Around the World in 80 Lays
The Tale of Dustin and Anna's Adventure
Dustin stood at the door of the swanky hotel bar in downtown London. It stood and looked around, taking in the ambiance of the establishment and the exotic nature of my surroundings. For a regular guy from Texas, it had been an almost overwhelming experience arriving at Heathrow Airport and catching a famed London cab to the 5-star hotel. Now, he was ready to take his first steps into this global melting pot.
The others in the hotel bar represented the cosmopolitan, global atmosphere of the entire city. It was a multinational crowd and various languages could be heard. However, when the figure stopped in the doorway, the majority of the crowd stopped to look. What they saw was an average man of mature years. It wasn't so much the man as the way he was dressed. Rather than the norm of a well tailored and expensive business suit as most of the others wore, the figure looked out of place.
Dustin noticed the change in the bar. He saw eyes suddenly turned his way and the diminished volume of the conversations in the room. He smiled slightly, realizing that the cause of the changes was him.
To say that Dustin appeared to be an anachronism might be an understatement. At 5' 9", Dustin was by no means an imposing specimen. The fact that he was 70 years old only added to the questioning looks. It was probably the large white wide-brimmed Stetson cowboy hat, or the long sleeve Ariat shirt, the starched and creased Wrangler jeans or the ostrich skin cowboy boots with the full riding heel.
Before Dustin could take three more steps into the bar, he heard the first question.
"Are you really from Texas?"
Dustin stopped and offered a wide toothy grin.
"Yes, Sir, I am, and damned proud of it."
That opened a veritable floodgate of introductions, handshakes, and more questions. Dustin soon found himself with a pint of the local bar's best ale and a crowd gathered round assailing him with questions about himself, Texas, and what he was doing in London. Dustin kept grinning, answering questions with an affable manner, and getting in a few swallows of ale along the way. For the next several hours, the crowd changed, but the interest never waned. Dustin never lacked for a pint of ale, and he never put a penny on the bar to pay.
&&&&&
The crowd around Dustin had thinned to a small degree, but as new people came into the bar, interest in this out of place individual kept drawing attention. That only changed when another figure entered the bar and stopped to look around. The mostly male occupants of the bar all seemed to turn to look as if some mysterious message had been communicated among them. They all turned to look, including Dustin.
Standing, framed in the doorway, was a tall, curvy, and utterly divine apparition. She was tall. With her heels, she had to stand at least 6'. Her face was framed in soft blonde curls that cascaded down past her shoulders. She was curvaceous. The white button down blouse she wore was tailored to her upper body. The sheer material did nothing to hide the outlines of the white lace bra that so effectively lifted and displayed her cleavage at the two open buttons at the top of the blouse.
She wore a pleated black skirt that stopped only midway to her knees down her long shapely. She stood in the doorway, her feet slightly apart, and looked over the assembly in the room. It was a long, slow look, as if she were appraising everyone in the room against some checklist in her mind. Everyone noted the pause in her gaze as she saw Dustin, standing at the bar, holding a glass of ale, the cowboy hat sitting on its top with the brim up next to his elbow. A soft smile crossed her face, as if she had made a sudden decision.
The nearly all male retinue in the bar watched as she stepped off, heading directly toward Dustin, stopping next to him. Dustin, for his part, had watched the entire few seconds with as much interest as any other man in the room. When he saw the woman approaching him, he waited to see her intention.
Dustin sipped his ale as the woman approached and stopped close to his side. She chose to stand just inside what he would call his personal sphere, that distance that most people maintain from one another as a sort of buffer zone. She had established herself just inside Dustin's sphere. He watched, over the rim of his glass. She stopped and waited a few seconds before taking the initiative.
"Are you really from Texas?"
That question brought a rash of laughter and chuckles from the small crowd at the bar. From the back, a voice was heard.
"You're a little late. He has already answered that question at least a dozen times."
The woman identified the source of the comment with her piercing blue eyes, and the voice trailed off and the laughter quickly died. There was no doubt about the intent of the look. She tuned back to Dustin.
"I would still like to hear the answer."
Dustin set the glass on the bar and turned to face the woman directly.
"Yes, Ma'am. I am from Texas. I am Dustin Prescott."
He saw the look in her eyes soften.
"Pleased to meet you, Dustin Prescott. I am Anna. Anna Gherhart."
She put her hand out and Dustin took it firmly.
"My honor, Ma'am. I don't know much about these parts, but that accent is not one I have heard even here."
Anna smiled back at him.
"You're very perceptive, Dustin. I am not from the UK. I'm from New Zealand."
"I try to be aware of what's going on around me."
Anna looked at the men standing around. She was aware of the looks she was getting and where their eyes were mostly centered. She didn't mind turning her attention back to Dustin.
"Dustin, would you order me a gin and tonic? I will be right back. I need to refresh myself, if you don't mind."
"Of course."
She turned and headed across the bar to the entrance to the restrooms. Every eye in the place watched as she slowly strutted across the bar and disappeared. Dustin was no exception. He turned to the bartender.
"Bring the lady a drink."
The bartender nodded and went to work. From behind him, he heard another voice.
"Be careful, mate. That may not be as much of a lady as you think."
Dustin turned to see who was speaking and found a tall man in his mid-thirties wearing what Dustin took to be an expensive, tailored suit.
"What makes you say that?"
"Experience. I have been traveling and staying at places like this since university. My experience tells me she is working, not playing. She has all the earmarks of a costly escort."
Dustin raised his eyebrows.
"Really? This is my first trip out of the US in my entire life. I'm not very adept at negotiating things like this."
The tall Englishman grinned.
"Not to worry, friend. Most of us here are well acquainted with this sort. If you are in for a bit of sport, this might be your chance. She is certainly good-looking enough and has all the.... Er... Qualifications."
Dustin chuckled. Several of the men were nodding, Dustin's new-found friend continued.
"Let her take the lead and see where she goes with it. If we sense anything amiss, we'ill give you a heads-up."
"Thanks."
Anna came strolling back across the room and sidled up to the bar, getting even closer to Dustin than before. She raised the glass to her lips and then hesitated.
"You wouldn't be the sort to slip something in my drink and then take advantage of me, would you?"
Dustin grinned.
"You never know."
