Latter-Day of the Dead (2 page)

Sapphire ordered a Vodka Tonic. The bartender awaited Benjamin’s drink decision. He said, “Oh, I don’t want anything. Thank you.”

“Two drink minimum,” the bartender exhaled.

Not knowing what this meant, Benjamin looked to Sapphire.

“Oh, Honey, you have to buy at least two drinks if you want to be in here looking at the naked girls,” Sapphire explained matter-of-factly.

Still telling himself he should leave, but already smitten with Sapphire, he just stood there. A girl had never looked him in the eyes as deeply as Sapphire did, let alone touch like she continued to do.

“Get your two drinks and at least stick around for my turn on stage,” Sapphire bargained.

Benjamin looked at her as she smiled back coyly. “Alright,” he said while turning to the bartender, “I’ll have two Shirley Temples.”

The bartender and Sapphire exchanged smiles. A short giggle escaped as Sapphire ran her fingers through the back of Benjamin’s hair, trying to put him at ease. Two Shirley Temples and a Vodka Tonic were placed on the bar. Sapphire grabbed her glass and immediately took a sip.

“Nine dollars,” the bartender said.

Benjamin dug into his front pocket and pulled out a wad of money. Sapphire and the bartender looked at each other simultaneously.

Seeing this, Benjamin felt he needed to explain. “I’ve never done nothing like this before. Been saving up. Didn’t know how much it’d cost so I just brought it all.

“We’ll have a good time, Baby,” Sapphire assured.

The two grabbed their drinks and Sapphire walked Benjamin over to the seats near the center stage. She turned and giggled at the sight of Benjamin carrying a Shirley Temple in each hand. The cherries floated side-to-side with each step, battling the ice cubes for position.

Blood rushed to Benjamin’s face, his cheeks turning deep red as he watched the current dancer crawl on all fours in nothing but her underwear and high heels over to where he and Sapphire were standing. Sapphire bent over and kissed the girl on the lips. Whistles and cat calls could be heard from the darkened side of the stage opposite of them.

“Do you have something for my friend Lexxxi, Benjamin?” Sapphire gave a nod towards his pant pocket that bulged from his wadded cash.

“Oh, ummm, yeah.” Benjamin handed Sapphire one of his glasses.

Lexxxi slithered over to Benjamin, pulling herself upright onto her knees. She cupped her exposed breasts and leaned forward to accept Benjamin’s offering. He looked to Sapphire for assurance and she nodded her head up and down. Turning back to Lexxxi, he tried to keep contact with her eyes only as he extended a dollar between his shaking index and middle fingers. She pressed both breasts around the dollar, enveloping both of Benjamin’s extended fingers. He held his breath and slowly removed his hand, the dollar disappearing into her deep bosom.

“Thank ya, Baby,” Lexxxi said before circling back to the other side of the stage. Benjamin stood motionless, watching her work her way towards some men sitting at the stage, dollars exposed.

“Have a seat, Darlin’,” Sapphire instructed, handing him his second drink back.

He sat upright in the leather seat, each hand gripping tightly to its respective beverage. Sapphire sat in the chair next to him. She leaned forward and placed her hand on his knee, sweetly urging, “Relax.”

Benjamin leaned back in his chair, holding his two drinks atop each knee. She smiled, grabbed one of his drinks and placed it on the small black table between their two chairs, then repeated, “Relax.”

He did not know how to look relaxed when he felt the exact opposite. As he sipped his Shirley Temple, he wondered to himself why they used such small straws, examining the small black stick in his drink. Maybe they couldn’t afford regular-sized ones, he thought. He was looking for anything, really, to keep his focus off of the naked girl twirling on the stage.

The stage was outlined by iridescent light bulbs that ran up the catwalk and around the circular stage. Benjamin was concerned that no one noticed that three of the twenty-two bulbs were burnt out. Again, anything to divert his attention from Lexxxi, who was now dangling upside-down on the pole in the middle of the stage. Her legs were compressing the brass shaft. Her hands were compressing each upside-down, exposed boob. Her eyes, staring directly at Benjamin, were compressing his ability to breathe.

