Lady Wrestler By James Harvey - Chapter 03
1962 Genre: Vintage Sleaze / Lady Wrestlers
When is a lady not a lady?
When she is a lady wrestler.
What compulsions drive these voluptuous creatures into the Lady Wrestling racket; and how are they different from other women? Why do they allow themselves to be clawed, slugged, kneed and butted? What do these super-gals do for sexual pleasure? Here is the only story that answers all of these questions and many more about this grotesque sport where girls pin girls for pay and pleasure.
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CHAPTER THREE
It was just before sunset when Brick Hardy drove up the dirt road leading to his combination home and training center for lady wrestlers. On the over three-hour trip from New York he explained to Bella that the farmhouse was left to him by his parents and that he had let the farm itself go fallow. He had been on the brink of selling the property, house and all, when he got the idea to use it as a training camp. Bella could see that it was the only building in the vicinity—the nearest neighbor almost five miles away. She never knew that there could be any place as desolate as this just a few hours driving time from New York.
The house grew larger against the horizon as the station wagon drew nearer. It was an old-fashioned, two-story frame building that looked as if the world had passed it by and left it wallowing in its wake. As Brick turned the station wagon around behind it Bella saw a complete prize fighter’s ring covered with thick dirty mats. In the center of it was a tall, beautiful Negro girl in black tights and a gray sweater. Next to her stood a hulk that, at first, appeared to be a large, ugly man but turned out to be a large, ugly woman.
"I see Lily and Zsa Zsa are working out late today," Brick said.
"Don't be silly, Brick," Cleo told him. “They probably didn't even get out to the mats until they saw your car coming up the road."
Brick pulled into a garage that looked as if it was once a stable and everyone got out. A very blonde and dainty girl who was still in her teens came out of the back door to the house dressed in a ballet costume. She ran over to Cleo and embraced her. “Cleo darling, you're home!” she exclaimed.
Bella was taken aback slightly when she saw the girl and woman kiss each other full and hard on the mouth. Now she wondered whether, when Cleo gave her that leg check, she really was being fresh. Oh well, it takes all kinds of patients to make a nut house.
"Opal, this is Bella,” Brick said. "She's the final girl.”
The young girl looked Bella up and down slowly and then smiled. "Ohhhh, such a nice, big girl!” she cooed. “Glad to have you aboard as they say on Madison Avenue.”
“Glad to be aboard," Bella answered.
“Come on," Brick said taking Bella by her elbow. "I'll introduce you to the girls on the mats.”
Bella let herself be led across the dusty area between the house and the prize ring. The ugly woman was energetically tossing the colored girl against the ropes. Bella had the impression that both of them were putting on this show of ambition for Brick. For a moment Brick stood at the ringside watching with his handsome face wreathed in dimples. “Great!” he beamed aloud.
Taking a closer look at the big woman Bella could see that she was even uglier than she first appeared. She must've weighed close to three hundred pounds and yet she wasn't flabby. It was all muscle spread-lumpily over a five foot nine frame.
At first the colored girl seemed to be taking an awful beating at the hands of the woman who was more than twice her weight but Bella could see that she was bouncing against the ropes carefully and with the complete co-operation of her big partner.
“Act it up, girls!” Brick shouted. “Mug, Zsa Zsa, you're supposed to be a woman-killer!”
At this direction Zsa Zsa twisted her already coarse looking features into a scowl that would've done justice to a Halloween mask. She began to bellow and rage like a bull coming out second in an arena in Madrid and stamped toward the colored girl threateningly.
"Come on Lily!” Brick shouted. "I want to see fear! Fear!”
Lily responded by backing away with a look of sheer terror on her coffee-colored face. Zsa Zsa grabbed her and lifted her high in the air, spun her around several times and then threw her against the mats.
"Brick, she's killing her!” Bella screamed.
"Take it easy," Brick said patting her shoulder. “Lily knows how to fall the best. You'll learn how to do the same in a couple of weeks.”
Bella looked on in amazement as the colored girl dragged herself about the ring in seeming pain. Zsa Zsa kicked her in the side and she cried out, rolling over on the dirty mats a couple of times.
