Chapter 5

As they walked, Brad realized that something was different. Then he realized that it was Dacey’s height: she was taller than she had been. Looking down, he found that she was walking on the balls of her feet with her heels always at least two inches off the ground.

“Whatever are you doing?” he asked.

“Huh? I’m not doing anything.”

“Yes, you are. You’re walking on the balls of your feet. Why?” He paused and then added, “And how?”

“Oh...” She gave him a wry grin and said, “It started in grad school. I realized that I would be looking for a job in a company where the women were expected to dress ... or at least that’s what I thought. Little did I know that the standard attire is Levi’s. But anyway, I had never worn heels in my life and was scared to death I’d fall on my face. So I got the idea of practicing by walking on the balls of my feet, keeping my heels at least two inches in the air. I guess I got to be pretty good at it, too. Anyway, when I finally did wear a real pair of heels, it didn’t feel strange at all.”

She stopped and looked up at him. “Does it look okay?” she asked with the concern obvious in her face. “At the beauty pageants the girls are always wearing heels. It’s supposed to make the legs look better ... I think. But what do you think?” she repeated.

“Dace, you’re utterly incredible, is what I think,” he replied. “You’re really going to knock ‘em dead.” He paused and then added, “Sweetie, I’ll be standing right at the stairs. I’ll hold your shirt and have it for you to slip back on as soon as you’re done. Okay?”

“I’ll be counting on it.” Then with a shy little smile she added, “And don’t forget: You promised. I’m counting on you to bail me out after I’m arrested for indecent exposure, too.”

The young couple took position by the steps at the back of the platform. The same man who had served as the auctioneer in the morning was apparently going to serve as the master of ceremonies for the beauty contest as well. Looking around, they saw ten girls who were preparing for the pageant. All but one of them were wearing heels. The exception was a girl wearing a sports bra and matching pants. She was still wearing her sneakers.

Alone among the other girls, she seemed to be in good physical condition. Moreover, whenever she moved in a way that caused a bra strap to move, she exposed white skin that contrasted starkly with her tan. Dacey thought she would be the strongest competition, although she had a long torso with relatively short legs, and her shoulders appeared to be narrower than her hips. That’s a function of bone structure and genetics, Dacey thought. There’s nothing she can do about it.

Two of the other girls were wearing lacy bras and panties. She was surprised to find that neither of them were even bikinis. Studying them more closely, she concluded that the reason was they were more akin to foundation garments than briefs. They were engineered to flatten the abdomen, although the result was an unavoidable roll of fat immediately above the garment’s top edge.

“You’re not going to have any trouble,” Brad whispered in her ear. “Candace Kane, you’re the runaway beauty in this group.”

“That’s only because the really beautiful women like Carol Christian aren’t competing, or can’t,” she replied.

“We’re all set,” the emcee announced. “This morning, when we auctioned the girls off, we started with #1. This afternoon, we’re reversing the process.” He looked down where he held a list of the contestants’ numbers. “Number 27,” he called out.

Twenty-seven was the girl wearing the sports bra. She put a warm smile on her face, climbed the stairs, went to the emcee at the front of the stage, then walked slowly to her right, turned slowly with her arms raised, then walked back across to the left corner of the stage, ensuring that everyone was able to get a good look. Returning to the emcee, she made a curtsy to the crowd and then threw out her arms.

Scoring was being handled by an applause meter borrowed from somewhere. The needle moved to about the halfway mark, hovered there and then sagged back. The girl smiled warmly and took a position at the back of the stage near the steps.

One after the other, the next eight girls repeated essentially what the first girl had done. It was clear that each was watching the others to pick up any tips that might result in a higher rating. Their scores, however, were in the lower third of the scale, significantly below the girl in the sports bra.

Because of her height, Dace could see across the stage to the spectators beyond. She noticed that most of the girls had groups of supporters in the crowd. In every case but the first, applause for a girl was concentrated in a single location.

Finally it was her turn. “Number 1,” the emcee called out.

Dacey unbuttoned the single button and let Brad take her shirt away. She was trembling in fear, and she knew he knew it. What’s wrong with me? she asked herself. I’m with a genuine war hero, a guy who put his life on the line. All I’m doing is risking a little embarrassment! With that she put her shoulders back which lifted her breasts and erect nipples.

Even climbing the steps she was on the balls of her feet, still maintaining the two-inch space between her heels and the steps. As soon as she was on the platform, her near-nudity became apparent to everyone. She was wearing only a tiny scrap of material over her pubic area, and even that had formed to her slit. The reaction of the audience was an audible collective intake of breath. Indeed, her revealed beauty was simply breathtaking.

