Free The Scottie Barked At Midnight by Kaitlyn Dunnett Page B

at her, she set the material aside when her food arrived and popped the DVD Deidre had given her into the player. She needed to see what she’d gotten herself into.
    This was the season, she remembered, that Deidre and her Dancing Doggies had won their title. That meant none of the other contestants would be the same as those competing in the current show. That didn’t matter. What Liss wanted to get a good look at were the dance routines. Although Desdemona had assured her she’d have no trouble getting the dogs to perform, and she had already spent a little time studying the diagrams and instructions in Deidre’s spiral-bound notebook, she needed to get a clearer picture of exactly how the routines were executed.
    When the acts were introduced for the first time, Liss waited with keen anticipation for Deidre’s appearance. As she’d half expected, given that the woman was dancing with two Scottish terriers, she was wearing a kilt, but it was a kilt unlike any Liss had ever seen. It was very short, ending midway down Deidre’s thick thighs. The tartan was one Liss was positive no clan would ever claim. The pattern was picked out in bright-colored glitter. On Deidre’s short, stocky form, the outfit was not flattering, but it was certainly eye-catching.
    All the contestants wore similarly glitzy and revealing clothing. It didn’t seem to matter what their talent was. While Roy Eastmont delivered his opening remarks as MC, Liss fished through the material Desdemona had left for her. A page she’d hitherto overlooked, headed POLICY ON COSTUMES , elaborated on the terms she’d already agreed to when she’d signed Eastmont’s paperwork.
    Variety Live provided contestants with costumes, and the show’s costume designer had the final say about what they wore in performances. Liss tried to tell herself that she felt relieved. She’d been saved the trouble and expense of providing her own outfits.
    She didn’t buy her own argument. The costume policy gave her one more thing to worry about. She had a decent figure and shapely legs and didn’t embarrass easily, but she also had a long scar running down one knee. She didn’t relish the idea of showing it off to the entire Variety Live viewing audience.
    Reaching for the clicker, Liss fast-forwarded the DVD to the start of Deidre’s first performance. Once she’d gotten past the short kilt and the glitter, she realized that although Deidre was wearing tap shoes, she only seemed to know one combination of steps. She repeated it several times, but for the most part, her “dance” consisted of posing and using a series of hand signals to get Dandy and Dondi to strut their stuff and look cute.
    â€œOh, boy,” Liss muttered. Was she supposed to perform on Deidre’s level, or her own?
    Making good use of fast-forward, Liss skipped ahead, viewing only Deidre’s dance numbers in each show. In one, the dogs formed a conga line. For another, Dandy and Dondi posed as a canine version of Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, much as they had in the calendar photo Liss had seen.
    Although the dancing involved was minimal, in the end Liss had to admire what Deidre had accomplished. Liss had always heard that Scotties were a tough breed to train and that they condescended to learn tricks only when it suited them. It seemed to her that they must have been very fond of Deidre. They’d tried hard to please her, even if all they ended up doing were variations of sit, stand, and spin.
    In her spiral-bound notebook, Deidre had written down the hand signals she used as commands. The illusion of dancing came as much from her movements as from what the dogs did. As Liss watched the screen and studied the pages from Deidre’s notebook, her admiration continued to grow. Deidre had cleverly designed routines that showcased the dogs. She hadn’t been half bad at acting, either, a talent that was part and