"I sure know how to pick 'em.
"Except I don't know as I've got any credit coming for this one, because it it's hard to make the case that it was me that picked her. She walked into that edge-of-town roadhouse with the script all worked out in her mind, and all that was left to do was cast the lead.
"The male lead, that is, Far as the true leading role was concerned, well, that belonged to her. That much went without saying. Woman like her, she'd have to be the star in all of her productions.
"They had a jukebox, of course. Loud one. Be nice if I recalled what was playing when I crossed the threshold, but I wasn't paying attention—to the music, or to who came through the door. I had a beer in front of me, surprise surprise, and I was looking into it like any minute now it would tell me a secret.
"Yeah, right. All any beer ever said to me was Drink me down, horse. I might make things better and I sure can't make 'em worse..."
I Know How to Pick 'Em was written for Dangerous Women, an anthology edited by George R. R. Martin and Gardner Dozois. For an earlier anthology of theirs, Warriors, I wrote a story called "Clean Slate," my fourth story about an ever-so-dangerous young woman named Kit Tolliver; it was selected for that year's volume of Best American Mystery Stories and turned the corner for Kit Tolliver, whose adventures in erotic misanthropy subsequently coalesced into a full-length novel, Getting Off.
I doubt any such future awaits the narrator of "I Know How to Pick 'Em," but how can I know for sure? For now, enjoy the story...