"It's an act,” Brick whispered anticipating Bella's reaction. "Okay, Lily," he then shouted through cupped hands. “Get mad! Floor her!"
Lily suddenly sprang to life, acting for all the world like someone who has taken all she could from her tormentor. She made an astounding leap and threw her weight against the upper part of Zsa Zsa's body. The big girl fell with a thud that probably was being recorded on a dozen seismographs all over New England. Lily pinned her long, dark body against Zsa Zsa's giant breasts and Brick slammed his open palm on the ring three times. "Great!” he yelled. “That's the way I want you to take those last two falls. Fast and angry. The crowd will eat it up. Remember, Lily, up until those last two falls you be the underdog, get the people's sympathy all on your side and then come through for them. I tell you they'll go for it big in New York especially when Zsa Zsa is introduced as the Georgia Giant."
"Sure, they'll be for me in New York," Lily said striding across the ring. “But what about the nasty side of the Mason-Dixon line?”
"Like I told you,” Brick explained. "If we get any bookings down there I'll match you with little Opal. Then you'll be the villain and she'll be the hero ... I should say, heroine."
Bella was learning quickly. Now she saw how Brick Hardy didn't hesitate to play on the audience's racial feelings. He would use the colored girl as the underdog for the liberal crowd and then have her pitted against the very blonde delicacy of Opal for those who still refuse to accept the fact that Lee surrendered to Grant. Naturally, Bella knew, Opal would be the one to bet on then after she “lost” her first fall.
Brick introduced the girls to each other and then Bella was surprised to find that Zsa Zsa had a high, almost sweet voice. Her manner, too, completely belied her looks. She seemed self-effacing and gentle. Zsa Zsa might have been a Mack truck on the outside but underneath she was strictly Volkswagen. “So you're the last girl," she piped thinly. "Now we can look forward to some pro matches. I've got to start making some money for my hubby and kids.”
"You're married and have children?" Bella asked in a tone she immediately knew revealed its implied insult. She braced herself for some demonstration of abuse. But it didn't come.
“That surprises a lot of people,” Zsa Zsa said with a sad little smile. “I know I ain't no beauty but I can't help that. The doctors say it has something to do with my thyroid. If it wasn't for the injections I used to take I would've even been worse looking.”
"I'm ... I'm sorry, Zsa Zsa. I really am," Bella said, her face flushed a flame red.
"Don't let it bother you. I don't. In fact, now I'm gonna use my looks,” Zsa Zsa told her. "Brick here says I'm a natural villain, ain't I?”
"You're right, sweetheart,” Brick answered. "What female wrestling needs is a lady Man Mountain Dean."
Zsa Zsa laughed in a light and merry way. "Maybe I should be billed as Woman Mountain Dean?”
"I feel out of things having to be the only one using her real name," Lily said.
"What is your full name?” Bella wanted to know. "Lily White. Isn't that a kick in the head?”
“Don't feel too bad," Brick told her. “I think I'll use Bella's real name ... Bella Woods."
"You're joking,” Lily said. "That isn't for real is it, Bella?"
"I'm afraid so. Remind me to tell you the story about my father and his poor aching back," Bella answered.
"Or maybe ..." Brick said thoughtfully, "... maybe we'll call you ‘Big Red Woods' instead. That's it! You can come out dressed as a ... as a ... "Not a tree?” Bella complained.
Brick nibbled on his thumbnail for awhile. "I'll think about it. Come on, I'll introduce you to the rest of the group."
All four crossed over to the house. The sun was halfway below the horizon casting long shadows everywhere. All about there was a desert stillness. If Brick Hardy's place had anything, it had lots of privacy. Considering the crop of lady wrestlers he was growing on his farm, Bella thought, that was all to the good.
Inside the dining room the table was set for nine. Cleo and Opal were already there sitting side by side. As soon as she came in, Bella noticed that both of them had been holding hands and looking into each other's eyes but broke away suddenly on their appearance. Cleo, Bella thought, that's one girl she'd have to watch.
