Lenny searched the faces of the three men, searching for a clue to the nature of the next test. It was becoming unbearably suspenseful for her. She knew that this was the final and most important of all the examinations she had gone through this would decide once and for all whether she would get the attractive and mysterious position.
"All right, Boss Carl," she murmured, "whatever it is, I'm ready and eager to get on with it. Tell me what you want me to do."
Louie took her by the arm and led her toward the dias.
"Leesten," the balding Frenchman purred softly, "mon petite choux I wan' you to do whataiver come eento yoaire mind – thees test eet ees foair to see what you can do on yoaire own. We will gif to you a numbair of animols ant you weel do wid them veary interesting things, no?"
Lenny simply nodded. She would try her best.
The fat and dirty zoologist clapped his hands together three times. The harem girls moved again in graceful, dancelike efficiency.
Two of the lovely and scantily attired women brought on a cage containing several monkeys. These little animals squealed and scampered about their cages with restless energy.
Another of the harem girls produced a large, white goat on the end of a tether, which she attached to a golden post in the center of the stage.
Still another beauty sauntered provocatively out onto the dais with a young pony. This lovely little animal had blue ribbons decorating its long mane.
Lenny was somewhat startled to see the tall woman, who was the leader of the harem, marching in stately solemnity onto the dais – with a huge boa constrictor wrapped about her body. This woman was truly a gorgeous specimen of the female of the human species. She had long black hair that flowed down her back almost to the waist. Her skin was of a dark hue, almost that of the gypsies, her black eyes flashed fire at Lenny – expressing a kind of professional jealousy and a challenge at the same time. This rare beauty was testing her also!
All of the harem girls, with the exception of the dark and exotic leader, sprang gracefully from the stage and assembled around the base in a semi-circle.
They sat cross-legged, in the lotus position. Their arms were crossed and their faces blank of all expression. They too, were waiting to be impressed.
The leader of the harem girls stood, with her legs spread wide, at center stage. It was almost as though she were daring Lenny to usurp her position there.
Lenny almost panicked. Was she expected to throw that remarkable gypsy-woman from the stage by sheer physical force?
Lyle stepped up beside Lenny and Louie.
"This," he said in soft, introductory tones, "is Lenora, the leader of the harem. She will assist you in your performance. You are fortunate, Miss Morgan, for she is the very best in the business…"
Lenny tossed her long blonde hair back over her shoulder and nodded to the striking, dark-skinned woman. She thought of asking Lyle why this gorgeous creature had not been chosen for the "assignment", as Boss Carl called it, but Lenny thought better of it, it would not do to ask unnecessary questions at this point. Her main concern now was simply to pass the peculiar test that had been arranged for her.
Louie, with some of the French gentleman still in him despite his guttersnipe clothes, helped Lenny up onto the dais. Then the men settled on cushions and lit up a pipe, which they passed around among themselves. The sweet smell that wafted up on the stage told Lenny that it was marijuana.
"Good luck, my lovely blonde friend," Lenora whispered to the anxious Lenny, "you are going to need it."
"My – my name is Lenora too," Lenny whispered by way of an introduction, "but my friends all call me Lenny."
The dark woman managed a cold smile, "perhaps the name will give you luck," she said in a distant voice, "it is a name that carries a great deal of respect around here – see if you can earn it."
Then Lenora clapped her hands and music began to fill the room. All fights seemed to darken as if by magic. Only the dais itself was bathed in a soft red light. Lenny could barely make out the men who sat before her in the audience chamber. They were mere shadows that were difficult to see in the glare of the lighting that shone directly into her eyes.
Lenora stepped back in rhythm to the pulsing music, she was obviously going to offer advice – she was waiting for Lenny to take over the exotic ritual.
For a moment, Lenny stood in the center of the stage – staring out into the darkness. She was filled with self-doubt and fear. For this brief interval, she genuinely wished that she had not answered the tempting advertisement. Right at this point, she wished desperately that she were back on the stage of some dingy discotheque – tearing her clothes off for the leering customers.
Then she felt her old confidence return. Why the hell shouldn't she be able to do this? Her body was better than any woman's in the city – she could dance – she was not afraid to perform exciting acts with the animals – not with any of them would she have fears. Except, she thought with an involuntary shudder, perhaps with that ugly and slimy snake!
"Shitsakes!" she said out loud, resolving to overcome even that hurdle. "I'm ready."
She stared out into the darkness, she could not make out her audience of men and harem girls now – they were obscured by a rising cloud of marijuana smoke. It created eerie patterns in the red spotlights. Jumping high in the air and performing a graceful turn, Lenny faced the monkey cage first of all.
Somebody, somewhere, turned up the volume of the music system. The tune was strangely unfamiliar – it was oriental and vaguely atonal. But she had no trouble picking out the syncopated drive of the drums.
With an exaggerated motion of her hips, the young dancer moved determinedly toward the monkey cage. She began to caress it, stroking the bars teasingly – as though they themselves were phalli that might rise and begin to throb with passionate desire.
As she danced, Lenny began to warm up to the project; she was becoming excited by the music and the sensually intoxicating environment. She pressed her hips against the cage, rubbing her loins against it.
The monkeys were frightened at first by this intrusion; they huddled in the far corner of the cage and became entirely silent. Their faces were almost human now, expressing a kind of concern and even disapproval of the peculiar goings-on.
By this time, Lenny had a pretty good idea of the nature of her test. She had to excite each of these strange animals in turn, and perform a sexual act with them. By this method, she would be sure to fire even the coldest member of the audience to absolute orgasm by the completion of the extensive performance.
Now she began to remove her clothes – it occurred to her that if she could perform in a mini-skirt and blouse – it would be nothing to excel in the erotic dances later on, when she could expect a costume of the sensual proportions of the harem outfits.
She first slipped out of her shoes, holding each one aloft as though it were an offering to some God of sexual excess. Then she cast them into the audience – heedless of where they might fall – heedless of ever recovering them again. Lenny Morgan was abandoning herself completely to the provocative rhythms of the music.
Now she ripped each stocking right down her leg with a graceful sweeping of her long-nailed hands. The bare flesh gleamed through the nylon like smooth red plastic.
She moved her hips toward the audience, tearing the stockings even more, so that the bare flesh was forced to the fore – no longer resembling plastic – the bared legs looked like an image from someone's wet dream. Pulsing red flesh, coursing with boiling hot blood.
She twirled primly away from the audience then, and bent to undo her garters. She knew that it was more arousing to tease them somewhat at first. They did not have to see her unfasten the stockings – they had only to see her cheeks bulging sensually beneath the tight panties.