“What do ya think?” Sapphire asked, placing her empty glass on the small black table and leaning in over Benjamin’s armrest.

“Good…good.” That was the only thing he could think to say.

“Well then let her know you think it’s
good…good
. She’s trying to earn a living up there.” Sapphire once again looked down at Benjamin’s pocket and swung her head towards the stage.

“Oh! Yes, ma’am.” Benjamin was worried that he was not following proper protocol, and was appreciative to Sapphire for walking him through this.

He stood up and looked at Sapphire before slinking over to the edge of the stage. Lexxxi saw him approach and seductively slithered on the ground towards him. Having never seen something like this before, he could probably only compare the movements to a butterfly-stroke in swimming, except that the butterfly-stroke never made his face so flush.

When Lexxxi arrived at Benjamin, she spun onto her back, placing her pink high heels on the edge of the stage. She arched her back, thrusting her hips into the air towards Benjamin, causing him to take a step back.

“Put it right here,” Lexxxi instructed, pulling the small pink elastic from her G-string off of her hip.

Benjamin instantly focused on the thin tan line that appeared under the pink fabric, then immediately turned to Sapphire for reassurance. She closed her eyes and gave a slight nod of approval.

Instead of stepping any closer between Lexxxi’s open legs, Benjamin kept his feet firmly planted and reached the bill out, leaning with only the top-half of his torso.

“I don’t bite,” Lexxxi smiled. “Come in closer and get a good look.”

Benjamin took what he and no one else would consider a step closer, merely shifting his feet for better balance as he continued to lean. He pushed the money under the outstretched elastic band, which Lexxxi allowed to snap back into place with his fingers still there. He quickly freed his fingers and backpedalled to his chair.

Sapphire smiled as he fell back into his seat, still staring at Lexxxi. “Now make sure you save some of that for when I’m up there.”

He placed his hand over his pocket. “Yes ma’am.”

“Can I give you another piece of advice?” she asked.

“Yes ma’am. Of course.”

“The manners are cute and all, but if you keep calling me ma’am I am going to start feeling a lot older than I care to.”

“I’m sorry ma’am. I mean, ummm, I’m sorry…Sapphire.”

“That’s alright, Baby. Like I said, it
is
cute.” Sapphire leaned in and placed her hand on his thigh. “Are you excited?”

“Excited? Ummm, I don’t know, I guess.”

“Can I feel?” she asked.

“Feel?” Benjamin asked with confusion. Before he could get the clarification he was asking for Sapphire pressed her hand over the fly of his jeans.

Benjamin sprung upright in shock, gripping onto both armrests and nearly tossing Sapphire out of her seat.

“Easy, easy,” Sapphire comforted. She removed her hand before smirking, “You are definitely excited, though.”

The man sitting in the black booth playing the music got on the microphone. “Everybody give it up for Ms. Lexxxi! Next up will be the beautiful Jade. Sapphire on deck. Let’s get those dollars ready, fellas, and as always, please do not forget to tip that wonderful wait staff out there.”

“Looks like I’m almost up,” Sapphire smiled.

Benjamin nodded as he grabbed his second Shirley Temple, still in shock from the earlier physical contact.

The bass from the next song rattled through the dusty floor speakers that sat on each side of the stage. Jade made her way onto the mirrored runway with her head down. Her feet dragged slowly behind one another, barely keeping balance atop each high heel.

“Jade’s a wild one,” Sapphire explained, tilting forward for the show.

With her head still down, Jade continued her slow slink to center stage. Her long, straight brown hair strained for the floor, covering her face like an undrawn curtain before showtime.

“C’mon! Let’s see ‘em!” shouted one of the patrons, trying to hurry her along.

She kept walking with her vision blocked by her hair until she crashed into the pole. She twisted in an attempt to keep her balance before falling on her rear end. Sapphire looked to Benjamin, confused, before turning her attention back to the grounded stripper. Jade sat on the stage motionless, and then moved slowly to her hands and knees.

