“Do I owe you anything?” Sadie said finally.
“No, I don’t even think I did this for you. I did it for myself. I did it for the future. What you are doing is so important. I have never responded to a book the way I did yours, and I am sure so many other readers felt the same way. No, Sadie Arnett. The world needs more books from you.”
She took her hand in hers.
“Was the book about us?”
“It is absolutely fictitious.”
“I found it so beautiful. It was so filled with pretty things. I very much like the way you write about sex. And the female body. When you want someone to touch you, when you allow someone to touch you, it is the most beautiful thing. Isn’t it?”
“I don’t know.”
“You’ve completely destroyed my reputation, you realize. It was filled with conjecture before. But you’ve put an end to that.”
“I can’t edit myself when I write. It exists independently of me. I can’t worry about what the consequences are. I have to write with an utter disregard for the idea that my work might destroy somebody else. In the same way I don’t protect myself. I mean, I put us in the same boat, didn’t I? In the book.”
“That you did. You made us eternally conjoined. Do you know why I’m not that mad at you?”
“Because you’re flattered?”
They both began to laugh.
“Will you take me back to the brothel? They’ll be wanting to know I’m released.”
“I’ll have the driver deliver a note. I would just like to spend a little more time with you. In any case, we need to celebrate this most amazing day.”
“Being released from prison?”
“I’ve made it so your books will never be challenged again. And they will be able to be sold in bookstores.”
“Marie,” Sadie said, and paused, visibly moved by this information. “You have given me the most extraordinary gift.”
“It was my pleasure. I enjoy being able to do things for you more than anything else,” Marie said. She looked at Sadie more closely, taking in how filthy spending a night in prison had made her clothes. “There’s a store I want to take you to. I know you probably haven’t been able to spend money the way you are supposed to. When I’m down, I spend money. There’s an art to spending money. I have the most beautiful packages that arrive from Europe and all over the world. I had a pair of shoes arrive from China this morning. I think we should go buy stockings.”
“I don’t need new stockings.”
“I think you do.”
“And what do you base this on?”
“Raise your skirts for me. And show me the stockings you have on. If they are perfect and beautiful, I will leave you alone.”
Sadie lifted her skirts. There were holes all over her stockings. Sadie laughed.
* * *
And so they went to a store that specialized in stockings. Everything about stockings and the purchasing of them was erotic to Sadie. The way that the shop was so small. Because you didn’t need that much room to display stockings. The way it was tucked away between two other stores. So that you walked by it without noticing if its contents didn’t interest you but if you were looking for it, it was very easy to spot.
The salesgirl was reading a copy of Justine and Juliette behind the register when the women walked in. She put it down, not recognizing that the characters from the book were in her store. The erotic effects of the book were evident in her sleepy, sensual movement. All her gestures were so soft. She walked in her high-heeled boots without making any sound. She put everything in the shop in such perfect order. If she had control of the universe, everything would be pretty and perfect.
Even the way Sadie and Marie sat together on the bench awaiting the arrival of the box of stockings was erotic. The way they described what they wanted to the salesgirl was erotic. There were molds of disembodied feet standing one next to another wearing stockings. These were weirdly erotic too. It was as though Cinderella’s foot had been cut off and was being preserved for posterity.
None of the stockings had any marks on them. There were no marks on the bottom. There weren’t five round gray marks where your toes pressed down. There weren’t any bloodstains on the heels. These were virgin stockings. They were as sweet and innocent as lambs.
Sadie and Marie both raised their skirts above their knees, admiring each other’s stockings as they tried them on. They were infatuated by what they were looking at. The stockings Marie chose to put on had a pattern of climbing roses going up the calves. They were the most expensive pair of stockings in the store. She kept turning to see the roses. There were no guidebooks for women’s pleasures. There were only guidebooks that instructed a woman on how to give other people pleasure.
“These are all so beautiful,” Marie exclaimed. “We can’t choose between them.”
“It is cruel to make us choose,” Sadie announced.
“We would like to have one of each.”
Sadie held up a mannequin leg. “Do you think I could have this? There’s something macabre about it that I quite like.”
“Yes. Of course. You should also take that painting on the wall of a dog.”
“You like that? I’m surprised.”
“Not at all. I want to destroy it so no one else will ever have to lay eyes on it.”
The women laughed. They left the store while the saleswoman quickly loaded the carriage with their purchases, including the mannequin leg and painting.
They had the carriage drive up to Sherbrooke Street. They spent the rest of the day on a mad shopping spree. They went to a large department store, buying whatever touched their fancy on each floor. They went to the dresses and bought at least twenty each. Their favorite part was standing in their underwear on risers facing each other while they were being fitted.
“Clothes feel magical the first time you wear them,” Marie said. “When you wear them the second time, they never work. I can’t wear the same dress twice.”
“I paid for six months of rent with a single dress.”
“Ridiculous. You must have been staying in a hovel. I think a month in a boardinghouse shouldn’t cost more than a pair of my bloomers.”
“Perhaps your bloomers. But I don’t think anybody else’s bloomers would do. Do you still have them imported from Paris?”
“My God. You remember that!”
“I’ve never been able to forget a single detail about you.”
“How I’ve missed you, Sadie.”
“We are so young. We have money and power. We don’t have husbands. We can really do anything we want now.”
They took each other’s hands.
* * *
They were little girls again. Their bodies no longer carried the baggage and scars of the lives they had both lived. Instead, they were luminescent. They were sharing an afternoon that had no past or future. They were back in Marie’s garden. Flowers grew between their toes and fingers. There were butterflies around their foreheads. The smell of roses was everywhere.