FEBRUARY 1979, the disco years
Camelot meets
the manhunter
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So what did the
Temptation Triangle think of Camelot? Victoria
loved it. Michael was there, her Circle of Friends
were there, and the students were crazy about her.
Victoria's popularity soared off the charts. Her only
misgiving was Joanne's irritating presence.
Camelot
benefitted Joanne. She thoroughly enjoyed her new-found celebrity.
People would line up to see us dance and be sure to
compliment her. Of course Victoria would get all bent out of shape, but I
would bark at her to knock it off and she would retreat
sulking to
her assigned corner. Unlike paranoid Victoria, Patricia
was able to ignore Joanne. Perhaps if Patricia knew about the
Liaison or the Tirade, she would have seen Joanne as a
threat. Fortunately Patricia could tell Joanne was not
in her league, so my secret stayed safe. Joanne made a
point to sit as far away from Patricia and Victoria as possible.
In addition, Joanne learned to never show any kind of feelings for me in public.
Her soft side only showed during our Monday night private
lessons.
I was pleased to
see Patricia have fun on Friday nights. The glamour of
the Disco scene at Camelot suited her just fine. My
biggest fear was that she and Victoria would share
notes. That never happened. It turns out
Patricia did not like socializing with women. Patricia
paid little attention to Victoria and her group of Round
Table wives. She reserved her smiles for the husbands.
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Once
Patricia was invited into Victoria's
Circle, she made herself right at home with the six
well-educated, accomplished husbands. In particular,
Patricia and
Michael got along very well, probably because they often found
each other alone together when Victoria hauled me off to
dance or dragged me around saying hi to students. Since
Patricia
worked in hospital administration and these men were in the medical
field, they had a lot in common. Patricia enjoyed engaging the men in
conversations that were intelligent and insightful. I noticed how impressed the men were
with her grasp of medical issues and the politics involved.
They paid close attention when Patricia addressed the
business end of medical care.
It did not take long
for me to realize Patricia was
digging herself into a hole by concentrating on the men
and ignoring the women. You should have the seen
the looks on the women's faces as Patricia monopolized
their husbands. Patricia made the wives
nervous. They were leery to leave a fox like
the Princess alone with their men. However,
since Patricia was under Victoria's protection, they
tolerated her as best they could.
Using her
considerable beauty to great advantage, Patricia could have
any man she wanted... and the wives knew it. Since Patricia
rarely spoke to them, the wives were not sure who they were
dealing with. Patricia's flirtatious
style made each wife uneasy, especially when she danced with that
particular
woman's husband.
One night I
noticed Patricia holding court with four husbands at a table.
I overheard her tell a funny anecdote about two famous
heart surgeons who were
making fools of themselves fighting turf wars at her
hospital. The men
were laughing as they gobbled up Patricia's juicy gossip.
Just then Victoria returned. I noticed as she did a double-take
observing Patricia in action. Noticing the wives
glower at Patricia from afar, I saw a
faint smile cross her face. Victoria turned to me and
said the wives had a nickname for Patricia.
They called her the 'Manhunter'. The term was
appropriate.
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Patricia
thoroughly enjoyed the attention of the husbands. It was fascinating
to see Patricia in her element. Although she didn't
bother to learn the names of the various wives, Patricia had
a complete dossier on every man's profession and economic
status. I assumed she
was looking to see if any of them might be a potential upgrade to me.
Like the wives, I questioned Patricia's integrity. Economically and status-wise, I was in last place to all six
men. The only advantage I held over these guys
was my empty ring finger.
The fact that
Patricia was always on the lookout was not lost on me.
Whatever George had done to shake her confidence was wearing
off. I assumed Patricia would be back to talking Law
School any day now. On the other
hand, high marks to Patricia for making good on her promise to fit into my Dance
World. We would dance together at least twice each
night. To my delight, Patricia finally began to let me help
improve
her dancing. Thanks to practice and my suggestions, she made significant strides.
She liked to dance with the six husbands whenever they
asked. Patricia never lacked for company.
Patricia
pretended to object when I danced with Joanne, but
it was all an act to show Victoria she was on the team. To be honest, Patricia did not
care who I danced with, be it Victoria, Joanne or my various female students.
She was perfectly content to let the six husbands of the
Round Table take turns entertaining her. Consequently our
relationship hit a stretch of harmony. I was
impressed. Too bad Patricia had failed to treat me
like this before she betrayed me with George. Oh well,
enjoy it while it lasts. My Devil's Bargain to accept
Patricia back into my life assumed even more importance
whenever Victoria loomed near. As long as Patricia stayed at my side, I
felt
safe from Victoria's clutches.
