chapter 1
fiction
HUFFINGTON
09.23.12
“And, do you regularly orgasm?” asked Janet.
“Excuse me?”
Janet held still. She could hear the cash registers erupt into
sound around them. Printing out receipts over the sounds of
pens signing shiny credit card paper that curls into itself.
“Please,” said Janet. “I know it’s very forward, but
please. It would mean an enormous amount to me to know.”
The saleslady’s eyes dodged around the store.
“The turtlenecks are downstairs,” she said. “You’d better
go down there. There’s a woman downstairs in that department who likes to talk about things like this. You should
ask her. Molly. Look for Molly.”
Janet shook her head. “I want to ask you,” she said.
The saleslady was fidgeting all around the cash register
now, pushing buttons, ripping tissue paper, as if she were
trapped in there.
Janet took a breath. “Look,” she said. “I’m sure I seem
crazy, but I’m not. I just don’t know what it’s like for other
people. I live a sheltered life. Do you keep track? I don’t
want to ask Molly because I don’t want to be like Molly.
This will be my last question, honestly.”
Janet fumbled in her purse and pulled out two hundreddollar bills.
“I’ll pay you,” she said firmly.
The saleslady stared at the bills and balled the ripped
tissue paper into hard pellets.
“Two hundred dollars?” She glanced over her shoulder.
“For one question? Are you serious?”
Janet didn’t even blink.
The saleslady’s eyebrows crunched in, and the mole
pulled closer to her temple.
“It’s for a study?”
A nod. “A self-study.”
“And then you’ll stop?”
Another nod.