Books › Blue Book v085 n06 [1947-10], 1947 › scan 74
Scan 74
Blue Book v085 n06 [1947-10], 1947
66 lines. Read by computer on 18 September 2026. No printed page number was found. See the scan on archive.org.
1takes on all comers. Put on a demonstration, maybe. How to handle roughnecks. Maybe even how to handle women with a hammerlock." I guess I must have looked embarrassed, because she smiled.
3"This is a good job I got," I said, thinking that some day the department would get bigger.
5"I don't think it's a very good job," she says. Then she leaned back in her chair and stuck her lower lip out, and blew her nose like the Judge does and pounded the table with her fist. She even made her voice sound like the Judge's voice when she said: "Ebe, I want you to polish the spittoons this morning. And I want you to wash my car. Then the Mayor wants you to take care of his kids this afternoon while his wife goes shopping—" That girl certainly could be an actress in Hollywood.
7The Queen leaned forward and took hold of my wrist again and gripped it tight. She was a whole lot stronger than she looked. I could feel those little fingers like handcuffs around my wrist.
9WOULDN'T you like to have your picture painted ten feet high on the canvas strip? With your name under it: 'Chief Ebe, The Wrestling Cop. Demonstrations in Judo and Hara-Kiri.'
11"You mean ju-jitsu," I says.
13"Maybe I do. Then there would be the lights. Big spotlights on your picture. You'd stand on the platform dressed in a gold-trimmed robe. And you could see the faces—the hundreds of people in the gay-way all looking at you. And the sound of the barkers—" Her voice trailed off, and her eyes shone like she was seeing it all there on the jail wall.
15For a minute I must have been hypnotized. Then I pried her fingers loose from my wrist and said: "No, I'm staying right here!"
17Her voice was a little shaky: "A girl needs a strong honest guy like you to look out for her around a carnival."
19"There's plenty of guys to look out for you," I said. I thought about the six big roustabouts that showed up when somebody yelled "Hey, Rube!" I thought about the dagger-thrower with the stringy mustache.
21The Dagger Queen looked at me straight for a minute, and I couldn't tell whether she was going to cry or not. I didn't think I could stand it if she did cry, so I got out of there and slammed the door after me.
23After I left, the Queen twisted all four strings off key and let the old "Prisoner's Song" rip.
25Then the Mayor's office called on the Judge's phone. The Mayor didn't like that racket—not a little bit. There was going to be a council meeting, and that noise had to be stopped!
27She started playing the "Prisoner's Song"; it sounded kind of pretty the first time she played it.
29The Judge gave up. He told me to bring in the Dagger Queen, and his voice sounded tired when he said it.
31I unlocked the cell and told her to come along; the Judge wanted to see her. She stood up. She put down her violin on the bed. She said, "About time!" but she didn't sound as happy as I thought she would.
33The Judge looked down at the papers on his desk and scribbled a minute. Without looking up he said:
35"I've commuted your sentence, to two days. You've served that. You can go."
37The Dagger Queen didn't even look at the Judge. She was looking at me. She didn't say anything. She just looked at me like she was waiting for me to say something.
39Pretty soon the Judge glanced up. We were just standing there. He blew his nose.
41"Let this be a lesson to you," he says to me. "I don't ever want to catch you letting a dame in jail again with a fiddle! Not ever!"
43I almost opened my mouth to tell the Judge this whole affair was his fault—his and the Mayor's, and not mine; but the Judge was scowling so I didn't say anything.
45Then he turned on the Dagger Queen. She looked no bigger around than my right arm standing there in front of the Judge, with her yellow hair falling down over her small shoulders.
47The Judge wagged a finger at her. "I'm telling you now," he said, "if I ever get you or any other of your carnival tramps in this court, you'll wish you never hit this town!"
49The Judge shouldn't have said that. He shouldn't have called the Dagger Queen a tramp. I could feel my bristles coming up.
51"You won't," I said very quiet. "You won't get anybody in your court unless you go after them yourself—you or the Mayor."
53The Judge straightened up a little and stared at me. I heard myself getting louder.
55"I'm sick and tired of you telling me how to run my jail, Judge. Understand? You can find somebody else to run it your way, understand? I'm through, understand?"
57I knew he didn't understand, because he blinked a couple of times and said: "The Mayor won't like this, Ebe."
59"I don't care what the Mayor likes," I yelled. "I'm going to live my own life from now on. I'm going to be a wrestler again. And I'm going to have my own concession in the carnival, and I'll have my picture painted on the canvas strip ten feet high. Maybe bigger. And I won't have you telling me how to run a jail!"
61I glanced at the Queen. She was watching me, with her eyes big and round.
63The Judge was just sitting there with his mouth open, so I calmed down a little bit.
65"And I just been thinking," I said, "that a nice girl like her needs a strong honest guy to look after her around a carnival."
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