Thank God drink refil s came then, and the baskets of food soon after. We al tried hard to pretend that nothing out of the ordinary had happened, and we were doing pretty wel by the time the music started pumping “Touch My Nightstick” to announce the arrival of the “policeman.”

The performer was a ful -blooded fairy; a little too thin for my taste, but he was real good-looking. You won’t find an ugly fairy. And he could actual y dance, and he real y enjoyed the exercise. Every inch of gradual y revealed flesh was just as toned and tempting as it could be. “Dirk” had a fantastic sense of rhythm, and he seemed to be enjoying himself. He was basking in the lust, the excitement of being the focus of attention. Were al the fae as vain as Claude, as conscious of their own beauty?

“Dirk” gyrated his sexy way around the stage, and a shocking number of dol ar bil s were stuffed into the little man-thong that had gradual y become his only garment. It was clear that Dirk was generously endowed by nature and that he was enjoying the attention. Every now and then someone bold would give him a little rub, but Dirk would pul back and shake his finger at the miscreant.

“Eww,” Kennedy said the first time that happened, and I had to echo her sentiment. But Dirk was tolerant if not encouraging. He gave an especial y generous donor a quick kiss, which made the hol ering rise to a crescendo. I’m good at estimating tips, but I could not even begin to guess how much Dirk had made by the time he left the stage—especial y since he’d been handing off handfuls of bil s to Dermot at intervals. The routine came to an end perfectly in time with the music, and Dirk took his bow and ran off the stage.

In a very short time, the stripper pul ed on his glittery policeman pants (though nothing else) and came out to wander through the crowd, smiling and nodding as women offered him drinks, phone numbers, and yet more cash. Dirk took only a sip of the drinks, accepted the phone numbers with a charming smile, and tucked the money in his waistband until he seemed to be wearing a green belt.