Bungalow Mornings
The parties would last till 2 or 3 a.m. The girls would tempt Etienne and he’d choose one, perhaps a pretty little laughing blonde he had besieged with dozens of roses, color TVs, and even diamond stud earrings—anything her little heart desired. They were high in Trousdale, hanging above L.A. with the jasmine. Although oleanders overgrew the gates, Etienne’s oleanders were pink, not white. At about midnight, suddenly, the whole thing would become too boring and Etienne would start spewing insults at the little blonde. Or, worse yet, forget her and start fresh on some new woman who crossed his path.
Jacaranda, of course, being in love with Max, didn’t care too much about Etienne’s intentions (except it wasn’t nice, what he’d said to April, so before that evening was finished Jacaranda poured pineapple juice all over his fresh cream silk suit). Since Jacaranda cared so little about what Etienne was doing, she usually wound up being the one with whom Etienne slept. By two or three o’clock, Jacaranda would be the only unpassed-out woman extant, and she, Max, and Etienne would have a nightcap and discuss the evening, until one of them was sent home in a Rolls-Royce limousine—Max.