It was about six months ago that my wife did a one-eighty on me. Since that night things have been very different around our house, and certainly more exciting. But I’m getting ahead of myself. I still can’t get her to tell me what triggered it, but the ‘new Sarah’ came out of the closet on a Wednesday night in July.
An old college friend of mine had come into town for a couple of days, and we had taken him to dinner. Fred was working as a salesman for a pharmaceutical company now, and his work took him through our area every few months, but we’d never gotten together. We promised to stay in touch, but of course, old friends always say that. Anyway, we went back to our place for drinks after dinner. We had already told him about our lives and business, and he was talking about his sales runs.
“Doesn’t it get lonely, travelling all the time like that?” Sarah asked.
Fred nodded. “Yeah, sometimes. I mean, I have friends on the road, business contacts and all, but some nights are pretty cold. Sometimes I go to bars just to be around people having a good time.”
“You need a good woman to come home to,” Sarah observed.
“I think that’s right,” he said. “But I haven’t chased one down yet; closest I can come is a twenty dollar table dance at a topless club.”
“How long does she dance?” Sarah asked
“About one song, generally. Not long enough.”
“Those women must make an awful lot of money in a night,” Sarah said.
“Oh, yeah. You figure they get twenties for table dances, and singles trickle into their panties all night long,” Fred said. “It’s big money.”
“Man, I remember when the table dances were ten,” I said.
“They still are, some places,” Fred said. “But it’s like anything else, and a ten dollar table dance is usually worth its cost.”
“Would you guys pay to see me dance?” Sarah asked. It came out of the blue, and we just sat and stared at her, not answering. She stood up and straightened her blouse, running her hands slowly down her front, pulling the material taut against her breasts. “I suppose I could just dance, and see if you guys pay.” She started to walk out of the room, but turned to face us again at the end of the hallway. We were grinning now, like we thought it was a joke, but were still too addle-brained to speak. “Yes, I think so. Let’s see what I’m worth to you.”
As soon as she was out of the room Fred came alive. “Man, what’s she doing? She’s not really going to do this, is she?”
“Naw, she’s bluffing,” I said, shifting on the couch. I didn’t think she would, but it was so off the wall for her to even suggest such a thing that I somehow feared she might. I wasn’t sure either, that I wasn’t hoping she would. “Still, it might be fun to call her bluff. Have you got some singles? We raided our pockets and came up with some cash, but only less than forty between us, mostly in singles and fives.