May 14 - "A Flourish of Strumpets"

“A Flourish of Strumpets”
by Richard Matheson
Button, Button: Uncanny Stories (2008)

* * * * (Great) Noir

Representatives from the Exchange, offering a unique and venerable service to the community, hound a happily married couple.

My favorite parts of this simple story are the brief descriptions of the different attractive women knocking on the Gussett’s door.

• “a black-root blonde, slit-skirted and sweatered to within an inch of her breathing life”
• “a perky brunette with a blouse front slashed to forever”
• “a raven-haired, limp-lidded vamp”
• “a redhead sheathed in a green knit dress that hugged all that was voluminous and there was much of that”

All these noir-ish descriptions of dangerous dames in drop-dead outfits. Couldn’t help but enjoy the writing. And how about this, a great use of the word, gelatinous:

“His gaze rooted on the jutting opulence of Margie as she waggled along the aisle, then came to a gelatinous rest on a leather-topped bar stool.”