Prudence (in the Time of Prohibition)

III

Too stunned to say anything, Pru was hustled out of the office and into the hands of Miss Candice Kane, a charming young woman who dressed in the highest fashion of the day and a very intimate friend of the Mayor. All giggles and bright flashing eyes, Candy lead the way out of the office and into a nearby beauty salon. An hour and a half later, Prudence Mattingly emerged with a head of short platinum blonde hair and a face made up to enhance her best features and to decrease the appearance of her large nose. By the end of the afternoon, she was appareled in a flapper-style above the knee dress with tons of fringe all around. Silk stockings adorned her shapely legs and little white high-heeled slippers made her feel like dancing in the streets. Around her forehead lay a black strap with a long ostrich feather curling upwards. She certainly wasn't the same drab young woman who appeared at the office that morning.


Mayor Everett showed his appreciation of the changes that had taken place over a few short hours. Pru drank in his compliments with the innocence of one who was unused to praise of any kind. Little did she know she was falling into the same trap many other young women before her had succumbed to. Her boss was a Lady's Man of long standing. His affairs with other women stretched back to as far as the early days of his marriage to Mathilda; he knew how to charm even the most prim and proper with his smooth words of enticement. Pru fell for it all; lock, stock and barrel. She didn't know how to evade such smooth advances.


That evening, she accompanied the Mayor to a Speakeasy in the basement of a hardware store on Main Street. Nudged on by her companion, she nervously uttered the password to enter to the proprietor. "To live without Gin is Torture," Prudence whispered even though there were no other customers in sight. Silently a secret door slid opened behind the counter. Mayor Oliver took her by the arm and lead her down a steep set of wooden stairs. Stepping behind another concealed door, the magic of the secret barroom was revealed.


Pru had never dreamed to enter such an Aladdin's Cave of Wonder. The room was packed with men and women, some of whom she recognized as members of her parents' Temperance League, all with glasses of forbidden spirits upraised to their lips. The chamber echoed with loud uproarious talk accompanied with the rowdy laughter of those drunk on liquor and good times. Accepting the Martini her boss handed her, she followed him to an obscured table tucked into a far corner of the crowded room.