We're Desirable Older Ladies Love Specialists and don’t think because we have snow on our roofs that the fire went out in our furnaces. Come on in, we want to get to know you better and have a—very good time.

The poster advertising the Lover Boy show at one of the local clubs caught Marie Walton’s attention. Seeing the buff bodies of the dancers brought back fond memories.

Many years ago she dated one of the promoters of a male strip show. Being at a lull in her career, she’d gladly choreographed acts for several of the dancers.

“I can’t believe it,” Anita James said when they were enjoying coffee together. “I never thought I’d see the day when there would be a strip show in Minter.”

“Why Anita James, I never thought you were so closed minded. You have to know there’s a gentleman’s club out on the highway.”

“Oh, that’s different. We both know dirty old men have been ogling female strippers since the dawn of time. They don’t call prostitution the world’s oldest profession for nothing.”

“Prostitution? You have to be kidding. The majority of the girls working out there have been students at either one of the local colleges or the university. They’re using the dancing to put them through school. It’s the same with the guys. Where else can they work for a few hours each week and make good money, leaving them time for their studies? Students don’t have a lot of free time for part time jobs. This gives them a great opportunity to make the extra money needed to help them with their education.”

“Then you’re going?”

“Why not? It might be a good learning experience for some of my adult students.”

Anita looked shocked. “You have adult students? I thought you just taught kids.”

“You do lead a sheltered life, Anita. Dancing is a great form of exercise. Even old Eleanor Pakes is taking the course and she’s eighty-three. It wouldn’t surprises me if she decided to go on this little field trip with me.”

Taking her students to the Lover Boy show had been something that just popped into Marie’s head, but Anita’s reaction made the idea of going all the more tantalizing. It would be interesting to see how the dancers’ routines had changed and progressed over the years.

The idea of going to the show was still fermenting in Marie’s mind when her eleven o’clock dance class arrived for their lesson. They ranged in age from twenty-seven year old petite blond, Regina Edwards to Eleanor.

“Before we begin,” Marie said, “I have an announcement to make. I saw this poster this morning and thought we could all use a field trip.”

From the folder on her desk, she produced copies of the picture of the flyer she snapped with her camera phone this morning. Luckily the picture had been fairly good and she was able to blow it up to eight and one half by eleven for printing out the copies. With two adult classes, it was entirely possible she’d get a good response.

“My husband would never allow me to go to something like that,” Nancy Harris declared.

“He wouldn’t allow it or you’d be too uncomfortable to go?” Susan Thomas teased. “I know darn good and well our husbands all go out to the gentleman’s club on the highway at least two or three times a year if not more. Why shouldn’t we have the same pleasure? No one ever got fat from eye candy.”

By the end of the class everyone had signed up to go and most had paid the ten-dollar cover charge. Marie got the same response from her afternoon class. With so many students, she called the number for the club hosting the event.

“You want how many tickets?” Jake Alton, the owner of the club questioned.

“At present I have fifty-six people signed up, but there could be more.”

“Let me talk to the promoter. Maybe I can persuade him to do a private show on the afternoon of the performance to accommodate your group. Normally it wouldn’t be a problem but I already have seventy-five girls signed up and the promo just went out over the weekend. Your group would put us really close to our maximum capacity. I’ll get back to you.”

Marie smiled as she hung up the phone. Anita’s horror of a strip show in town was proving to be unfounded. It seemed as though there was plenty of interest in the Lover Boy show. With a little coaxing, maybe she could persuade Anita to go with them it would be a great way to jump start their enthusiasm for the month when each of them would be one of the D-O-L-L-S looking for love with a younger man.

At three thirty the studio phone rang, making Marie wonder which of the children would be canceling for tonight’s class.

“Marie’s Dancing Feet,” she answered.

“This can’t be Marie Miles, can it?” the man on the other end of the line greeted her.

For someone to call her by her first husband’s name came as a surprise. “It’s Marie Walton now, but you have me at a disadvantage.” She didn’t like conversations that started this way and kicked herself for not checking her caller ID before answering the call.

