Seth could hardly breathe in the wet heat, a combination of body-heat and alcoholic fumes and the swampy evening heat. Ten o'clock at night and still at least 85 degrees, Seth thought to himself, pulling his T-shirt off over his head. Bar or not, it was too hot for a shirt. He would only put the shirt back on if they tried to kick him out, although he didn't think that likely, seeing that the place was so jam-packed that the bartenders were running like whipped horses. Heck, he'd already been in here an hour barefooted, and proprietors were generally more against bare feet in their establishments than they were against bare chests. As he stuffed his shirt through the belt loop of his jeans, he noticed another boy pulling off his own shirt. The boy nodded to Seth and came over to where Seth was standing at the side of the stage.

"Hot night," the boy commented.

"Sure is," Seth agreed, and they exchanged names. The boy was called Tyler, and he looked to be about the same age as Seth, just underage for getting into a bar, especially a bar like the Dingle Dangle.

"When's the show start?" Seth asked.

"Should have started already," Tyler said. "You come here alone?"

"Came with my pa and his buddy." And Seth told Tyler about how he lived on a farm out in the sticks, and about how they'd come into town to visit Cal and to celebrate Delbert's birthday. He didn't tell Tyler about Ruby, however. Seth was never supposed to tell anybody about Ruby, or Cal could get in big trouble for hiring out his daughter from time to time. Not that Seth cared that much about whether Cal got into trouble, but he knew that if he opened his mouth it would mean the end of Ruby's hot ass for him, and with the scarcity of females out on the farm Seth couldn't afford to lose Ruby's ass no matter how few and far-between were the occasions he got to town.

"You ain't never seen the show then?" Tyler asked. "You ain't never seen Candy Lee?" His eyes danced. "Shit, man, hold on to your dong!"