Although there were a half dozen
women I wanted to date, I decided the Diva Triangle was too
volatile to risk branching out. I would continue to date
Patricia as long as she served my ulterior motive of keeping
Victoria in check.
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To my surprise, there were times when I actually liked Patricia.
In fact,
I
occasionally wondered if we had a chance to make this work. I was such a
sucker for her brains and beauty that I kept forgetting
what a horrible person she was. Fortunately,
every time I found myself warming up to her, the thought of
'George' snapped me back to reality.
If Patricia had
one great skill, it was her ability to flirt. She enjoyed collecting men.
It was sport to her, a hobby of sorts. Patricia enhanced her self-esteem by
drawing men under her spell. Once the husbands found out how bright and clever Patricia was, they
enjoyed talking to her. Patricia knew how to turn on the charm. She made each
guy feel like he was the most interesting man in the world. Naturally the
men asked her to dance. Patricia had a way of laughing and smiling on the
dance floor.
No matter how poorly a husband danced, Patricia overlooked
his
failings, preferring to praise him at every turn. The
husbands were helpless to resist Patricia. They were magnetically
drawn to her just as I had been back in the beginning.
Even Michael was smitten, a detail Victoria was not
happy about.
The wives wanted to
know
just how much they could trust Patricia. Me too.
Patricia was
very careful to reveal little of her past. When I first met Patricia, she
mentioned men had a bad habit of making their rings
disappear. I assumed this was a veiled reference to
affairs with married men, perhaps the doctors she
met at the hospital. However, she did not
elaborate.
We had a good
thing going there for a while. But Patricia ruined it.
In fact, she dug her own grave. It started when
Patricia enjoyed the considerable attention she received too
much for her own good. In my opinion, the wives need not
have worried. It was just a game to Patricia. I knew full well
Patricia wasn't interested in their husbands. Why bother?
None of them were rich enough to afford her. What concerned me was Patricia's
lack of effort to fit in with Victoria's Circle the right
way. The six wives held the power, not the men, and
Patricia failed to show proper respect.
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FEBRUARY 1979
THE SEVEN-HEADED
HYDRA
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The Ice Queen was not
Victoria's only problem. Joanne was only one of
many women orbiting nearby thanks to my sudden stardom. From
Victoria's perspective, Camelot
was benefitting me far too much. Thanks to my
private lessons with Glen, my dancing had made a dramatic
improvement. Please forgive my lack of modesty, but I looked
damn good out there on the dance floor. Back in the
old days, only a handful of students knew I was a good
dancer. Now thanks to Camelot, 40-50 women would see
me dance at different times in the evening. Many of
them appeared to like what they saw. Meanwhile Victoria fumed.
Thanks to turning me
into a star, there was a danger one of these admiring
ladies would claim Victoria's very own Eliza
Doolittle for herself.
As my dancing
improved, so did my confidence around pretty girls. Victoria watched
with growing alarm as I turned into something of a charmer.
Each week I became a little smoother, a little friendlier, a
little more outgoing.
I was learning to tease the ladies and make them laugh.
Watching my popularity grow, Victoria was infuriated. By elevating
me to the peak of my profession, each night I was up on the
pedestal for ambitious women to contemplate.
Who can say what
really passed through Victoria's mind? Remember what I
said: this is all speculation on my part. That said,
it was my impression that Victoria got fed up and decided to
go on the warpath. Watching me surrounded by all these
interested women had to be frustrating. Perhaps some sort of panic switch
flipped on in her brain. Feeling her supremacy
threatened, towards the end of February Victoria decided
it might be time to chase me
herself before one of those designing women got there first.
Victoria was
sick and tired of taking a backseat. If it wasn't Joanne
or
Patricia, this growing cast of female admirers
was driving her crazy. Under ordinary
circumstances, Victoria could have won me over
without too much trouble. That would have affirmed her desirability and
status for all to see.
But right now her wedding ring was getting in the way.
Should Victoria
honor her wedding vows? To do so would risk losing her
Dance Empire to another woman. And yet to chase me would
risk jeopardizing her marriage.
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In my private
thoughts, I could not believe any woman in her right mind
would risk a solid marriage in exchange for popularity at a
dance club. It was impossible to understand why Victoria
might view a husband of
Michael's caliber as an albatross. Victoria
might have been dissatisfied with elements of her marriage, but she was
hardly miserable. Michael was a great guy.
