“Then what are you doing?”
“I’m simply asking you if you want to get into something that will make you not only independent, but also very well off. As I said, I’m just a scout.”
“You’re not a Boy Scout. That’s for sure.”
He smirked. I thought he was finally going to get up and walk away, but he just stared at me.
“All right. I’ll bite again,” I said. “How do I do all this?”
He leaned forward and spoke again in a voice just above a whisper. “You meet someone first, someone who will be much more scrutinizing than I am. She might even bring you to tears before throwing you out, but I haven’t been wrong that often, and I’ve never felt as confident about someone as I do about you. I have good instincts.”
“Meet who?”
“Whom.”
“Yeah, I forgot the difference between objective and subjective. I can see that disturbs you.”
“Not me, but this person I want you to meet, maybe. She looks for very special candidates.”
“Really. So when do I meet this person and where?”
“Tonight. You come with me. It’s on Long Island.”
I smirked. “Don’t you know my mother told me never to talk to strangers, much less go for a ride with one?”
“Tell you what,” he said, and reached into his inside jacket pocket to produce his wallet. He opened it and took out his driver’s license. “Here’s my driver’s license. See?” He turned it toward me. “My picture is on it and my name. Robert Diamant. Leave it with anyone you trust, and tell them this is the man you are going to take a ride with. Tell them to call the police if you’re not back by eleven. Anything happens to you, I’m toast. Go on, keep my license,” he insisted.
I looked at it. How could I tell him I knew no one I could trust now? I took it from him and studied it. It could be a phony license with a phony name, I thought, but it wasn’t a phony picture. It was clearly Mr. Bob.
“And if I do this?”
“We go for the ride, visit with this person. She’ll decide about you, and then we’ll return to wherever you’re staying. Safely back, you return my license. Okay?”
I stared at it. For one thing, I was too embarrassed to tell him where I was staying. He would think I was a complete loser, and I didn’t want that, even though I still didn’t know what he was offering.
“I don’t know,” I said, putting the license down on the table.
“Listen, you have to take some risks to get anywhere or do anything. I think you’ve already learned that. You just haven’t gotten anywhere yet.”
“Maybe I’m just starting out.”
“Oh, no question that you are, but that’s why I wanted to approach you, to get to you before you were spoiled.”
“Spoiled?”
“Life on your own, especially in a city like New York, is very hard on anyone, let alone a young, beautiful girl like yourself. No matter how smart you think you are, someone will get to you and drag you down in the gutter. A year from now, your parents won’t recognize you, anyway.”
“Thanks for the encouragement.”
“But none of that will matter once you come with me. I’m confident,” he added.
I looked at his license again. I guessed I would take it. How would he know I had no one to trust? “When exactly do I meet with this person?”
He looked at his watch. “I’ll pick you up in two hours. Are those the best clothes you have to wear right now?”
“Yes.”
He looked at his watch again. “Would you mind if I bought you something to wear? It’s important.”