Sharon had brought her ‘grown up’ outfits west, and she now entered the dance floor in a glamorous dress and high heels. Some finishing touches had been applied by Diana, and she felt that Mitsuko would have approved. There were lots of looks of admiration, and it was obvious that Chris’ prestige was moving rapidly upward.

     Since Chris had been to dancing school, he had the basics. Sharon hadn’t been to dancing school, but she was adaptive. They soon mixed in with the crowd of dancers without making any obvious mistakes.

     Since Sharon’s heels brought her almost to the same height as Chris, they were facing each other at much less than her usual conversational distance. He was also a middle-distance person, and he looked uncomfortable until she asked, “Do I have pink eyes?”

“It’s hard to say what color they are, but they’re not pink.”

“How about muddy?”

“We can do better than that. What does it say on your ID cards?”

“Sometimes amber, whatever that is.”

“Perhaps green.”

“I like that. Green for jealousy. I claw the eyes of the girlfriends of my boyfriends.”

“Do you have boy friends?”

“I’ve come closer to girl friends than boy friends. And, of course, lesbians can be pretty vicious.”

“I bet you’ve never attacked anyone.”

“No. I’ve put some big hits on people in sports, but those were only semi-intentional.”

At that point, a girl near them spun, her little flared skirt rising almost to her waist. Sharon asked, “Is spinning part of this kind of dancing?”

“I think it’s optional. I’ll spin if you do.”

Sharon did a fairly decorous little spin, and, after Chris had spun, she said,

“I don’t have the kind of skirt that lifts the way hers did. Anyhow, I’m too inhibited for that kind of thing.”

“There’s certainly a feeling of shame connected with being exposed. I didn’t like it when I was forcibly de-pantsed by the football players.”

“It must be a little like having your dog poop on someone’s lawn while the residents are watching from their porch.”

“It sounds as if you’ve experienced that. Did you have a plastic bag?”

“No. They glared, but didn’t say anything. That almost made it worse.”

“So you didn’t have a chance to talk your way out of it.”

“I doubt that I could have. I can still recapture the shame by just telling about it.”

There was some more spinning, and Chris remarked,  “The girls around us don’t seem to have too much shame.”

“Of course, their exposure is voluntary, and that helps. Come to think of it, I did have a small part in a porno film. That was kind of fun. But I’d still have a fit if a saleswoman flipped open a fitting room curtain at the wrong time.”

“That would be involuntary exposure. How did you happen to get in the film?”

“Diana and her ex-husband were making porno films. This was a lesbian one, and they picked me because I have a lesbian look.”

“You don’t look like a lesbian to me. Whatever color your eyes may be.”

“I believe that lavender is the official lesbian color.”

“I’m pretty sure that your eyes aren’t lavender.”

As the dance ended, Sharon said, “We’re a funny pair, Chris. I’m three years older, probably with a good deal more worldly experience, but you’re more advanced academically.”

“I wouldn’t be if you were in college this year.”

“I really had to sit out a year to see to Tim, even before his leg got broken.”

“Are we too disparate to be boy friend and girl friend?”

“That usually means sex. Are you starved and frustrated in that area, Chris?”

“In a word, yes.”

“I’ve never had sex with a boy, and it could be argued that it’s about time. I suspect that it’s no big thing, but it seems to carry so much baggage. I certainly don’t want to be possessed by anyone.”

As they approached the others, Chris whispered, “Tim said that there were arrangements that he might know how to make for me.”

It was too late to ask further, but Sharon wondered deeply what her brother might have had in mind. Was it possible that Chris was to have a go-round with Melissa? There was a tradition of initiating a boy with an older woman, but Sharon felt strong disapproval for the idea. Then again, Tim might intend something entirely different.

     A little later, Chris danced with Diana while Enoch danced with Meredith. As the two chaparones were patrolling, Sharon sat with Tim and observed,

“Both Chris and Meredith are getting their thrills tonight.”

“Yes indeed. If you danced with me, you’d have the suspense ofwaiting to see if a crutch came down on your foot.”

“You with your broken leg, me with a broken foot, we’d be the talk of the marina.”

“I’m afraid we already are.”

“Incidentally, Tim, Chris said that you might arrange something for him. Are you setting him up for a night with Melissa?”

Tim had the decency to look embarrassed as he denied it. He then said, “Do you remember my telling you about a woman who works with Melissa, and who gave me her card?”

“Vividly.”

“Well, she called me on my cell phone.”

“How did she get your number?”

“Melissa gave it to her.”

“That’s weird.”

“I think Janet and Melissa have a rather odd arrangement.”

“I should say so. How old is Janet?”

