It was difficult to forget about Lucy Lamour. Those eyes, that long tail … finally, I decided to throw away the picture. Ning, who was around, asked to see it. He gave a low whistle and said, “You dark horse! I never knew you had such a sexy girl friend.”
“She’s not my girlfriend,” I said and told him what little I knew about her.
“Hey, why don’t we go to her show tonight? I know where the Long Tails Night Club is,” he said excitedly.
“No, we can’t,” I said. “Firstly, we don’t have the money to pay the entrance fees and secondly, I’m on the spiritual path and I can’t let worldly temptations get in my way.”
“Only one show won’t send you to hell, Da!” argued Ning. “I’ll wait for you in front of the temple at 11.30 tonight and we’ll figure out how to get into the club without being seen.”
I protested but finally gave in to temptation. It was like a “The spirit is willing but the flesh is weak” situation. As Ning said, I figured one little show wouldn’t deviate me from my spiritual path. I didn’t dare tell Head Nun of course and when the time came to meet Ning, I slipped quietly out of the temple. He was already waiting for me and we both headed for the club.
When we arrived at the club, we managed to find an open window where we both could sit and watch the show. We were just in time – there was a loud fanfare, the lights on the stage came on and in she swayed, the sensational Lucy Lamour! She was dressed in pink frills with sparkling beads and baubles all over her body and tail. She moved gracefully to the soft music, her tail swaying to and fro and then, suddenly, the music changed! She also changed her movements and gyrated to the throbbing beat of disco music, her tail swirling high above her head. Then the frills went flying into the air, so did the beads and baubles! When everything had gone, there was a loud clash of cymbals, the lights went off and the curtains came down – end of Act 1. The audience whistled, cheered, shouted “More! More!”
My heart was also throbbing with excitement. I looked at Ning. His eyes were as round as saucers and his adrenalin must have worked overtime because he fell off the window sill and landed with a loud thud on the ground below. “Come on, let’s go before the security guard catches us.” I yelled to him.
We both headed towards the gate. As we rounded the corner of the building, we ran smack into something or someone. It was the security guard! It was too late to run. He grabbed us both by the neck and held us up in the light so that he could see us clearly. “Trespassing, huh? Wait a minute, I know you two. You’re the guys from the temple. What the heck are you doing here? OK, since this is the first time, I’ll let you go. You’d better beat it before the other guard sees you.” He threw us back on the ground and we fled as fast as our legs could carry us.
We were panting and gasping for breath by the time we reached the temple gates. Ning ran off to his hideaway and I crept back slowly into the temple. It must be after midnight and all the lights were off. I groped my way to my basket and fell asleep almost immediately.
“Wake up, Vege Cat! It’s almost ten, where did you go last night?” A few nuns had gathered round my basket and were giggling like schoolgirls. I jumped up and saw Head Nun coming towards me. Oh boy, I thought, I’m really in hot soup this time. Head Nun looked at me reproachfully. “Your breakfast has turned cold. You overslept by some 3 hours.”
I mumbled an apology and scrambled out of bed. “You know, Vege Cat,” said Head Nun. “I thought I saw a ghost last night. It came into the kitchen well past midnight and walked straight to your basket. I was terrified it would harm you but it just disappeared after that. Did you know anything about that?”
My face was as red as beetroot. Drat it, you just can’t hide anything from Head Nun. If I said no, I would be lying. If I said yes, I would be in trouble. So I hung my head in shame and kept quiet.
Head Nun then laughed. “I met the security guard of the Long Tails Night Club this morning and he told me the whole story. Don’t worry, I won’t punish you. You’re still young and temptations will come your way now and then. Just be mindful - and careful. Come, let’s go for prayers.”
I prayed like hell that morning that the Gods everywhere would forgive me for my midnight sojourn with Lucy Lamour.
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