"I donāt believe it!"
Theyāre sitting in Samās tiny kitchen, drinking tea.
"Believe it," says Ellenor dryly. "Itās the sad, sad truth."
"THREE INCHES???"
"Yep, 3 inches," she says, "I could hardly believe my eyes! Tall, muscular, a real beef ā and with a teeny, tiny little pecker! I almost asks him where he kept the rest of it!"
Sam laughs.
"Was it thin, too?" he asks.
"Nope," says Ellenor. "Short and fat, like a freakinā bulldog!"
Samās laughing so hard, he gets tears in his eyes.
"It reminded me of this dirty cartoon I read once," Ellenor continues. "A girl takes a body-builder type of guy home, and he shows off his body, how muscular he is, and then he takes off his briefs, and the girl says Gee, all that dynamite, and such a short fuse!"
"Stop, youāre killing me!"
Samās lying over the table, beating it with his fist. He can hardly breathe. His laughter is contagious; Ellenor starts to laugh too, and doesnāt care about the running mascara. She rubs her eyes.
"You look like a raccoon," Sam giggles, and gets her a paper napkin out of a box.
The word "raccoon" sends them both into another giggling frenzy. Theyāre overtired, and they laugh at anything right now.
OK, so her first try wasnāt as great a success as she had hoped for. That can happen to anyone. Ellenorās not gonna give up on the bimbo-experiment. The very next weekend, sheās out again; this time dressed in a red mini-dress and red go-go boots. She doesnāt want to risk running into Alan or the Stalker, so she goes to a different place, The Golden Ring. The crowd is more her age, and the clientele a mix of every ethnicity known to man. She starts at the bar, gets herself a Diet Pepsi, as they donāt have Coke. She moves through the crowds, scanning the room for potential candidates. That black guy with the glasses⦠no, he has a girlfriend; theyāre kissing each other tenderly. She walks upstairs, where the dance floor is. Itās packed with people, so she settles for standing against the wall o watch.
Thereās a group of guys over at the big table in the corner. A gang. Theyāre all dressed the same. Oh, no, sheās not going there! Sheās heard enough horror stories about gang activity to get herself mixed up with such people!
However that skinny guy at the end of the table⦠He looks sweet and innocent, as if the gang mentality hasnāt really gotten to him yet. He catches her eyes and smiles at her, and she gives him a quick smile before she walks away. She goes back down to the lobby, and even further down, to see what sort of entertainment they have there.
Oh, a pool hall! Ellenor likes shooting pool; she instantly remembers all those afternoons in Peter Nelsonās basement when she was 14. Peter Nelson taught her all there was to know about French kisses, and in between making out, they played pool.
The room isnāt all that big, there are only 6 pool tables in it. All of them are busy. She walks up to a fat, grumpy guy behind a counter.
"Hi," she says.
No reaction.
"So, do I⦠sign up for a table, or just wait in line?"
"Wait in line."
Ah, the talkative type! Ellenor gives him a pretty smile and walks over to one of the tables. She stands and watches the game, like all the others, waiting for them to finish playing. The guys around the table are eyeing her, giving her flirty smiles and winks, but she pretends to be too stupid to understand what they mean.