However, at the moment it would be so much more
convenient if she was single. Michael could not
deliver the Crown of Supreme Goddess of Disco, but Rick
could. However, was this Crown more important than her
marriage? Only Victoria knew the answer to
that.
Victoria and I
had a tense February as she adjusted to my sudden
emergence from mediocrity. Victoria had recruited
Patricia to keep 'Dangerous' Joanne away from me for the time being.
This amused me no end because it was absurd to see Victoria
continue to believe Joanne
was more threatening than Venus. Even funnier, Victoria never once
suspected I was not yearning for either of these women.
Poor Victoria. She was knocking herself out to reduce the
threat of two paper tigers only to discover they were
merely the tip of
the iceberg. Everywhere Victoria looked, there were other
women waiting to step in the moment Patricia or Joanne were
busy. Victoria obsessively evaluated every woman I danced with for
fear this was her next threat to the Crown. Victoria was
also mad
at Patricia. The Princess was having fun
flirting with Round Table husbands when she should have been
helping Victoria chase the hussies off.
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No one chased
Victoria. Why should the men chase Victoria?
Everyone could see she was married to a very handsome man.
Despite her beauty and popularity, a lot of the single men
operated under the notion that dancing with a married woman
was a waste of time. Better to ask a single girl to
dance. Meanwhile I was a single guy and therefore
available to any girl willing to signal availability... of which there were many.
Victoria needed Patricia more than ever.
Not just Joanne, but all these other
potential rivals
as well. Unfortunately Victoria had a sinking feeling
that Patricia was not up to the task. Victoria also
noticed how easy it was for me to ignore Patricia.
That is how she figured out I didn't care much for
Patricia any more. Victoria feared if Patricia and I
broke up, there would be seven more women waiting to take
Patricia's place. It was like fighting the
seven-headed Hydra monster of Greek myth. Every time
one head was lopped off, another head grew back to take its
place. Victoria feared it was only a matter of time
before I fell into another woman's arms. Which of
these countless women will sneak in from her blind side?
It could be Joanne. Or Julia. Or
Barbara. Or Rita, Naomi, Leslie, Melanie.
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As long as
Victoria was married, she had no answer for this dilemma.
Victoria stewed
over her helplessness.
Victoria could not have me because she was married. Or could she??
I was not so sure anymore
that Victoria's wedding ring would be enough to stop her.
Instinct told me Victoria was on the verge of jeopardizing her marriage
to win The Trophy. If so, what would her motive be?
Love? Maybe, but I don't think so. Victoria's Crown would always be in peril as long as I roamed free. Victoria didn't
really want me, she wanted her Dance World. She wanted
it so much she
could not bear the thought of losing it. Feeling
helpless to fend off all these threats, Victoria was full of
despair. With Patricia's allure fading, any woman with
excellent dance skills and a pretty face could potentially dislodge her.
But here's the sad
thing. Everything I write is in Hindsight. I had no
idea what was going on with Victoria. All I knew is
she kept getting friendlier, friskier, and unwilling to let
me out of her sight. If Victoria had discussed the problem openly, I would
have said she had nothing to fear. I am a loyal person by nature.
Based on the debt
I owed Victoria for helping me get the program running, I
would have reassured her how grateful I was.
If Victoria wanted to be Queen, I was more than willing to
support her ambition. I wanted to be her friend and I
was
willing to be her dance partner. There is a right way
and a wrong way to go about things. The right way
would be to
let me find a girlfriend who was not a cobra at heart.
In return I
would support her dreams. But did Victoria choose that
perfectly sensible path? No. She took the wrong
path. Victoria went dark.
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FEBRUARY 1979, the disco years
MEAN GIRLS
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Victoria was the
prototype of the 'Mean Girls' concept. Underneath her beauty, smiles
and laughter, Victoria was a bully who knew every sneaky trick in
the book. Surveying the Land of Camelot with all those
beautiful threats to the Throne, it was time to
play dirty. Since Patricia was not getting the
job done, the Queen Bee decided to rid the Kingdom of all
the Wanna Bees buzzing around me. What Victoria wants, Victoria gets. First Joanne had to go, then
Victoria would worry
about the others. The Mean Queen knew just how to deliver
the poison.
