Herman had set his alarm clock for 6:30 a.m., figuring that would give him enough time to wash up, dress, and cook breakfast and make coffee for everyone. He managed to roll out of bed ten minutes after the alarm went off. After splashing his face with cold water and throwing on some clothes, he hurried down the stairs, stopping for a moment to ( Read more... )

Herman hadn't planned for it to be a lavish sort of sendoff, but he thought Danny and Frankie, and perhaps Leon if he came, would at least like something special the night before they leave for the States. So in the early evening, he popped into the local bakery and left with a dozen squares of Bienenstich, a dozen almond-oats cookies, and half a ( Read more... )

It was late in the evening (or early in the morning, she couldn't tell) when closing time cleared out the Klub and left Helga and a handful of others to pick up the mess. Usually after hours were her favorite time. She could let her head settle from all the noise, tell Frankie something she had heard from one of the patrons, or just catch up with ( Read more... )

They've already seen her hair. Nearly 3/4 of somebody's supply of hair lotion had been generously donated to create the sleek Marcel wave in Frankie's hair, and the soft, loose pin curls that accented it. When the night's show had started she'd pretended to be bashful, muttering something about the girls ganging up on her, and to emphasize her ( Read more... )

She was so determined she could do it. And she did. But not without sacrificing the chilly, mid-November morning quiet of the Klub to a series of loud bangs, a startled obscenity or two and one final, terrific THUD ( Read more... )

It was one of those days again, and it came none too soon. The moment Leon found out where Danny was going to be (across town), and when (today) and for how long (most of the day), he headed over to the Kit Kat Klub in hopes of catching Frankie. He'd promised to make another phone call to San Francisco to confirm the Big Secret Plan, and with their ( Read more... )

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*It's some time before rehearsal -- or whenever the staff decides to mill about and get together to make some sense of a programme for the evening. Dressed in a short black leather coat, the Emcee trots down the stairs into the Klub, a stack of white envelopes in his hand. Today? Is payday ( Read more... )

An orange circle bobbed in the dim light emitting from the back of the Klub, source unknown. If the tall shadow had dared to look up she would have seen a little strings of white lights webbing across the dark rungs of the ladder, lamp post, and balcony fence like a manic spider had indigestion and expelled tiny balls of foggy light up, across the ( Read more... )

Hanging back a moment, collecting herself, Dolores watched Chance detour from her path to the bar, instead bounding over the group that had gathered. Easy to spot with Ophilia’s presence. Dolores made a mental note to speak to her later, having missed her close friend of late ( Read more... )