Contents
Chapter 31
Overview
On the eve of opening, Esmeralda returns and is hired, strengthening the house’s roster. Despite risks, the women advertise to arriving students and secure Mr. Binny’s band. After Dr. Kleinkamp fails to appear, Virginia Cunningham builds a clandestine testing lab and clears initial girls, allowing Charlie to proceed with Saturday’s launch.
Birdie parries Jack with a church date and learns from Dr. Pittman that he opposes returning Meg, heightening stakes and secrets as the operation nears opening night.
Summary
Friday dawns with Birdie planning supplies and a telegram to stall Frances. Esmeralda returns after failing to find work in Sweetwater, negotiates terms, and is hired for the last room. At breakfast, Charlie outlines urgent tasks: buying condoms (“widows”) and discreetly handing calling cards to college boys. Despite Birdie’s concerns, Esmeralda drives the group to town in borrowed Tartt clothes.
Ignoring Charlie’s ban on the depot, Flossy, Ruby, and the twins approach arrivals and retreat when the stationmaster notices. Birdie visits the bank, cancels her date with Jack, and shifts it to a Sunday church plan to keep him away from the house. She sees Dr. Garnett Pittman with Jack and later hears Pittman privately insist Birdie stop calling the Heidelbergs, while revealing he urged them to keep Meg.
Back home, Charlie persuades Mr. Binny to provide music for the opening night. Preparations accelerate: the backyard dance space is decorated and bourbon is watered for profit. Kleinkamp fails to arrive for exams, but Virginia Cunningham appears, proposing accurate, discreet testing. After tense debate with wary Flossy, Virginia offers to set up a lab at the house.
Virginia “borrows” equipment from the university and hospital, sterilizes the cellar, and begins exams. Ruby tests negative; Flossy panics but is told she is negative for syphilis, easing fears. Esmeralda paints a dual-purpose framed “menu” and day portrait; a suggested name, “The Tart Club,” is nixed. As lights glimmer over the finished dance floor, secrets and risks mount, but with testing underway and a band booked, Charlie commits to opening Saturday night.
Who Appears
- Birdie CalhounNarrator; manages errands, buys condoms, stalls Jack with a church date, and learns Dr. Pittman wants Meg kept.
- CharlieMadam-in-planning; hires Esmeralda, organizes advertising and supplies, books Mr. Binny, greenlights Virginia’s clandestine testing.
- EsmeraldaExperienced worker; returns seeking work, is hired with conditions, drives the team, designs cards and the dance ‘menu.’
- FlossyVeteran prostitute; pushes for aggressive recruiting, resists non-doctor testing, panics, then tests negative and relaxes.
- RubyTough prostitute; argues for depot outreach, submits to exam and tests negative, helps with decorations.
- Virginia CunninghamYoung aspiring doctor; replaces Kleinkamp, sets up a cellar lab with borrowed equipment, conducts accurate STI tests.
- Jack WalshBanker and Birdie’s suitor; learns of ‘boarders,’ reschedules to a Sunday church date.
- Dr. Garnett PittmanPhysician; privately urges Birdie to stop contacting the Heidelbergs, says he advocated keeping Meg.
- Mr. BinnyTaxi owner and bandleader; reluctantly agrees to play opening night despite the house’s true nature.
- TrixieOne of the twins; helps distribute cards and decorate the yard.
- DixieOne of the twins; helps distribute cards and decorate the yard.