sides in soft shadow. Crowded high upon a narrow platform sat the orchestra, clad in dinner jackets and playing as though they were paying for the privilege of playing. Scurrying waiters hurried and slid and expertly wove their way in and out of the crowd of dancers and diners. A dinner jacketed, sleek-haired head waiter guided Mimi and Bert to a table where they sat watching the dancers. Mimi eagerly took it all in. She noticed that at the tables the parties were either all white or all Negro, there being seldom any mixing of the two groups.
At the table next to theirs sat a noisy group of younger people. With frequent regularity there appeared from underneath the table a large bottle from which glasses were surreptitiously filled. As the evening wore on, the boisterousness of the party increased. Suddenly one of the girls, pretty in a rather coarse way, slumped forward on the table. Two of the men hurriedly carried her out.
“She’s checked out,” Bert coolly commented. “Too much bad liquor.” The orchestra played on. “Funny about these coons,” Bert went on. “They don’t ever seem to pass out like white folks.”
Mimi flushed at the word but Bert was watching the dancers and did not see