George R. R. Martin Presents Wild Cards: Pairing Up

1957

Trudy of the Apes

by Kevin Andrew Murphy

The Garden of Allah was found, not in the Prophet s Paradise, but in Hollywood, at the intersection of Sunset Boulevard and Havenhurst Drive. But instead of flying there on the back of the Buraq like Muhammad, Trudy Pirandello had taken Pan Am.

She checked her bags at the front desk, checked her makeup with her compact, and in the reflection, checked out the jewels and jewelry on display on the other guests ­a nice watch here, a pretty ring there, but nothing that wouldn t be missed and nothing worth risking, especially with her eyes on a greater prize. Trudy slipped her compact back in her handbag, slipped the bellman a generous but not lavish tip, and slipped off into the interior of the Garden of Allah.

She had expected paradise to look a bit more Arabian, with ­fanciful fountains and arabesques, not a couple dozen Spanish Mission ­style bungalows, all terra-­cotta tiles and stucco. At least the landscaping was pretty and tropical enough, with bougainvillea vines and night-­blooming jasmine, the dark shiny leaves glittering in the sun. The houris were there, too, or at least starlets, many of them taking advantage of a swimming pool in the shape of the Black Sea, the legacy of Alla Nazimova, silent-­screen Salomé turned hotelier.

Rumor also had it that Nazimova coined the term sewing circle for ladies who liked ladies, though as Trudy understood, Alla liked everyone. Her tradition had continued ­the Garden of Allah, as the hotel had been renamed with an added h, was the swinging place to go if you were a Hollywood creative. F. Scott Fitzgerald had stayed there, as had Errol Flynn. It-­girl Clara Bow, Ernest Hemingway, Ginger Rogers, D. W. Griffith, Laurence Olivier, Frank Sinatra, and Dorothy Parker. Even Marlene Dietrich, who d starred in the movie The Garden of Allah.

Of course, the hotel had seen better days. Alla Nazimova had died in 44 ­two years before the wild card ­and it was

George R. R. Martin is the #1 New York Times bestselling author of many novels, including those of the acclaimed series A Song of Ice and Fire—A Game of Thrones, A Clash of Kings, A Storm of Swords, A Feast for Crows, and A Dance with Dragons—as well as related works such as Fire & Blood, A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms, The World of Ice & Fire, and The Rise of the Dragon (the last two with with Elio M. García, Jr., and Linda Antonsson). Other novels and collections include Tuf Voyaging, Fevre Dream, The Armageddon Rag, Dying of the Light, Windhaven (with Lisa Tuttle), and Dreamsongs Volumes I and II. As a writer-producer, he has worked on The Twilight Zone, Beauty and the Beast, and various feature films and pilots that were never made. He lives with his lovely wife, Parris, in Santa Fe, New Mexico.