Sam’s Club

Sam's Club

Casablanca Aftermath

Total disaster. I am stuck in Casablanca, controlled by Vichy France, in North Africa in the middle of a war. My job is gone with my boss, who is trying to find the French Resistance. I better figure out how to make lemonade.

I realized that the infrastructure of the city was gone. The German commandant was dead, the French police chief is with my boss, and in that lies the solution. Nobody was checking documents.

It was easy to open a window and get on the roof. Fortunately the metal of the sign was easy to bend, and there were only a few letters to change. When I reached the street, I could see the change in the sign. The place was named, "Sam's Cafe Americain."

Everyone in Casablanca knows how to get forgeries. It was necessary to survive under Vichy, and even more with the Germans. In two days I had a convincing deed to the building. On the third day, a liquor license. In two weeks I had a license to operate a pharmacy in a side building. With the drugs, all addictions were covered. Of course, the bulk of the profits was still from the house cut on gambling. Even though if gambling existed, the authorities would be shocked, shocked.

I liked working for Rick, but owning, or even appearing to own the cafe is better. The French hostesses were delighted that I would not take part of their tips. Rick took 20%. The condition of course was that they take care of my tip, and the rest of that organ. Only one one married waitress had a problem with the issue, so I took the 20% from her instead. Two months into my tenure, she was seduced by a German general. She now no longer considered faithfulness as important, and wanted to keep her full tips, so I had 100% compliance, and she was in the top ten percent of the hostesses.

I continued my nightly piano sessions. It has many advantages. I am good at it and enjoy playing. I get an occasional groupie, and I save the price of an employee. It was about a year after Rick left. I was finishing "Boogie Woogie Bugle Boy," when a female voice I knew said, "Play it Sam." Since I must have remembered it, I started "As Tlme Goes By."

Ilsa filled me in on her situation. She and her husband made it to the States. They were feted in the highest society. However Ilsa was as faithful to her husband in the United States as she was in Casablanca. I will say this for her, she started at the top. She had a dalliance with Franklin Delano Roosevelt. This was nothing new for FDR. A Scandinavian princess, a Southern Belle, his secretary, and his cousin were on his list. Some coincidentally with Ilsa.

Everyone but his wife.

I tried to get her to tell me how physical the relationship was, considering FDR's illness. That was the only thing she would not reveal. Ilsa of course had other paramours. The list was so long and elite that I thought she embellished. I will believe Joe DiMaggio or Clark Gable, but not both. Ilsa earned her passage to Casablanca warming General Patton's bed.

We talked through the night, drinking only the best Champagne that I could obtain, not only legally. At the end Ilsa could stand but not walk. I had to half carry her to a bed, mine. Of course, only for her comfort, I took off her clothes. I then took off mine and got into bed. Yes, the first time we had sex, she was in no condition to give consent. Since she woke up with me inside her, she didn't the second time either. However, she didn't complain and never suggested a change in sleeping arrangements. If you've seen Ilsa, you wondered how she would be in bed, and then thought it was not possible to be that good. She is better than that.

Ilsa of course wanted to find Rick. I had some sources that might find which Resistance cell Rick joined. However it would take time. I ended up having Ilsa for two weeks, often more than once a day. I only kept Rick's location from Ilsa for a week after I found it. By that time, as great as Ilsa was, I was looking forward to the hostesses again.

My life in Casablanca is great, and two weeks of it were paradise.

On that you can rely.