ZIGGY POPPER AT LARGE: A Crime Noir Single of Mayhem & Debauchery by Kirk Alex

Not exactly down and out, but close enough, Ex-con Ziggy Popper was sitting in a dive of a bar in East Hollywood minding his own business and nursing a beer when the loser walked in and parked his skinny ass on the stool next to him with an offer that nearly causes Ziggy to spill his Schlitz: Would he get it on with his wife . . . ?–– If he was paid, of course.

I looked at the guy, not too long––turds like this I was used to. So he couldn’t get it up, tired of banging the same pussy, and admitted to both.

“What’s she look like?” I asked.

The color photo in his wallet was old and worn, dog-eared. Woman was lying face down on a brass bed, nothing on but a blindfold. She had turned her head back to look at the camera, but that blindfold and ball-gag in her craw made it difficult to make out what she looked like.

“I don’t know, man,” I said.

“She’s not bad looking,” he said. “Take my word for it. Got a nice body, good legs. A blind man could see it. Takes care of herself.”

“How old?” I said.

“Thirty-six.”

I was thinking. And when he produced two twenties, that helped my thinking along. I stuffed the dough in my pocket.