Victoria's
Tirade had been the direct result of her fear of
losing me to a woman whose threat value had been
blown way out of proportion. In Victoria's mind,
Joanne was the reincarnation of Ginger Rogers, but in reality Joanne was a lonely woman
struggling to make ends meet. However, things were
looking up for Joanne thanks to Camelot. Every
Friday night Joanne was able to showcase her skill.
While
Victoria died a million deaths, the dance crowd loved it
whenever Joanne and I put on a show. This is how Joanne
became
known throughout the Realm for her dancing ability.
Joanne still
didn't talk much, but she smiled a lot and was starting to
come out of her shell. Best of all, men had overcome
their fear of asking her to dance. I was very
pleased to see Joanne blossom and cheer up. But not
Victoria. If anything, she was alarmed to see Joanne
gain confidence. Joanne remained the greatest thorn in
Victoria's side due to her amazing dance ability.
That plus the memory of her obvious longing for me on Tirade
Night marked Joanne
as Public Enemy Number One.
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If Joanne had been an average
dancer, Victoria might have considered sparing her.
However, as long as Joanne was around, Victoria would never
receive top billing. Victoria had
been unable to improve her own dancing because Glen's Saturday
private lessons conflicted with Mom duties. In January and February,
Victoria participated
only two Saturdays in eight. I
was thrilled. Not only did her erratic schedule keep
Victoria's outsized dreams of performing under control, it kept her
from asserting further control over me.
When Victoria was
unavailable, I
rotated through different ladies on Saturdays. Joanne was one of them,
a development that
boggled
Victoria's mind. Victoria went nuts over Joanne getting a
private lesson.
Victoria craved the limelight. She visualized herself
in a starring role as the beautiful Dance Diva. Too
bad Joanne was around to constantly remind Victoria she was
a
distant second. Victoria was never
pleased to see Joanne, but managed to keep her claws
concealed... or so I thought. Every Friday night,
Victoria's eyes tracked Joanne around the room. Watching
as Victoria carefully monitored Joanne, I could
see the wheels turning in her mind. Darkly amused by
Victoria's obsession, I was amazed how the Ice Queen
continued to fool Victoria so badly. Convinced that Joanne wanted to replace her, I
did everything in my power to reinforce that fear by leading
one spectacular move after another with Joanne.
Anything to aggravate Victoria. Divide and Conquer.
In Hindsight,
maybe I did too good a job. Due to Joanne's
prolonged silence, Victoria had yet to decipher Joanne's
profession. However Victoria was
too smart to be fooled for long. Victoria suspected the Ice Queen's silence
might not be the mark of
snobbish superiority, but rather that of insecurity.
Maybe the Ice Queen was not invulnerable after all.
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The day came
when Victoria could
no longer tolerate the threat posed by Joanne. I suppose prolonged
happiness in the Land of Camelot was not meant to be. Triangles by their
nature are unstable, especially when selfish women like
Victoria and Patricia occupy two of the corners. The first
inkling of trouble appeared
the last Friday
in February. It was my fault. I
had always carried a soft spot for Joanne, so it upset me
when I noticed she was still having trouble fitting in. It hurt me to
admit, but my Disco crowd was a tough place for Joanne with
all these professionals. Joanne had been raised in rural Pennsylvania.
A country girl at heart, in a very real way she was a
Stranger in a Strange Land. Terrified of saying
something which might reveal her lack of education, Joanne
rarely spoke much.
My fear that
Joanne was pulling away caused me to take the chance of
introducing her to some of Victoria's In-Crowd. The people in Victoria's Inner Circle had
long avoided Joanne, but I assumed if they knew her better,
this could change. So I took a gamble. Patricia
was late arriving to the Pistachio Club and Victoria was out
on the floor dancing with Michael. As Joanne
passed by the tables where I was sitting with Victoria's
Circle, on the spur of the moment I invited Joanne to come
over and meet Victoria's group.
To my surprise, Victoria's In
Crowd was distinctly rude to Joanne. Their
hellos were perfunctory and their expressions
unwelcoming to say the least. I might add they were
cool to me as well. Oh well. After I invited Joanne to
sit with me inside the hallowed area at the Round Table, not one person spoke to
either of us.
I had
no idea what that was all about, so I asked one of the
wives to dance as an excuse to vacate my seat. I
wanted to see how the In Crowd would treat Joanne after I left.
From the dance floor, I watched carefully. No one said a
word. Joanne sat there alone for
the entire four-minute song. I felt so embarrassed. Why was she being shunned?
I couldn't
take it any more. I returned to the table and asked Joanne to dance.
