Worth

Chapter 16 (cont.)

John led her out by the hand quickly. Too quickly to verify his intentions again. He left her on the dance floor in front of the DJ booth as he hopped behind and whispered something to the MC. The music stopped abruptly. John's voice over the sound system commanded the room's attention.

"Okay everybody. I want girls on one side of the floor, boys on the other. That's right people, just like junior high." The ready-for-anything revellers obliged merrily by dividing themselves up. John coaxed them along. "You can accomplish anything if you put your mind to it. Martin, you're on the wrong side. All right. We're going to raise a little money for the Red Cross tonight the old fashioned way – by selling each other off. Twenty bucks a dance for the next three dances. Men ask the ladies, or the men, doesn't matter, as long as you've got twenty dollars you can get fresh with whoever you want. They won't dare say no and risk public shaming so some of you might want to aim high." John jumped back around to Violet's side and ushered her to the middle of the ladies' line. "I like my top earners front and centre," he said.

"Save you a dance," she said. For the briefest moment she was hopeful of a misunderstanding again, but then the music started up and John handed over two tens for Elsa while some stranger braved his bid on Violet.

Mortified, she tried to respond graciously to her partner. It was no small task considering Ron, a biologist, persisted in talking through their entire song and could turn any topic of conversation into a cause.

"Do you know for fifty dollars you can buy a goat and end poverty for a family in a refugee camp?"

"Where will you be spending your holidays?" Violet inquired.

"Cambodia," Ron said.

Violet tried, "Are you enjoying the party?"

"It's great. I'm hoping all this activity helps my restless leg syndrome. It's an underrated affliction. I have to be at the docks early tomorrow."

"Oh, do you sail?"

"We're going to meet a Greenpeace boat."

"I've never rammed a whaler before. Do you tie yourselves to the sides of your ship first?"

Mercifully, if only because it spared her being regaled by stories of seal meat, Bob cut in for the next dance.

"Hey, Ron! My twenty bucks says Marjorie over there is giving you the come hither."

Ron did not seem disappointed and the sexy number, Marjorie, thanks to Bob, looked about fifty dollars richer.

"How's it going, Sweetie? I promise, no manoeuvring you under the mistletoe."

"I wisely put none up," Violet said with a half-hearted smile.

"I came with my own just in case."

"Bob, think of angels and orphans."

"Oh, Violet, I wish you were my friend."

"I am, Bob. I am."

"My other friend seems to have gone insane or blind or both. Shall I get to the bottom of it?"

"She's his date," Violet shrugged. She could not see whether John had paid for a second dance with Elsa. She only knew it hadn't been with her.

"He's just saving the best for last. Stick around. Give him a chance."

"I honestly don't think I can be that type of girl. What about you, Bob? Where's your Marjorie?"

"I keep asking myself the same thing. You know things are pretty dire when your forty year old paper boy invites everyone on his route to his wedding and I can't get a date."