All The Love You Can Handle For A Dollar

by Lamont A. Turner

About the Author: Lamont A. Turner is a New Orleans area writer whose work has appeared in Yellow Mama, Crimeucopia: We're All Animals Under The Skin, The Half That You See, and other print and online venues.

Excerpt

Tommy counted the bills in his ragged wallet, careful not to put too much stress on the threads hanging from the seams. The wallet had gone into the washing machine with his pants that morning, and the bills had yet to dry out. It wouldn’t do. He couldn’t give wet bills to Gina.

“Hey, Vic!” Tommy shouted, trying to make himself heard over the drone of drunken voices, all competing with the beat blaring from the speakers on either side of the stage. There was a woman on the stage, but Tommy didn’t care. It wasn’t Gina.

“What’ll ya have, Tommy?” Vic bellowed, leaning over the bar and cupping a hand against his ear.

“Think you could switch these bills out for me?” Tommy asked, dangling the soggy wad over the bar.

Vic shook his head. “Sorry, pal. I ain’t put’n that mess in my cash register. And don’t go bother’n my customers either. Nobody wants your toilet money.”

Tommy stuffed the bills back in his wallet and retreated to a booth in the corner. Gina was on next, and he didn’t have any money for her. What if she got the idea he didn’t care anymore? What if she found a new boyfriend? He couldn’t even buy himself a beer. He thought about the gas station down the street, but he still wasn’t allowed in there after he’d cursed out the old man behind the counter. It wasn’t his fault he couldn’t understand the guy. All he’d wanted was a quick pick on the lotto. If he’d won, Gina wouldn’t have had to dance for the bums at Vic’s. He would have had her all to himself.

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