She walked up to the emcee, then turned to the right and went slowly to the right corner. There she extended her arms and slowly turned in a full circle allowing time for everyone to see her body from every angle. Her buns were tight and highlighted by the tiny scrap of white material in the crack of her ass.

Back across the stage she went. Several times she slowly spun around to give more people a good look at her. Reaching the left corner of the stage, she repeated what she had done before. Finally she made her way back to the emcee who was standing at his microphone open-mouthed. With her back ramrod straight, she executed a perfect curtsy, then jumped to her feet with her arms out and up at 45 degree angles.

Dacey was shocked. Her performance was greeted with total silence. Suddenly it was as if the PA system had been plugged in and turned to its maximum volume. There was pandemonium. The applause meter jumped to its stop at the far right of the dial and just stuck there. She threw kisses to the crowd and then retreated down the steps and into Brad’s arms. He held her tightly, while at the same time easing her into her tattered shirt.

“You were incredible, darling,” he whispered. “I was so damned proud of you!”

Now with her shirt on, although unbuttoned, Dacey slowly controlled her trembling. “Thank you, Brad,” she whispered. “But please just hold me tight. Please?”

He did just that. “You were just great!” He pulled back just enough to look into her eyes and asked, “But how did you do it?”

“Do you really want to know?”

“I sure do!”

“I just thought of you, your medals, and what you had to do to earn them. Compared to what you did, what’s the big deal about letting the folks look at my scrawny body?”

“Look, Dace, knock that off right now!” he demanded. “You’re utterly magnificent, and everyone now knows it. Okay?”

“Yes, sir,” she whispered, sticking out the tip of her pink tongue.

“Candace, please come back here,” the emcee called out.

Brad noticed that even now with the competition over, Dacey still was walking on the balls of her feet. Reaching the man, she extended her hand.

“Will you give the folks another good look?” he asked.

She grimaced, but slipped off her shirt. Holding it in her left hand, she moved to the left front of the stage and very slowly moved her way across to the right, turning slowly in complete circles as she did ensuring that anyone who wished had a perfect view. As soon as she started her slow movement across the stage, the applause began. It just increased steadily in volume as she did until it crescendoed when she reached the far corner and just stood there looking out. Her back was still up straight, her breasts were upthrust. She was gorgeous.

“Thank you all so very much,” she said. The instant she began to speak, the audience became silent. “Thank you for this honor,” she repeated, “even though other girls here deserve it far more than I.”

“No!”

“Absolutely not!”

The cries echoed around the area. Hearing sounds behind her, she turned and saw that the negatives were being led by the nine other contestants who were arrayed in a line along the back edge of the stage.

After again slipping on her shirt, she went back to them and thanked each one. The last girl in line was the one wearing the sports bra. The girl slowly shook her head and said softly, “Miss Kane, not only are you the most beautiful thing on two feet, you’re all class. The most beautiful — and the most charming — girl won. Congratulations!”

Dacey didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing.

Meanwhile, George Harrison had come up on the stage and took the mike from the emcee. He held up his hands for silence, and the crowd instantly quieted.

“Folks, this has been a truly remarkable day. And you know something else? For reasons I’ll give you in a few moments, it’s only right that the big winner today should be Candace Kane. Why is that? Because, had it not been for Dacey, there would have been no picnic today.

“Yesterday morning, Bill Miller and I were in my office, and quite honestly we were despondent. You see, we were going over a layoff list that would have been posted yesterday afternoon.” He paused and one could feel the tension build in the audience. He continued, “Fully 40 percent of the company’s employees were on that list.” The shocked gasps were clearly audible. “Under the circumstances, it didn’t make much sense to follow the layoff of 40 percent of our workforce with a picnic. We were about to cancel it when Dacey walked in.

“What did she do? Not a helluva lot. All she had done — entirely on her own time and on her own computer, by the way — was to redesign every single machine tool we make. There were two things her work accomplished: First, it stripped out about 70 percent of the total cost. Second, it increased the level of precision by an order of magnitude. For you non-mathematicians, that means by a factor of 10. Now, for the first time in living memory, Aerospace Tech will be able to compete on price, and with superior products to boot!

“What does this mean? It means no layoffs. It means, in fact, that we’ll probably be hiring additional staff in the very near future.

“And who’s responsible? It’s entirely the work of Candace Kane, without question our company’s most valuable employee. And I’m most particularly including Bill Miller and myself when I say that.”

Turning toward the rear he called out, “Brad Kramer and Candace Kane, get your tails over here.” To the crowd he said, “Speaking of tails, have you ever in your lives seen a more lovely pair of buns than Dacey’s?” The crowd instantly screamed out their agreement.

