Chapter 30

HAZEL

Two girls walked around the room and poured drink after drink into the men’s crystal glasses. How there could be money like that in a place like this was beyond me. Wherever I looked I saw bits and pieces of wealth, but then I looked at the broken wood paneling and the rotting floors; the empty fixtures on the ceiling, and the torn drapes that hung to divide the rooms and cover the windows.

Did all of the money go to these lavish things for the men?

It was, after all, for their convince.

Mr. Edison was sharing words with Marry and their eyes occasionally glanced my way while the wad of cash changed hands.

I walked along the wall to the other side of the room and tried to blend in but being the only girl except for seventy-year-old Marry, in clothes, I pulled more attention than if I’d been naked on the floor.

One girl was swaying on her feet, she looked drunk or high or perhaps both. I couldn’t imagine the things they had to do to survive he