Books › Blue Book v085 n06 [1947-10], 1947 › scan 72
Scan 72
Blue Book v085 n06 [1947-10], 1947
39 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1Dagger Queen
2cop and a carnival actress . . . . by Bill Brown
4"You're charged with resisting and assaulting an officer," he said. "Plead guilty, and you'll get ten days. With the ten you already got for contempt of court, that'll make twenty."
6The Dagger Queen stuck some of the canary-colored hair back under her jeweled headpiece. Then she looked up with just a ghost of a smile, and I think she winked at me, but I'm not sure.
8"I want to tell you and the Ape here, that you won't keep me in this lousy jail for twenty days!" she said.
10The Dagger Queen was smart enough to plead guilty. I wasn't sorry about the whole thing. It wouldn't be bad having a canary like that in the cage to take care of, I thought. A little later I wasn't so sure.
12The Queen walked into the women's cell and glanced around just like she was looking over a hotel room. I felt a little nervous. I remembered I hadn't cleaned up the place since we had Lizzie White and her girls in for three days. She picked up the two old gray blankets, and I could tell by the way she drew her head back that they smelled sour. She looked at the wash-basin, and it was kind of smeary. Most people are scared when they get put in jail and don't worry about how clean it is. But not her!
14The Dagger Queen turned on me, and I got ready to slam the door between us.
16"See here, Ape," she says, "This place isn't fit for a cop to sleep in. Who's the janitor?"
18I was the janitor. I said so.
20"Okay," she says. "I want this place cleaned up. I want it swept, and I want it scrubbed. I want that wash-basin to shine. I want clean blankets!"
22I wasn't used to being talked to by a prisoner like that, but I didn't like to think of a pretty girl having to sleep between dirty blankets.
24I locked the Dagger Queen up in the police station, and then I rustled a couple of new blankets out of the storeroom. I swept the cell out and scrubbed up the wash-basin. I splashed some chlorinated water around so it would smell clean. The place was a little more cheerful. But I shouldn't have felt sorry for her. She only got ten days for socking me, and she just asked for the other ten by calling the Judge "Grandpa."
26The next morning when I relieved the night cop, I heard a violin going down in the jail, so I knew somebody had brought the Dagger Queen's gear from the carnival. I opened the wire door at the end of the corridor and went down the iron steps. She must have heard me coming. She started playing "The Prisoner's Song." It sounded kind of pretty the first time she played it, and she put her whole heart and soul into it, just like she was playing for a whole crowd of people.
28The Dagger Queen's bunk was made up all nice and neat, and she was sitting on it, playing. She pretended like she didn't see me. She looked pretty nice, dressed in blue slacks and a yellow sweater. Her hair was combed, and came clear down to her shoulders. I never saw anybody that had such yellow hair.
30She didn't stop playing, so I said: "Hey, miss, do you want some breakfast?"
32She looked around with her eyes wide, like she was surprised.
34"Well, if it isn't the Ape! I thought maybe it was that nice night cop."
36I saw some dishes in the cell. "Maybe you've already had breakfast," I said.
38"No," she says. "Harry went out and got me a hamburger and coffee
The computer misreads some letters and numbers. Where a name matters to you, read the scan.