Brick took his place at the head of the table. Lily and Zsa Zsa went off into the bathroom to clean up after their mock bout on the mats. Bella took a seat next to Brick hoping that one of the other girls didn't have it pegged. Since no one objected Bella decided to claim it for every meal. So far, Brick seemed to be the only man around and she didn't know how much competition she was going to have. Since she was one of eight of Brick's wrestlers Bella began a process of elimination in her mind. Cleo Hardy was out, naturally. Even if she wasn't Brick's sister her obvious lesbo leaning automatically put her out of the running. That might also exclude the pretty little Opal, Bella thought as she looked down the table at the an gel-faced teenaged girl sitting next to Cleo. It was odd how that expression about not being able to judge a book by its cover had been proven so far. Zsa Zsa, the Georgia Giant, turned out to be angelic while the angelic Opal, so far, seemed to be as feminine as Burt Lancaster judging by her sexual preferences. Zsa Zsa herself could be excluded because of her obvious devotion for her husband alone? And Lily White?
Bella glanced out of the corner of one green eye at Brick. In show business and all its allied fields it was quite common for the races to mingle on all levels including the most interesting of all. Brick's ambition easily put him in the general area of show business and Bella wondered just how strongly he felt about integration. After all, Lily was a very attractive girl and Brick looked as if he had more than his share of male hormones. Bella decided to put Lily down as a rival for the time being anyhow. With luck she might be married, or a lesbian, or an ardent member of the anti-white Muslims.
That left three more. Who were they? Where were they? Brick had mentioned something about a cowgirl wrestler coming out in a sexy Western costume. Bella hoped that she was more cow than girl. And then there were the other two...
"Are . . . all the girls here?” Bella asked Brick. "Yes," Brick dimpled. "My eight stars of tomorrow.”
"I suppose I'll get to see the rest of them shortly."
"Very shortly. Two of the girls are cooking dinner right now. I was thinking of hiring a cook but these two agreed to take over the kitchen for half of what I'd have to pay for one."
"Then there are only the eight of us and you."
"Uh-huh, I feel like the only rooster in a hen house."
Bella wondered if Brick also acted the rooster's part. So he was the only man around. Bella shifted her chair closer to him.
"Soup's on!” a husky voice bellowed.
Turning, Bella saw a big buxom blonde woman of about forty bearing down on them with a platter full of meat and potatoes. She had a strong yet somewhat empty face, the kind that is seen on Russian propaganda posters to advertise the happy life of their peasants.
"Bella, meet Tessie," Brick said.
Tessie put the platter of food in the center of the table, wiped her ham-like hands on her apron and grinned broadly. “I heard the last one was out here," she said. “My full handle is 'Tessie the Two Ton Teuton.' I'm not German though, I'm Irish. And I'm only one-twentieth part of being two tons. But the Tessie is for real so you can call me that."
"And you can call me Bella," Bella said shaking hands with her and smiling. It was a smile that came more out of relief than friendship. Tessie's two hundred pounds dropped her in her book as a rival for Brick's dimpled affections ... dropped her like a big, fat rock.
"Heads up!" still another voice said coming into the dining room.
Bella blinked once, twice, three times and still she couldn't believe what she saw. Coming at her was a slender, hawk-faced woman in her thirties dressed neatly in shorts and a blouse. She could've passed for a P.T.A. matron except for one thing ... she was almost completely tattooed! All of her visible skin surface except for her hands and face was covered by multi-colored pictures of all shapes, sizes and subjects. On her arms snakes entwined and opened their yellow fangs near her shoulders. Her legs carried the pictures of tombstones, flags, flowers and battleships. Close to her neck Bella saw the inscription “DEATH BEFORE DISHONOR” in large letters across a knife blade whose tip was smeared with tattooed blood.
“Bella, this is Shirley,” Brick said in a flat voice. "She's a tattooed lady."
Bella tried to keep a straight face. "Oh really?” she answered in pretended surprise.
"Shirley will be a big hit on her tattoos alone,” Brick added. “You should see the rest of them.”
Bella swallowed. “I ... I'll look forward to seeing them, Shirley."
"That's a date," Shirley said. “It's too bad I can't let the public see the artwork on my can though.”
Bella coughed. "Don't worry, Shirley,” Brick told her. “We'll work something out with your costume. We'll have the shortest the law will allow so that the people will be able to see that you have tattoos on your behind."
