Free Commencement by Alexis Adare

into their mouths.
    “Looks that way, doesn’t it?”
    “I dropped off the cooler with Malcolm,” I told her. “He said to tell you he’ll have everything out in a flash. You’re serving all that food to these guys?”
    “Yes, tonight’s event is in honor of our fancy Canadian friends. We are calling it a VIP Tasting Party.”
    “Tasting party?” I rolled my eyes. “No double entendre meant, of course?”
    “Certainly not.” Her eyes widened in mock horror.
    “What are you charging for this tasting party?”
    “Sixty-five dollars a head, darling. And that’s a bargain. I dove into my own wine cellar to accommodate these well-dressed meat-heads and I expect to make back twice its value in up-sells tonight.”
    “Wow.”
    “Which brings me to some bad news. We’ve got just four girls tonight. You’re all going to have to work more than your fair share. All the other girls are out of town.”
    “Crap.”
    “Yes, so no private room dances except those negotiated by me for well past our usual rate. I need everyone on the floor all the time. Try to keep all up-sells to the floor, so everyone can enjoy the show.”
    “While one poor schmuck pays for it.”
    “Absolutely.” She smiled.
    “Okay, got it.” I exhaled and started combing out my hair.
    “Jane,” Sasha said from the doorway. “Let your creativity flow tonight. I know you’ve been working on new routines, new costumes and ideas. I want to see them all. This is the perfect audience for it. Just do whatever you like. Every fourth dance is yours, and in between your sets I expect you on the floor. Try to keep breaks to a minimum.”
    “No problem.” I grinned at her. “I can really do whatever I want?”
    “Yes, I’m counting on it.”
----
    K andy , Krystal and Kaia where three of Sasha’s best dancers and heroes in my mind for delaying their weekend plans to help out this evening at the club. They often danced together, parties and private gigs under the name The Special K’s. Tonight they showed up with a trunk full of costumes and a bottle of Schnapps. I brought my unpacked suitcase in from my car and we dumped the contents of both cases onto the floor of the dressing room. We had about twenty minutes to plan a long night of impromptu routines.
    “You’ve got a turkey costume?” I asked, staring bemused at the large fabric poultry corpse that lay at my feet.
    “We had a gig at a club in Boston last night,” Kandy answered. “One of those ‘dinner and a show’ things, so we did a Burlesque Turkey dinner.”
    “You guys are geniuses,” I said, picking up the turkey costume and marveling at the expert placement of Velcro that resulted in a costume that could be removed a piece at a time, and put back together again later. “Oh my God, let’s use these tonight! It’s perfect for Sasha’s Tasting Party theme.”
    “Yeah, I’m game,” said Krystal. “But we’ve just got the three pieces. Turkey, an ear of corn and an apple pie.”
    “What, no pumpkin?” I laughed.
    “We were gonna get pumpkin,” said Kaia seriously. “But Kandy said they’re too seasonal.”
    “Apple pie is more versatile,” Kandy explained. “We can use it on July fourth, too.”
    “Hey,” I said, “let’s one of us be a chef, you know, chase the others around the stage and pretend to carve off bits of the costume as part of the routine.”
    “Oh, like that scene from The Little Mermaid ,” said Kaia, “when the chef chases that little fish around!”
    “Yeah, sure.” I laughed. “Malcolm’s got a chef hat in the kitchen that’s just sitting on a shelf.” I walked to the dressing rooms row of costume racks and rifled through it. “Add that to a nurse’s uniform, topped with an apron,” I said, holding up my finds as I gathered them, “looks enough like a chef to me.”
    “And we’ve got this prop Kandy used for her Halloween routine,” said Krystal, lifting a large plastic butcher knife out of the costume trunk.
    “Awesome,