DO A LITTLE DANCE…

MAKE A LITTLE LOVE…

GET DOWN TONIGHT…

GET DOWN TONIGHT…

GET DOWN TONIGHT!

GET DOWN TONIGHT!

He wondered if he had thenerve to go up and talk to her.

BABY!!

He sure as hell had thedesire.

He took his time andfinished his ale. The relaxation from the alcohol and tension from what wascoming just exactly balanced each other in an equilibrium that resembled stonesobriety but was not. He watched her for a long time and she knew that he waswatching her and he knew that she knew he was watching her, and he knew thatshe knew that he knew; in a kind of regression of images that you get when twomirrors face each other and the images go on and on and on in some kind ofinfinity.

Then he picked up his canand headed toward the spot next to her at the bar.

At the bar-rail the smellof her perfume penetrated through the tobacco and liquor smells.

After a while she turnedand stared into him. The face was mask-like from the cosmetics, but a faintsmile showed pleasure, as though she had been waiting for this a long time.

She said, Where have Iseen you before?

A cliché, hethought, but there was a protocol to this sort of thing. Yeah, Where have Iseen you before? He tried to think of the protocol. He was rusty. The protocolwas you’re supposed to talk about the places you might have seen her in and whoyou know there, and this is supposed to lead to further subjects in aprogression of intimacy, and he was trying to think of some places to talkabout when he looked at her, and my God, it was her, the one on the streetcarand she’s asking, Where have I seen you before? and that was what started theillumination.