"I hope so, Brick,” Shirley said. “I went through a lot of trouble to get them. I wasn't able to sit down for a week after each one was put on. What good's suffering for your art when you can't show it?”
Shirley walked back into the kitchen followed by Tessie. Bella gazed long and hard at the backs of Shirley's legs. Animals leaped and cavorted amidst jungle leaves with one large panther reaching under her shorts to claw a vulnerable buttock. Only when the kitchen door closed on the cook-wrestlers did Bella realize that Shirley, too, was out of the running in the race for the curly-headed Apollo at her side. Unless, of course, Brick went in for off-beat types on a social as well as business plane. But, somehow, Bella couldn't believe that. The types that went in for off-beat types were off-beat types. And Brick was strictly every normal, healthy girl's dream. So it was six down and one to go. Even if the next doll was a raving beauty, Bella at least felt that she had a fifty-fifty chance.
Lily White and Zsa Zsa returned from the bathroom with clean faces and hands and took seats next to each other. Shirley and Tessie came in from the kitchen with a few more goodies and sat down at the table too. Only one chair stood empty.
"Where's Charlotte?” Brick asked. “Late again as usual?”
Cleo Hardy got up and walked noisily over to the flight of stairs leading to the second floor. "Charlotte come on down!” she shouted like an annoyed mother to a lazy daughter. “Dinner's ready!”
"In a minute!” a voice called back.
Bella tensed. She had heard that voice before and she had heard that name before. If it was the Charlotte she was thinking of her fifty-fifty chance now dropped to ninety-ten. She had been in two shows with a Charlotte Cummings, an attractive, shapely girl who made a career out of making men. Some girls were satisfied with just finding one fellow and settling down in some kind of co-habiting arrangement with him but Charlotte Cummings was never satisfied with just one man. She had to sample them all and then eventually settle down with four or five or six of them at once, working them in shifts like a wartime ball bearing factory. Bella knew it was hard for any man to resist her because of her direct and obvious approach. After all, how can anyone expect the poor, weak flesh of man to stand up against a beautiful young girl who was only too willing to go at least ninety-eight percent of the way?
"That girl," Cleo said returning to her seat. "She always wants to come in late as if she were the star of the show.”
Even if Charlotte was not the Charlotte Bella had in mind she hated her already. She was planning on making all the late entrances herself.
There was a scream and a shout at the foot of the stair. And there stood a very attractive girl with chestnut hair and big blue eyes. She was dressed in a bathing suit sized cowgirl costume with holstered guns on each side. In her hand she held a white ten-gallon hat and she waved it in the air as she spread her legs and let out another rebel yell. “Here I am folks! Charlotte Cummings, the Golden Girl of the West!” she announced.
With sinking heart Bella knew that the first part of that statement was only too true. As for her being the "Golden Girl of the West” that could only be true if Vermont, her home state, held the ruins of the Alamo. Charlotte Cummings was as western as Henry Cabot Lodge.
The Vermont cowgirl strode over to Bella with long and silky smooth bare legs. "My chair," she said touching the back of it.
That figured, Bella thought. An empty chair next to Brick Hardy was just too good to be true. "I didn't know it was taken," she told her tonelessly.
Bella refused to budge and stared directly into Charlotte's wide and cold blue eyes. She hoped to convey the fact that war had just been declared between them and that the chair she was sitting on would be to them what Berlin is to the Communists and N. A. T. O. If she wanted the chair she would have to fight for it for this meal and, if she wanted it for any of the other meals, she would have to accept it on a first come first served basis. If anything, Bella knew, this would get her into the dining room early, killing all those cornball entrances of hers.
Charlotte was the first to break away from the staring contest and stamped over to the remaining seat. There was tension in the air as thick as fog and Bella could see that everyone felt it too.
Cleo Hardy seemed to be the only one to enjoy the brief byplay and its ensuing ill feelings. Bella sensed that she had as much need for violence as love.
"Well, well, well, “Cleo said casually. "I think we're all going to have an exciting relationship.”
Bella jabbed a potato with her fork, wishing that it were Charlotte's saucy can. How right you are, she thought. Whatever the immediate future was going to be, it sure as hell wasn't going to be dull.