquor cabinet.”

      “Seriously, Dex, you don’t need to be drinking that stuff.”

      “As a matter of fact, I’m meeting somebody on the boat tonight that’s going to fix me up nice.”

      Charlie shook his head. Dexter was always trying to look like he knew his way around the block.

      “Hey, what’s all the boy talk? Ooh, can I have some?”

      Charlie handed Pearl the flask. She tilted it against her lips and made a face.

      “Euh — where’d you get the paint?”

      “All hail!” someone shouted.

      They were coming up on the corporate headquarters of Walker’s distillery empire. Everyone raised their arms and then lowered them toward the south shore. It was sacred ground over there.

      “God Save the King!”

      “The Maple Leaf Forever!”

      “Drink Canada Dry!”

      “Daisy, would you like a swig?”

      “No, thanks, Dex.”

      “She doesn’t touch the stuff,” said Pearl.

      Dexter’s face fell. The petals had just fallen off his precious flower.

      “She prefers her noodle juice.”

      Daisy nodded. Dexter shot Charlie a look. Charlie shrugged. Half a nautical mile into the journey and the evening was already a disaster. But Daisy sensed Dexter’s disappointment.

      “There’s other stuff I like,” she said.

      “Yeah, like what?”

      “Well,” said Daisy, “on hot, sunny days I like to sunbathe on the roof of my building and smoke reefer.”

      Dexter’s drink almost shot out of his nose. Good thing it didn’t; it would have killed his chances with Daisy. She had no time for men that couldn’t hold their liquor.

      Pearl could feel the music before she heard it. “The band’s started! Honey, I gotta dance.”

      “Then let’s go.”