Jules was shaking her head, “Um… but I don’t strut.”

Christine waved her hand dismissively, “Oh, we have months to teach you.  I’ve seen you move and bounce gracefully around the mat … you can learn to strut.  Believe me.”

Jules looked from Christine to Patrick and then back again, “I’m not so sure I’d like to walk around in my underwear in front of hundreds of strangers.”

Patrick guffawed, “Hundreds?”

“Try millions, darling.  On TV and over the internet.  And you will be immortalized in YouTube, too.”

Jules was ashen-faced.

Christine grimaced at Patrick, and then hastened to assure Jules, “But don’t worry Jules, you’ll only be out for a few minutes.  Pretend like you’re walking on the boardwalk of a beach, in your bikini.  You’ve done that before, right?”

Jules nodded slowly, still taken aback.

“It’ll be the same thing, don’t worry.”

Christine gently grasped her arms, and accompanied Jules to the dressing rooms, so that Jules could change out of the robe and lingerie that she’d worn for the photoshoot.  Patrick bowed slightly towards her as she left, and blew her an air kiss.  He shouted out a promise to convert the best shots he’d taken into frameable pictures.

“That was awesome, Jules.  You are a natural, believe me,” Christine said, as they walked towards the dressing rooms.  She saw Jules’ eyes betraying her uncertainty about what was happening.

“Hmmm … let me talk about it with my girlfriend, ok?” Jules said, after a minute.

“Ok, ok.  Take your time.  You won’t have to decide right this minute, you know,” Christine responded.  “In the meantime, I’ll work with Patrick to choose your best shots, and I’ll have them blown up and then framed, alright?”

Jules gave her a tight smile, “Ummm… ok.  But you have to wait on my answer, ok?”

“Of course, of course,” Christine answered.

Five minutes later, while Jules changed, Diane called, “Hi baby.  Just calling to ask how it’s going with the photoshoot.”

“It’s over, actually.”

“Really?  Ok … so what did they say?”

“I think they want me to do the show.  And not only that, I may have to sing some, too.”

Diane laughed, “Well, at the very least you’ll be drawing a lot of interest from people on the show, about the bar, right?  If you sing in the show?  You’ll be able to plug it, right?  Maybe in the program notes or something?”