“Probably about thirty four.”

“And you’re thinking about her for Chris! And she’s willing!”

“Not so fast, kid. Melissa has told her about Chris being a boy genius, and, of course, being his first woman has a certain ring to it. On his side, he needs a woman badly, mostly on the confidence and self esteem side.”

“I’ve come to think that Chris has plenty of confidence and self-esteem.”

“Well, anyway, it might be good if he started with an older woman, not just because she’s experienced, but because there’d be less possibility of a continuing affair which could get messy.”

“Unless she went crazy and started hanging out at the schoolyard waiting for him.”

“Melissa doesn’t think anything like that would happen.”

“But this woman seems to be approaching you, Tim. Are you telling her that you’re not available, but there’s this interesting other possibility if she doesn’t mind a little age difference? She could then join us as one of the chaperones at the next dance. That’d impress the other kids.”

“Out here, you know, things are a little different.”

“So I see. However, if you and Chris are determined to satisfy his carnal appetites, why not Melissa herself? She’s a known quantity, tied down with a husband and children. And, frankly, I have the impression that she’s ready to do it with anyone from the assistant dishwasher on up.”

Sharon caught herself, but too late. She tried not to say things like that to Tim, but he didn’t seem to take it ill as he replied, “There’d also be the problem of Janet. She and Melissa do seem to work things out according to certain implicit rules.”

“Jesus! It’s not that I’m pushing for Melissa. The obvious thing would be for me to handle this myself. But I really don’t want to. I’m tempted to tell Chris that I know all, that I disapprove, and that it won’t kill him to keep his dong in his knickers.”

“You can certainly do that.”

“Will Janet be visiting the boat to be consoled for missing her chance with the boy genius?”

Sharon laughed as she spoke, and Tim joined her. He then asked, “Are you acting as my mother?”

“I’ll leave it to Doris. She should have come with us tonight.”

“Why didn’t she?”

“She said she didn’t want to diminish the group glamour, but I wouldn’t accept that. It turned out that she has a horror of high school dances ever since she was wall-flowered at them.”

“She’s an attractive woman. I wonder why she was a wall-flower.”

“Oh, it’s probably not really that. A dance might have led to a bad car accident or a date rape. Almost anything she doesn’t want to talk about.”

As the dance ended, the others came back. All except Meredith and Sharon went to the refreshment area, and Meredith, indicating Enoch, said,  “I never really got a chance to talk with him when I was here before. I hadn’t realized how bright and amusing he can be.”

“Certainly.”

“How many women are there who want to sleep with him?”

“Probably a hundred thousand. Perhaps even a million.”

“I can see why he chose Diana. Sort of like Audrey and Howie.”

“Beautiful people do tend to come together. A sort of defensive alliance, if nothing else.”

“Perhaps I should seek out someone who’s crazy to the same degree that I am.”

Statements like that were always hard to handle. Sharon hesitated only briefly before replying,

“I think you’re about ninety five per cent recovered.”

“Thank you. What’s the missing five per cent?”

“I don’t think you would’ve done the Zoroastrian bit before, but I think I understand.”

“Someone who’s confused is likely to grab hard on to something that’s clear and simple.”

“Yes. Are you writing poetry in that vein?”

“No. I haven’t gotten back to that yet, and it probably wouldn’t work. But it’s great for chanting.”

“Okay. Teach me some words, and I’ll chant with you.”

The handful of words, in a language something like Farsi, were easy to learn. It seemed that, like Satan in western religions, Ahriman, the evil one, was more interesting than the good guys. The chant didn’t exactly go with the music being played, but they were still doing it when the others returned. Chris immediately recognized it as Zoroastrian, and congratulated Meredith for upholding the exotic in a country that wasn’t exotic enough. Sharon felt a sudden burst of warmth toward him, and asked him to dance. Once started, she said to him, “I wormed the whole story out of Tim.”

“And you disapprove?”

“Well, I can’t help it. These ladies seem so predatory to me. At least as sex obsessed as teen-aged boys, but hardly seeming to care who provides it. The other day, Melissa was flirting with your father, but, when Tim reappeared, she quickly switched gears.”

“Really? Dad probably needs something like that. Perhaps he should go to see Janet.”

“For better or worse, Janet is said to resemble sweet little me.”

“Well, that would be an inducement.”

“Flattery will get you nowhere, Buster. Would your mother mind if she found out?”

“Certainly. She’s quite conventional. But Dad has a fairly loose schedule, and he could manage something with Janet in an afternoon.”

“Does your willingness to cede my look-alike to your father indicate that you’re not going to take up with her yourself?”

“Yeah, that would be a little too weird.”