Chapter 10: San Francisco

"Anne, take a look at this."

"Say, Heather, you look good even with clothes on," Saul gibed.

"You do look terrific, Heather. Try to ignore this brute," Anne said.

"This is what I plan to wear to San Francisco tomorrow."

Heather wore her favorite kind of outfit, a mid-thigh dress of heavy, well-fitted knit with push-up sleeves and a zipper front. It was a rich red that picked up the lights in her long chestnut hair. She wore no jewelry.

"You're wearing stockings? I've never seen you do that."

Heather grinned broadly. "Nope. You said I should try for impact. And I decided it shouldn't be anything like what Mei-Ling would do. Here it is."

She pulled the zipper down, let the dress fall to the floor and stepped out of it with one motion. She wore black virtual stockings that rose to her hips, but left her abdomen bare. From the deep brown forest of her pubic hair, a fountain of fireworks rose toward her breasts, exploding in silvery rays at her nipples and fading into the background of her skin toward her neck and arms.

"Holy mackerel!" Saul said. "Hey, gang, come and look."

"Heather, that's wonderful."

"I love it!"

"What an incredible idea!"

Anne said. "What's in back? Anything?"

Heather turned. The 'stockings' colored her buttocks almost to the waist, following the contours and dipping into the cleft. Tiny stars sent rays out from the dimples. Above, a sunburst of fireworks spread across her back and shoulders.

"God, that's great. Mei-Ling will go nuts."

"I figure, either that, or she'll throw me out. Decided to go for broke."

"She'll love it. This is so creative, she'll simply go wild for it. Then, she'll take the whole idea and run with it in her own style. You've blown the whole concept of Virtual Jewelry away from mini-tattoos into an art form."

"Thanks. That's what I had in mind. What do you think, Will?"

"Heather, it's wonderful. Almost makes me want to go back to graphics."

Heather gave him a hug. "Thanks, Will. But you stay out of my patch, I'll stay out of yours."

"Speaking of that, you look so fantastic, I'd really like to..."

"Later, okay? And we've got all weekend, too."

"Right, it'll be a relief after talking with horse owners all day Saturday and Sunday."

They returned Sunday night, late. On Monday, Anne, Mary and Saul had breakfast with Heather and Will. Heather wore a tee-shirt. Anne gave her a look, said nothing.

"How'd the horse stuff go, Will?" Mary asked.

"Got three more commissions, one of them for two paintings. Mary, you said I don't need you any more. That's not so, you know. You always make those meetings something special. But as far as knowing more about horses, you are right. It was like I had x-ray vision. It really paid off with one of those guys."

"How?"

"He wanted me to disguise the animal's bad hocks. I told him I paint the horse as it is, that's the only way I work. But I showed him how I could do him in a gait where the problem wasn't hardly visible. Sort of like what you suggested to me the first time we went to Kentucky. I really had a great time. Just lonely."

"Lonely?"

"Yeah, Heather stood me up." Will grinned at her.

"What is this?" Anne wanted to know.

"Well, we went to the Lins' just like we planned," Heather said. "We went into that lovely jewelry room Mei-Ling has, and we talked, just the way you and Saul did. Mei-Ling was wearing the same kind of outfit you told us about — she said it's her uniform for the store, helps sell erotic jewelry."

"Boy, you can say that again," Will put in. "She is one of the most beautiful women I've ever seen, including all of you."

"Well, anyway, I gave her the spiel about Virtual Jewelry and Virtual Clothing. She sort of listened like she'd heard it before."

"I gave her a pretty good rundown on the phone," Anne said.

"Well, I thought I wasn't really getting it across, you know, and like I'd better do something before she fell asleep. So, I said, 'Mei-Ling, telling isn't like seeing.' And I got up and dropped my dress like I did the other day. Well, she lit up like a candle and hugged me... By the way, that's kind of a kick. When she hugs me, her face fits right between my breasts... Anyway, then she started feeling me all over. She went over every inch of my skin, didn't miss anything. She even spotted where you have to paint into the crack in back. She found the joins in the patterns, even though I can hardly see them myself. And then she stood back and made me turn around at least three times."