The Dropouts

THE DROPOUTS

Shaker is back in town, and gets his old room at the Houston Hotel just off Times Square. It’s a place full of memories. This is where he lived when he met Cass, the Midwestern girl who was looking for something completely different than her safe upbringing. She finds it in New York City in a crummy, low-rent apartment. Shaker is a drifter, and hates to be pinned down, but they take up together. They’re an easy fit. Then Cass becomes pregnant, and Shaker has to leave.

Cass eventually pulls herself together and goes on a new date. Which is how she ends up at a bar and meets Ernie. He and his partner hustle her date on a drunken bet. Later, Ernie takes Cass aside and tells her a heroic war story of his time in Korea, and she invites him to spend the night. Now she has a new man in her life. But she can’t forget Shaker... and Shaker can’t forget her. They all wander the seamy streets of New York, each in search of something-something they will never find.

Black Gat #80.