Outrageous Fortune-Errant Freight Book One

Chapter 18

"Two, please," John said upon reaching Xanadu's ticket counter. He'd dug a crumpled ten star from his pocket and now shoved it over the counter towards the cashier, a startlingly blonde woman wearing a copper nameplate that read Bambi over her snug red bodice.

"Skate size, love?" she asked, blinking her big, brown, Bambi eyes at John.

"I am not putting on skates," Jagati hissed over John's shoulder.

"That would be a 50 and a 40, respectively," he said with a polite smile that Jagati was sure set Bambi's bodiced heart a-thumping

"What did I just say?" Jagati poked him in the shoulder.

He spared her one cool glance.

"That'll be eight starbucks." Bambi pulled two pairs of the wheeled allusteel skates from under the counter and two starbucks change from the till. She set the skates down and placed the starbucks in his hand, explaining, "These are the latest thing, just pop 'em over your boots and Ben's your uncle." Then she leaned closer to add, "And if that one's not up for a roll, I'm off in an hour."

Jagati's eyes narrowed. "As far as I'm concerned, you can take those death shoes and roll them right up your—"

"Thank you." John took up both pairs of skates by their straps, "But I don't believe we'll be staying that long."

He started inside, then turned back to grab Jagati, who'd not moved from her spot, propelling her through the pleasure house's inner door.

"Why do the nice fellas always swarm to the wasps?" Bambi sighed as they disappeared through the doors.

Hearing Bambi's lament, Jagati rolled her eyes.

On entering Xanadu, she wished they'd rolled back farther, because blindness would be preferable to the flashing, dancing lights reflected throughout the warehouse-sized building.

Who on Fortune thought mirrored balls were a good idea?

Or music churned from an organ the size of a scout 'ship's gondola?

And then there was the clash of thuds, clangs, crashes, and chimes from the host of carnival games arrayed along the right-hand wall.

As John led her through the tables scattered to the left of the games, the thuds and clangs receded to be replaced by the clamor of a pipe organ that took up half the rear wall, and the air thickened with the scents of cider, chai, popcorn, wasabi nuts, and steamed puddings, reminding her she'd eaten very little dinner.

In time, they reached the low wall that divided the gaming and dining sections of Xanadu from what Jagati considered her personal nightmare.

At her side, she felt more than heard John speak.

"What?" she shouted over the din.

"I said, here we are!" he shouted back, holding up the skates and jerking his chin over the wall, to where it seemed an entire apiary of Nikeans were swarming around the waxed-bamboo rink.

"No," she said, her expression going flat. "You can't make me."

John leaned close, speaking into her ear. "There's an exit behind the organ on the far side of the rink."

She angled her head to speak into his ear, putting them cheek to cheek. "Then we can walk across the rink."

His sigh tickled her cheek. "It's against the rules to be on the rink without skates."

"You're worried about the rules?" she shouted the question, causing him to jump.

"We should always worry about the rules," he said. "But in this case I'm more interested in being somewhere they," he jerked his chin over her head, "can't go."