[Find,Path]
“Can an Exotic Dancer Have a Heart of Gold?”
The next morning.
“Rose I love it, you’ve come a long way. I have to congratulate you.”
“Umm, thanks, umm, what did I do.”
“Your new short story idea, I wanted a novel, but this story idea is just too good to pass up.”
“What story idea?”
“The traveling thief that cuts out the heart of the exotic dancer with a heart of gold. It’s so ironic the thief falls madly in love with the beautiful dancer. But when she hears that the dancer has a gold heart, she’s compelled to literally steal the heart, then with the still beating heart of her lover in hand. She realizes her tragic mistake, not only has she killed the woman she loves but her heart isn’t made of gold after all. It's a Shakespearean romantic tragedy, it’s grimmer than the Brothers Grimm. It’s perfect. I love it.”
“I hate it.”
“I know and that’s why it's the perfect next project for you. Two totally new characters for you. Now you need an exciting setting. How about Monaco, it’s perfect. OK get to work Rose. First draft by the end of the day. Go in the back and start writing, no customers, friends, or adventures until I get that first draft. Understood.”
“But I hate it.”
“That’s exactly why I want you to do it, this won’t push you out of your comfort zone, it’ll catapult you.”
“But..”
“Write, now.”
“Fine.”
In the quiet back room I sit with pen and paper.
“Sophia, Scarlett”
“Yes, Yes”
“I’ve come up with a story I want you both to be in, but I must stress this upfront. There is to be no killing. If either of you kills another person, I will personally write that you end your days in a rat-infested dungeon. Is that understood?”
“Yes, Yes”
“And agreed to?”
“Yes, Yes”
“OK first up we have Scarlett the most famous, beautiful, flexible, exotic dancer in the city of Monaco. She is so famous, sexy, gymnastic and graceful that her work in the exotic dancing industry has also made her the wealthiest woman in Monaco. Her mansion high in the hills above the city is as iconic as she is. OK Scarlett, you understand real high end stuff right?”
“Yep, I’m rich and live in a mansion, and do lap dances real good because I'm flexible and people pay in tens instead of ones.”
“OK but even, higher end. You don’t even have to take your clothes off, you are so desired. So desired and so rich you bought the club. You, along with two other girls holding large feather fans, dance on stage, wearing string bikinis, you’re wearing a nude body suit. You dance behind the girls who alternate the fans covering you. When the girls signal you to turn your back to the audience, they move the fans offering a split second glimpse of what looks like naked flesh but is actually, your body suit. After your performance, you put on a gown cut just below the navel, stiletto high heels. Walking from table to table welcoming your patrons. Teasing each and every person in the club. You got that?”
“Yep, the strip is a grift, the payoff is when I let them grope me when I’m in the nightgown on the floor right?”
“No, No, no groping. You are on display, like a living copy of the statue Venus, not to be handled. Your very large security guards will make that clear to patrons as they arrive. The entire display is an illusion designed to arouse, to drive them wild, that is the payoff, nothing more, got it?”
“Yep this is the easiest gig I ever had. I dance but keep all of my clothes on. Then walk and greet but no touchie. I got it.”
“Right will have to practice that a bit but in general that’s the plan. Now Sophia, have you been following along.”
“Yeah no problem, you're fleecing rich marks with the vixen there, what’d want me to do pick pocket the marks while she distracts them with those melons.”
“No, No, you were the most successful cat burglar ever to have burgled, you are rich beyond your wildest dreams, you’ve never been arrested. There is a detective in Monte Carlo who suspects you. But could never find a single piece of evidence against you. You’ve carried on a flirtation with her since you met her at the baccarat table. But it’s never gone beyond the flirtation, because of her impeccable professional standards, and you for your distaste of the police. Do you understand?”
If you discover this tale on Amazon, be aware that it has been unlawfully taken from Royal Road. Please report it.
“Yeah but I aint no lesbian.”
“No, I realize that and it doesn’t matter. When you run a grift you play a part right?”
“Yeah.”
“OK in this one you’re playing the retired cat burglar who likes to flirt with the gorgeous detective, because it’s dangerous, it gives you a thrill because she’s a cop. The reader will get that dangerous thrill just like you do if I write it correctly. Okay you understand?”
“Yeah I get it, it’s the thrill of the chase for the cop, the playing with fire for me. And I ain’t got to touch her right.”
