I walk through the party feeling the brush of women's evening gowns. Their perfume scents my passage. A woman stops me with her hand pressed to my chest. "Sir, this is a formal party. You can't go around with your shirt collar stained. Here, let me wipe it for you" she says. "Oh goodness, the light here is so poor and I can't see what I'm doing. Please, follow me to a well-lit room so I can properly remove the smear."
She is wearing turquoise lingerie covered in a gossamer dress. Her gown ripples as she moves across the floor. She is a walking seduction. Then she ushers me into another room. The room is brightly illuminated.
She tries a stain remover pen on the mark but to no avail. She says, "Your stain is stubborn. We have a washing machine for just such an occasion with our hostesses. But your entire suit is wrinkled. Take it off. Fabric softener will take out the wrinkles. We don't have a curtained off dressing area here since until now only hostesses change here."
I reply, "There may be certain changes in my physique that briefs cannot hide."
"You show just as much at the pool in your swim trunks."
I strip down to my underwear. She says, "Your underclothes are rumpled too. No one else will know but I will which is enough reason to wash them. Please take them off."
"But my boa is rigid."
"I had a pet boa once. His name was Charlie. When I petted him on his head he raised up like he was happy."
While she is loading the washer she says, "Once upon a time I lived in Paris and worked my way through the Sorbonne as a blanchisseuse which is French for laundress. When I got back to New Orleans I found being a hostess much more appealing than teaching French as I meet all kind interesting people at these parties."
Until now I have been a business executive in charge and am surprised at how easily a woman can use her charm to divest me of my suit which is my armor.
Now that I am naked I ask her, "Would you like to play scrabble?"
"Words are my profession. But of words, there is no end."
