"Gonna give the locals something to spill their soup course over?" Cathy said, putting her hand over her mouth to stop the giggles.

"Why don't you come along and see what does happen," Blair said, "you've never had a chance to attend a really boring academic dinner. Guaranteed dullest evening in memory."

"No thanks," Cathy said, "I've got a date. A hot date."

That was a little odd. Cathy was a beautiful raven-haired little pixie. But her tastes usually ran to dogs, cats and other assorted domestic animals. She was a normal, sexy nineteen year old, but Blair seldom saw her with a guy.

"Who?" Blair said, shaking her slacks out and stepping into them. She wiggled her hot, taut hips around, to fit the pants around them. They were tight, the way she wore most of her clothes.

"A guy from school. Named Harold Rhymer. Sounds hot, doesn't he?" Cathy again tried to muffle a giggle, but it slipped out.

"Look," she said, "why don't you stop by the house later? Bring your date."

"I would like to say good-bye to your dad," Cathy said, sitting up and bringing her weight to the balls of her feet. It was getting near time to go if she wanted to go and get ready. It wasn't every Saturday night she went out. "When are you two leaving?"

"Ship leaves tomorrow night," Blair said, "around eight."

"Wow!" Cathy said, a note of admiration coming into her voice, "what a blast! A cruise to the jungles of darkest Africa…"

"Well, it's not exactly a cruise. We're going by ocean liner, but it's not a luxury vessel. And we're not going to darkest Africa. We're going to the jungles, but there are mountains there, too."

"It must be something to go to a wild, untamed place like that. Nobody to bother you. No parking tickets, no traffic jams, no TV, no supermarkets…"