Linda looked at him, carefully, thought for a while, and then said: "I get off at 2:00 --- will you be here? --- MASTER?" He turned his head toward her and said carefully: "Is that what YOU want, Linda?" "YYYEEESSS!" --- came the low, hoarse, sexy, whispered reply.Linda looked at him, carefully, thought for a while, and then said: "I get off at 2:00 --- will you be here? --- MASTER?" He turned his head toward her and said carefully: "Is that what YOU want, Linda?" "YYYEEESSS!" --- came the low, hoarse, sexy, whispered reply. He smiled at her carefully and got up from the bar. She watched him equally carefully, as his back moved away from her and he walked casually but deliberately to the door and out. Linda sat there for a long while, and then, regaining her compo- sure, she finally got up and made the rounds of the room, talking with all the regulars and settling in for a drink with a new face that looked lonely and eager for company. The rest of the night went interminably slowly for her, but 2:00AM rolled around. She changed hurriedly in the dressing room and, with her travel bag swinging from her right shoulder, she bid John a good night and headed out the door into the cool night air, not knowing what might lay in wait for her outside. She hoped that she had understood and that she hadn't assumed any- thing he might not have actually said or meant. As she passed through the outer door of the entryway leading from the lounge, her eyes swept the parking lot in a hungering, hoping attempt to locate the one person in this world she did not --- NOW --- want to lose. At first she didn't see him, and then, suddenly, she saw a tall figure with his back to her in the back of the second row of cars, talking to another guy. She walked across the open aisle to the door on the other side of the car where he was standing and waited, quietly. He completed his conversation with the other guy and they shook hands. |