Rules of Civility

On New Year’s Eve in 1937, narrator Katey goes to a nightclub in Greenwich Village called the Hotspot with her roommate, Eve. Eve is a gorgeous blond from the Midwest. Her father is wealthy and managed to get Eve a marketing assistant job at Pembroke Press. Eve, however, wants to make a go of it alone and refuses to take anymore handouts from her father, including an envelope of fifty ten-dollar bills. She and Katey share a room at Mrs. Martingale’s boardinghouse, along with a large group of other girls. Katey explains that people with money are at louder clubs with full orchestras, where the atmosphere is more celebratory. She and Eve listen to a jazz quartet at the Hotspot. Later sessions will include the woeful impromptu jazz that is not yet in vogue but will be soon.

Eve and Katey plan to stretch their meager funds (three dollars) for the night, but they end up drinking too much too fast. Eve tries to flirt with a tall black musician, but he doesn’t pay her any attention. Then a handsome, well-dressed man enters the club and both women spot him. Eve claims him for herself. The man wears an expensive cashmere coat, and he looks as if he’s waiting for someone.