Mark thought to himself what a wonderful sister Cathy was. She had been assisting him in his magic act for the three years he had been professional and for the four years before that. He knew that she had effectively put her life on hold so that he had an assistant for the show. He also felt guilty about it. He loved his sister, who was also his companion, confidante and professional partner. He knew she was torn between her loyalty to him and her desire to experience what life had to offer. He had also noticed that she was trying to get him into a relationship at every opportunity. He
marveled at her knowledge of his taste in women. Occasionally he would wonder if she was a lesbian, because she had never had a boyfriend and seemed to be able to select the most beautiful women to help with the audience participation sections of the show. He usually dismissed this thought in
favor of the idea that she was just doing what was best for the show.
Mark came out of his reverie as Cathy stepped back on stage with the two last volunteers for the night. The first one was very tall and slender and wore a white flowing dress with a scoop neck exposing
up-thrust cleavage, her face showed enthusiasm, she seemed to be confident in a "I'm glad I was chosen" sort of way. The other one was about two inches shorter than the first but probably weighed exactly the same, she was wearing a short black dress that showed her shapely calves and hinted at knees that were not knobbly in any way. Her shoulders were uncovered except for the narrow straps that held up her dress. She had the
demeanor of someone who had been volunteered, but was determined to make the best of it, despite her terror, and punish the person who had volunteered her later.
Cathy guided the two young women to either side of him, the taller one on his right, the shorter one on his left.
Turning to the taller of the two, he asked her name.
"My name is Charity DuBois and I'm a model," she answered in a voice that seemed to imply that she expected people to be impressed.
"And your name?" Mark said turning to the other woman.
"I'm Sarah." she said shortly as if she was ashamed of her name.
"And what do you do, Sarah?"
"I'm a secretary," she answered, in a voice that said she wished she had a more exotic job.