“Oh Lord, she is all kinds of wrong tonight,” Sapphire lamented. She stood and approached the edge of the stage. A few boos were thrown out from the darkness of the crowd.

Sapphire leaned over to Jade, who was still on all fours, and said, “What’s wrong, Honey?”

After no response Sapphire got on stage and placed both hands in the middle of Jade’s hair to pull away from her face. She immediately dropped the pulled strands back into place. “Oooh, girl! What are you on?!”

Waving over one of the bouncers, Sapphire stepped on stage and pulled Jade to her feet. The bouncer put her arm over his neck and they escorted her offstage to an even larger chorus of boos. Benjamin looked to Sapphire with concern as she headed towards the back. She sucked her lips into her mouth and shrugged her shoulders at him. Peering through the dark at the rest of the restless crowd, Benjamin took a sip of his Shirley Temple.

A scraggy leather loveseat is where Sapphire and the bouncer determined was the best place to put Jade. Sapphire leaned the girl back against one of the armrests, causing her hair to fall free from her face.

“What the hell?” the bouncer gasped. “Is she overdosing?”

“I’ll take care of it from here. Thanks for your help,” Sapphire said.

“We’ve got to call an ambulance…now,” he thought aloud.

“I said I’ll take care of it, Mikey,” she said to the bouncer.

“Dead strippers are bad for business. We’ve got to get her out of here.”

Sapphire stood up and faced the towering bouncer. “Mikey, I’ll come get you if I need any help. Time for you to go.”

She put her arm on his chest and guided him back to the door. He looked at Jade one more time and shook his head as Sapphire closed the door.

Jade’s lips were chapped and scabbed, her skin so opaque that Sapphire could see the blue veins underneath each temple. She leaned over Jade and scrunched her eyebrows. “Did you take some bad shit, or what?”

Jade let out a faint moan. Sapphire ran her fingers through Jade’s hair to relax her, and said, “You’ll be okay, Baby. Let me get you some water.”

Sapphire headed out of the room and ran into the club’s manager, Richie, in the hallway.

“I need you on stage,” he barked.

“I just want to make sure Jade is alright first. She needs some water.”

“I have money walking out the door. Get on stage. I’ll get Jade her damned water.” He glared at Sapphire, eyebrows raised for emphasis.

She looked back at the room, “I just….”

“Stage!” he yelled.

Whistles from the crowd turned Benjamin’s attention to the stage. He sat upright and put his drink down as he saw Sapphire stepping on.

He focused in on her disproportionately large high heels, and then followed her fishnet stalkings up to what most would consider a miniature black skirt. There was a faint scar just above her skirt-line that ran under her flat, tan stomach. A small jewel could be seen sparkling from her belly button as Benjamin’s eyes continued to rise.

He swiftly looked past the black bra with embarrassment and focused on a thin choker around her neck of the same color.

Sapphire gave Benjamin a brisk glance before grabbing the brass pole and swinging herself in multiple circles. She used the momentum to swing herself to the other side of the stage and headed towards two men sitting on the rack, away from Benjamin.

The two men dropped dollars on the stage as she approached. She rolled onto the floor, on her back, and threw her legs up, the tips of her heels pointing to the sky. Both men clapped, one of them whistled, as they both leaned in over the stage and dropped more dollars.

Benjamin fidgeted uncomfortably, surprised by his feelings of jealousy. He watched as Sapphire now moved to the front of the stage and directed her attention to the spectators sitting at the front tables. She dropped to her knees, upper body still writhing to the music, and slowly removed her black bra.

Only able to see her now-bare back from where he was sitting, Benjamin watched as another man from one of the back tables approached the stage and dropped a dollar. Sapphire turned around and rolled onto her stomach, now looking at Benjamin. She coyly crawled in his direction. He could feel his face turning red.

She turned onto her back and arched over the edge of the stage, her long curly hair falling into Benjamin’s lap.