"She gets good marks for volume," Valentine said.
"You wouldn't say that if you lived next to her."
It wasn't so much a room as it was a long closet. There was a double bed, with a single mounted above in such a way that it formed a half-canopy, a table, two closets ...
"And a John, for the Johns," she said, opening a narrow door. "There's even a shower. If we want a bath, there's a tub down the hall."
"You share the room?"
RC removed her shoes, frowning. "A dancer. Her name's Melanie. If the deadbolt's closed, she knows not to come in. There's a mattress in their dressing room, so she can sleep there tonight."
Valentine collapsed on the double bed, focusing on the ticking pattern on the mattress.
"Bedspins?" RC said, sitting down beside him.
"No. Just really, really, tired."
"Why's your gun off safety?" she asked, examining the gun he'd dropped beside him.
"Old habit, when I sleep in a strange place."
"Tricky with a .45. Don't worry, you're safe. The scuzzies might hit the boats, or the warehouses across the river. Never here."
"I see. You know your guns."
"Basic training starts at eleven for a girl in Dallas. The boys start at eight."
"Louisiana starts at fifteen."
"You don't talk like swamp trash."
"I grew up in New Orleans." Valentine thought he'd better get off the subject in a hurry. "Why'd you leave Big D?"
"You really want to talk, after a tab of Horny?"
"You're beautiful, RC, but I'm about to leave New Columbia. Still a little curious about you. You're authentically nice."
"Authentically nice. I'll take it."
"What's Dallas like?"
"I was on my back at twelve. You invest the capital you're given. I was pretty slender; the guys with a taste for ... younger stuff... dug me until I was over eighteen. My face and hair didn't hurt. But once I passed twenty and had a kid, well, I wasn't worth much to my boss. Dom and Garrett, the doorman, were hunting up girls on the cheap. Dom bought me out for next to nothing, and taught me to talk better and do my eyes right while he was building the joint."
"Where's your-"
"Son, they told me. New Universal Church youth center. Never even got a good look at him."
"Fresh start, huh?"
"Yes. Wasn't a real change, just on the outside. I'm still doing soldiers, still wondering if the penicillin they're giving me is the good stuff or not. I just wear a nicer dress is all. Appearances can be deceiving."
"Yes," Valentine said, drifting off to sleep.
"You ever wanted to change who you are?"
"Constantly."
RC might have been saying something else, just above a whisper, but he sank into an exhausted slumber.