It turned out that for each of the four earlier athletic competitions the prize for winning was a gift certificate for dinner for two at a top restaurant. Two restaurants — both in Los Angeles — were included, Maxim’s and The Palm. Both Dacey and Brad received four certificates each, and then Dacey squealed when she learned that, for winning the Miss Aerospace Technologies competition, she had won five more.

After making the awards, George Harrison looked up as he performed some mental calculations. He nodded his head decisively and said, “You know what, folks? If Brad Kramer plays his cards right and gets Dacey to select him as her escort, not only will he get his $1,500 back, I think he’ll actually come out ahead.” He grinned and added, “That’s assuming he can get Dacey to order something more than a cup of coffee, that is.”

Dacey giggled and Brad laughed at the crack.

“I’ve made no secret of how scrawny I am,” Dacey called out. “Maybe this is a chance to develop a curve or two.”

“Well, if you don’t, it’s your own fault,” Harrison retorted. “But as for your comment about curves, woman, you are simply exquisite! A curve or two, indeed!” Returning to his topic he said, “There’s something about these certificates that’s a little different. Usually, they’re for a set dollar amount or for a prix fixe meal. That’s not the case with these. Each one covers a full dinner for two, from cocktails to cognac; whatever is ordered is what we pay for. And at the prices these places charge, it’s not hard to run thirteen dinners for two above $1,500. Way above $1,500!”

He turned and shook hands with Dacey and Brad. Then he returned to Dacey, took both her hands in his and looked straight into her eyes. At six feet tall, and with Dace still on the balls of her feet, they were almost exactly the same height. “Candace, all we can say is thank you for saving our company.” Then he tipped her head and kissed her full on the lips.

Her eyes flared in surprise, but then she realized that something was different. Harrison’s kiss was warm and loving, but there was no electricity nor any bells. Now she actually had another man’s kiss to compare Brad’s to and it was so very different. How odd! she thought.

As she was about to return to Brad, George gently grabbed her arm and said, “Not quite so fast. There’s one more little thing, so come back here.”

The two returned to the rostrum and Morrison announced, “There’s one more thing. I told you how Candace saved the company the way a doctor sometimes saves his patient. Well, she’s a doctor, too ... or soon will be. Late yesterday we received a communication from California Polytechnic Institute in Pasadena. It seems that Miss Candace Kane’s dissertation has been accepted, so she will be awarded the degree of Ph.D. in mechanical engineering at the commencement to be held this June.”

Turning to her he said, “Dacey, Bill and I really don’t know what to say. So while we’re still thinking about it, here are five more dinner certificates for your collection.” Turning back to the crowd he said, “I’ll tell you one thing for damned sure: Candace Kane is the most beautiful doctor of mechanical engineering in history! And there are no words to describe how happy for her we are nor how proud we are. Congratulations!”

Again there was an explosion of sound as Dacey fled from the stand and down the steps into Brad’s arms.

“Congratulations, sweetie,” he whispered as he held her tightly and kissed her lightly on the forehead. Her reaction amazed him. He could feel her trembling increasing in intensity as he held her, but far from making any attempt to move away, she was hugging him tightly around the waist. “Would you like a beer?” he whispered.

Even with her face on his shoulder, she still managed to vigorously nod her head.

Brad eased away while Dace went over toward the picnic tables to wait for him. No sooner had she sat down on the bench when Carol Christian came striding over.

“Thanks a hell of a lot, Dacey!” she grumbled.

“What did I do this time?”

“Oh ... nothing. You just displayed the most gorgeous female form anyone has seen around here in years. That’s all.” Glaring at Dacey she continued, “And I hope you’re happy. Because of you, I’ll have to spend most of the next few days on my back with my feet up in the air and my legs spread wide...”

“Why would you do that?” Dacey asked innocently, but with her eyes dancing.

“Just to remind Bill that he has a great piece of ass already sharing his bed, and he doesn’t need any more.” Then she grinned and asked, “Did you ever hear the story of the blonde with her brunette friend? They were walking down the street when the brunette sees her boyfriend in a flower shop buying a bouquet of flowers.

“The brunette exclaims, ‘Oh, shit! Here’s where I spend the next few days flat on my back with my legs up in the air and spread wide. Those flowers he’s buying are for me.’ The blonde looked puzzled for a few moments and then asked, ‘What’s the matter? Don’t you have a vase?’”

“Well, don’t you?” Dacey giggled.

“Dacey—” Carol began

“Yuck!” Dacey interrupted.

“Candace—”

“Double yuck!”

“Am I getting the idea that you don’t like your name?” Carol asked.