"Not bad, huh? Dana?"

"Not bad at all."

"Lots better than the fat one."

"Uh-huh. At least she didn't get tangled up in her pants. I thought she looked awfully young, though. Just a kid, really, wouldn't you say? Bouncing around like a high school cheerleader… "

"Some kid. In a place like this?" Jerome's grin became a bawdy leer. "Honey, don't go moral on me. They like 'em young hers, the younger the better, it's good business. See all the wolves with their tongues hanging out?"

"Bastards! And stop leering at me. Oh, you're all alike, you men, always on the make. I pity the poor child."

"Don't waste your sympathy, the wolves won't get near her, I'll bet. Not if she runs true to form. When the show is over, she'll just cuddle up with one of the other girls and… well… "

"What? Oh. You, you mean they're lesbians?"

"It's a safe guess. Most strippers are, you know. It's almost a tradition; they just leave the boys drooling and go off by themselves for their own kind of fun. Saves wear and tear that way. So don't worry about the kid, I'm sure she's in good hands. Hmm. I wonder whose. Now that would be a show to see, wouldn't it?" He laughed aloud. "Maybe they're making it in the dressing room right now, the little redhead and that big fat dumb broad… "

Chapter 2

I was glad when the band struck up again, loud enough to drown outpour conversation. Loud enough to allow the subject to be dropped and forgotten, the one subject least likely to preserve peace in the family, although the old darling couldn't have known that at the time. And never would, hopefully! Lesbians and the like belonged behind a shroud of secrecy; why should it even come up between us?

My fault, no doubt, even though I had only sympathized with the cute young stripper for Jerome's sake. It was good for him, a sop to his waning virility, good for his ego to be included among the wolves on the make. But he had picked it up from there, of course, launching into the taboo topic even as I expressed a proper degree of shock and scorn. Along with a little chagrin! Oh shit, how was I to know that he considered himself an expert on the mating habits of the bare-breasted Tijuana titmouse?