During this time, Patricia came in. Immediately the
same men who had avoided Joanne flocked to Patricia and
welcomed her warmly. Something was not right here. Joanne saw the same thing
and looked bitter. I was upset because Joanne's
feelings were very hurt. After our dance,
I went over to Patricia while Joanne found a seat as
far from Victoria's friends as possible. Who could
blame her? She was used to Victoria's cold shoulder,
but why were these people such snobs? Embarrassed by the deliberate rudeness,
after five minutes of sitting alone Joanne got up and left
the club. With a heavy
heart, I watched
Joanne leave. So much for introducing Joanne
to the In-Crowd.
Ordinarily they were very outgoing, so I could not
understand the cold shoulder treatment. Joanne had
never done anything to deserve that kind of behavior.
Although I
was completely in the dark that night, I would eventually learn what was going on. This had been Victoria's doing. After
a month
of careful observation, Victoria finally wised
up and realized she had over-estimated Joanne. Once Victoria
realized that
Joanne's
continued silence was a disguise, she
was emboldened to take action.
Victoria
passed it on to her girlfriends that Joanne was trying to steal me from
Patricia!
Which was true of course, but not really. Ever since I asked Joanne
to back off following Patricia's return from Los Angeles,
she had not made a
single move in private or public. Her only mistake was that look of
longing which crossed her face from time to time.
Joanne had never learned to completely mask her feelings even
though she knew full well there were
enemies around.
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Pretending
to give a
damn about Patricia, Victoria
suggested to her friends that Joanne threw herself at me
whenever the Princess was not around. Victoria added she
had seen Joanne make a strong move for me back in early
January when Patricia was out of town on a business
trip... "but please don't tell Patricia, it would hurt
her feelings!!" [evil yet clever]
Victoria
added a brilliant twist. Midge, one of her dance
girlfriends, had been with Victoria at Pistachio on
Tirade Saturday.
Afterwards Midge had
asked what the
Tirade was about. Thinking quickly,
Victoria explained that she had been chewing me out for
trying to
play around behind 'poor' Patricia's back.
Of all the
audacity!!
Taking a page out of my Misdirection Playbook, Victoria
had spun a deceptive version of what Midge had just
witnessed.
Victoria most certainly had not stuck up for
defenseless Patricia during the Tirade, but why tell
the truth when a Disco Empire was at stake? When
Midge confirmed Victoria's allegation, Joanne became the
victim of an incredibly vicious rumor.
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Victoria's
tall tales about Joanne put the wives in a quandary. They
accepted that Joanne had the nerve to make underhanded
moves, but so what? Furthermore, none of these women
liked Patricia. So when
Victoria asked the women not to tell Patricia about
Joanne, that was fine with them. They didn't want
to talk to Patricia anyway. However, they had no
love for Joanne either, so basically BOTH WOMEN became
persona non grata at the same time. The
wives passed
on the Joanne rumor onto their husbands who were sworn to secrecy.
"Don't
tell Patricia!" As a result, no one said a word to Patricia about the
Vicious Rumor.
Nor did they say anything to me.
Although I eventually learned the truth, it came long
after the damage was done.
Everyone
knew about Victoria's animosity towards Joanne.
Now that Victoria explained "Why" she hated
Joanne for sabotaging Rick's relationship with Patricia,
her mean streak towards the Ice Queen made more sense to them. Victoria's
Vicious Rumor became a recurring hot topic among the wives.
They saw my continued interest in Joanne as an
indication the Supreme Diva had been right all along.
This explains why none of
Victoria's friends had behaved courteously when I introduced
Joanne to them. Or to me. But what about the
men? Why were they rude? The husbands liked
Patricia, so they interpreted my actions as
an attempt to elevate Joanne over Patricia, something
they resented me for.
Patricia
drove her own car to Pistachio on Fridays. Joanne
was already gone when
she finally showed up.
Patricia could not figure out why everyone hushed up when
she arrived at the Round Table section. Why were the women
were giving her the cold shoulder? My guess is when
she
appeared , the
all-powerful clique of wives were discussing
both Joanne and Patricia. Even the men were a bit
awkward, but once she turned on the megawatt
charm, they returned to normal. Patricia commented
later when we were back at her apartment that people
were weird that night. Victoria's
whisper campaign was effective. Her
Vicious Rumor not only caused Joanne to leave the building, Patricia felt
brushed off as well. Kudos to Victoria for killing
two birds with one stone.
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