I had just finished my workout and was about to head to the showers when the locker room TV flashed the news from Pennsylvania. This little third-world snibbet just across from me did a whoop and dance with her towel. “Good, good, good,” she exclaimed. I was surprised she even spoke English. She didn’t dance English. Maybe Muslim or Chinese, if they even dance. I felt like breaking her in half and then in half again. She stopped her dance and looked at me. “You scow?” she said. I figured she meant scowl. Kind of a sweet voice, kind of cute, if you like that sort of thing. But I was in no mood. She made a sad face. “I just get carry away—is that how you say? Carry away?”

“Carried away,” I barked.

“You no like Pennsylvania?” she asked. I didn’t detect any tease or showoff in her question.

“Right now I hate Pennsylvania,” I admitted.

“It for best,” she said. “You see.”

“What will I see?” I snarled.

“People like us,” she said.

“What people like us?”

“Women,” she said.

“What about women?”

“Everything,” she said. “Women like us. Women like women.”

“I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about,” I said.

“I show,” she said.

“Show what?”

“Turn around. Face away.”

I don’t know why I did it, but I did. I turned to face the lockers.

The next thing I know, I felt her hands on my neck. For an instant I thought she was going to do some kind of Muslim or Chinese choke hold. But then I went completely limp. It was amazing. I was profoundly relaxed, a paralyzed puddle of relaxation.

I’m not sure exactly what she did or how long she did it, but it was amazing. When she finished, she said, “Feel better now?”

I tried to say, “That was amazing,” but I don’t think the words came out making any sense.

“Dress now,” she said. “Then come with me. I show you more.”

I was powerless to resist. Dressed, we left the club. She led me two blocks to a hotel. Into the elevator. Into a room. “See city,” she said, moving me to the window. Before I knew it, she’d undressed me. Jeans, shirt, panties, everything, all while I looked out the window. And then her nimble hands, her lips, her teeth, her tongue.

Women like us. I love Pennsylvania.