“Right you can’t touch her, that’d ruin it for both of you. Okay now we get to the meat of the story, one night after a particularly frustrating flirting session with the detective you enter Scarlett’s club. You know that she is the wealthiest person in Monaco, perhaps in all of southern Europe. You’ve even heard a rumor, the barest whisper, that there is an object in her house worth over a million euros made of pure gold.”
“Okay Scarlett as you slink through the club, you see Sophia in a tailored black tuxedo, you’re fascinated by this woman so you do something you’ve never done before, you pull out a chair and sit very close to her, you lean into her doing everything you can think of to signal your attraction. You make sure that she gets a very close look at your body, but you do not touch. Did you get it?”
“Slink, sit, give a close view of the goods, no touchie.”
“Excellent, now Scarlett you signal a waiter to bring the most expensive champagne in the city, two glasses. You quietly chat about Monaco, the casino, restaurants and shops. The bottle is empty. You ask Sophia if she’d like to get out of here.”
“Sophia you agree, saying let me give you a ride home. You give the valet a ticket for your Ferrari, minutes later it screeches to stop in front of you. You help Scarlett into the passenger seat and then the car roars away again. With me so far you two?”
“Yep, Yes”
“Perfect. Sophia the car again screams to a stop, you hurry around the car, opening the door and helping Scarlett out of the car. You ascend the exterior stone steps to a huge door, opened by a french maid in full uniform. Going in you see the polished marble black and white checker board floor, twin staircases on each side and in the center you see a full nude statue of Scarlett and in a cut-in just above her breast you see a solid gold human sized heart just sitting there. Scarlet takes you by the hand and leads to and up the right staircase to an open doorway on the second floor. We can see a giant sized red heart shaped bed through a doorway, you turn and close the doors. Okay, any questions?”
“Nope, No”
“Alright. It's morning, Sophia comes out of the bedroom in her tux, she lightly steps down the left staircase to the foyer, walks over and looks at the magnificent statue, every detail anatomically accurate, as Sophia has been over every inch of the body. She’d never slept with a woman before, despite all those years of flirting with the detective, she’d never even considered it. The question now is did Scarlett fundamentally change Sophia in one night? Sophia stares at that golden heart, she knows that she’ll never be able to spend all the money she already has. We hear her inner conflict: can the world's greatest burglar retire, walk away from a solid gold heart and the woman who gave her red and beating heart last night. Okay got it?”
“What does she do?”
“What do you mean? Sophia”
“What do I do, do I take the heart or not?”
“Well, you are going to get a heart, it can either be the red beating heart or the cold gold heart, Sophia, the choice is yours.”
“That’s a cheat, and you know it, you can’t leave the choice to me.”
“It’s not a cheat, I’ll explain again. You have more money then you could ever spend before you die, there are two hearts, pick one or pick neither. The choice is yours.”
Scarlet asked. “What are you going to choose? Sophia”
“She tricked me Scarlett, she making me make a moral choice. I never had to do that before, I never had to pick, I just took. I don’t want to choose.”
“Ok” I said. “What if I say you can have both, if you retire as a con woman and thief. What do you say?”
“I pick both, I pick Scarlett, you’d make a fine con person Rose. Back a person into a corner, force an impossible choice. I should hate you. But I don’t, if you ever need a con-person to come out of retirement for a good cause, you know where I’ll be.”
“Thanks Sophia, Scarlett you okay with all this?”
“Only if she agrees to wear the top hat to bed sometimes.”
Sophia put on her Top Hat, took Scarlett by the hand and walked upstairs. Now all I have to do is write it all up and give it to Sparky.
Later that afternoon.
“Here you go Sparky, all done.”
“Well Rose I must say I’m surprised, I expected you out here hours ago complaining about the morality of all this.”
“Sparky, I understand, you are trying to help me grow. I did exactly as you said. The stripper, the con woman thief. The choice to kill love for gold. It’s all there.”
“Well, I’ll read it and I’ll be the judge of that.”
Half an hour later.
“Very tricky Rose.”
“You’re the one who made me work with a con person.”
“Where’s the nudity Rose.”
“You didn’t ask for nudity, you asked for a stripper and I gave you the greatest exotic dancer in the world but I threw you a bone. You must have rage read it. Check again there is a nude scene or two.”
“There’s no nude scene, Rose.”
“First scene ‘in the center you see a full nude statue of Scarlett’ and second scene ‘magnificent statue, every detail anatomically accurate, as Sophia has been over every inch of the body”
“Okay, you win, you even got a scam artist to adventure with now. You should be thanking me Rose for making you grow.