“I’m sure you don’t remember me. My name is Nick Wallace and many years ago you choreographed my routine for a male strip show in Vegas. I was trying to break into the business and the routine you prepared for me gave me an edge so I could get a spot in the show. Now I’m promoting the Lover Boy show.”

An image of the young dancer she’d worked with so long ago filled her mind. He as the kind of guy who could get the girls’ juices flowing just by glancing in their direction. She’d often wished she’d taken him as a lover, but at the time it was out of the question.

“Of course I remember you,” she replied enthusiastically. “I never imagined you’d be promoting one of these shows.”

“Well, you know how it is. I got too old to dance and I knew the business inside out. I’m in town ahead of time to get everything set up and Jake Alton at the club gave my your name and said something about a private show. I’d like to meet you tonight and talk about it. Maybe we can strike a bargain. Are you free for dinner?”

Marie hesitated for a moment. It wasn’t like she’d be meeting a stranger and who knew, maybe he would be the man to fulfill her dreams of Halloween without a hollow weenie before her month as a D-O-L-L ended.

“My last class is done at six. Of course I’d need time to get changed. Where can I meet you?”

“I’d like to check out your studio, so I’ll pick you up. I’ve heard there’s a great seafood restaurant in this town. We’ll go there.”

Marie was glad she kept a change of clothes at the studio. Her leotard was perfect for teaching, but it would never do for dinner at Captain Jack’s Lobster Pot.

~*~

Nick flipped his cell phone shut. Never in his wildest dreams did he think he’d run into Marie Miles, no make that Marie Walton, in a small town like Minter, Wisconsin. He’d recognized her voice the minute she answered the phone.

Twenty-five years ago, when she’d choreographed his first routine, she’d been a really ‘hot’ older woman, but she was dating the promoter of the show he wanted to get into. There was no way he would have ever dared to ask her out. His mental calculations told him she would be sixty-three now, but if she was still dancing, it was possible she’d maintained not only her looks but also her figure. He’d had so many wet dreams about that woman, he prayed this time when they met she would be unattached and willing to spend the nights between now and the Lover Boy show in his bed.

“Did you reach her?” Jake asked, when Nick returned to the bar area of the club.

“I sure did. What do you know about her?”

“Marie? She’s a great gal. You’d never know she was a senior citizen. The word is she a member of a group who call themselves D-O-L-L-S and they’re on the prowl for younger men with the intention of hot sex. I’d watch my step if I were you. I can’t imagine sex with some old prune when there’s all that hot young tail at the bar every night.”

“You said she a member of a group called D-O-L-L-S. What is that all about?”

“It’s an acronym for Desirable Older Ladies Love Specialists. If you ask me it more like Dried-up Old Ladies Looking Silly.”

Jake’s description would have been funny, if Nick didn’t know how much fun older women could be. “So how many D-O-L-L-S are there?”

“You aren’t interested are you?”

“So what if I am? I’m only in town for a couple of weeks. It could prove interesting.”

Jake shook his head in disbelief. “Well, if it doesn’t work out let me know and I can hook you up with one of our local hotties.”

“Thanks but no thanks. How about an answer to my question?”

“I don’t understand you, man. There are five of them. It’s been the talk of the town ever since Grace Patterson hooked up with Larry Richards on the fourth of July. Then Ellen Drake went up to a lumberjack competition and met Buck Jorgenson. Everyone thought it was a hoot since they both live in Minter and had to drive about four hundred miles in order to meet. Then there was Carol McIntyre. She’s an author and some fan, I think they called him Jamison Andrews, bought her a booth at Air Fest last month, with the stipulation she share his bed for the weekend. The word is they’re out in Los Angeles right now working on a screenplay for one of her books. The only two who haven’t hooked up are Marie Walton and Anita James. So, if I were you, I’d mind my P’s and Q’s. It wouldn’t do for you to spend your time in Minter with a dud.”

“Don’t worry about me. What do you know about a place called Captain Jack’s Lobster Pot?”

“Why would you go clear out there? We have shrimp on our menu.”

Nick cringed. The last thing he wanted was greasy fried shrimp when Captain Jack’s offered a much better selection of seafood. “No offense, but I’m in the mood for good seafood. You know, lobster, crab or scallops. I quit eating greasy fried bar food years ago.”