“so these friends of yours, who don’t have good looks, what do they have? what do they do?” joanie asked.
“big ticket is a strong woman - she picks things up - stuff the marks bring, and challenge her to pick them up. and she’ll fight - fight anything , men, women, animals, anything.”
anything? joanie thought. aloud, she said, “and your other friend?”
“that’s judy - flabby judy. she’s a fat lady. really fat.”
“yes, but what does she do?”
“i told you, she’s a fat lady. people pay to look at her.”
“why?” joanie persisted.
“because she’s so fat.”
“they pay to look at her just because she’s so fat?” joanie had a vague memory of reading about such things in the history books she had read in the library back in the heartland, but she never thought they would still exist in the thirty-third century.
“that doesn’t sound very edifying,” joanie told ruby.
“it’s not an edifying world. especially in the big city, or on the barbary coast.”
joanie did not know what to say to that. she took another sip of her cold tea, and asked. “so tell me again what you want from me?”
“see, when we get to the city - if we make it to the city - we have to deal mostly with agents, and even if we run into a working crew on the road we have to deal with some kind of boss. now what they are always looking for is good looking young ladies such as yourself. they will at least look at you and hear you out, and when they do, you can tell them you have some pals - like me and ticket and judy - and maybe they could look at us too. that’s all.”
“would that work?” joanie asked.
“it’s worth a try. of course” - ruby looked straight at joanie - ““we would just be trusting you to speak up for us. the world is filled with schmucks and backstabbers and judas iscariots who would ride with us and then let us down when we got to the city. but i don’t think that’s you. just looking at you, i don’t think you are that kind of person at all. you wouldn’t let a pal down, would you?’”
“i don’t think so.”
“i know you wouldn’t. say - can you drive a truck? an old-fashioned truck that you have to drive?”
slightly bewildered by the change of subject, joanie said, “yes, i can drive a truck. i’m from the heartland, almost everybody in the heartland can drive a truck.”
“that’s good,” ruby said. “better and better.” she finished off her coffee and stood up. “well, kid, think about what i said, and i will probably see you around. how much longer did you say you could stay here?”
“about two weeks.”
“then i will see you again for sure.” and ruby left joanie with her thoughts.
that was all kind of interesting, joanie mused . but scarier the more she thought about it - especially ruby’s casual “if we get to the city”. and all that about the agent’s liking her “good looks”. what was she supposed to do with her “good looks”? just get looked at?
joanie was innocent, but she was not that innocent.
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