Back at the motel, they both napped sans sex, then showered and strolled over to the hotel restaurant for dinner. The evening was pleasant and so they elected to walk instead of taking the car. The season was in full swing, the herds of tourists who flocked every year to lose their money at the gambling tables were festive and gay. They had salads and prime rib and tomatoes instead of potatoes (for weight sake) and skipped dessert as they watched the merriment about them. Numbers flashed on the walls of the resort hotel wherever you went, even in the restaurant, and the girl runners dashed back and forth collecting the players' cards with their selections and money. It felt good to be in Tahoe again and Sherry looked forward to tonight's first show. The stage was not quite as large as the Lucky Nuggett in Vegas but the acoustics were good and they had top billing on the lounge marquee. Sherry Trent, she thought. You're getting more money now. Sherry Trent, you're going to be a big star some day.
Dressing rooms were downstairs beneath the stage at the Alpine which meant walking quite some distance, but they were large and modernly furnished and equipped with TV. Television often helped to pass the time between the long intermissions. She sat now, checking her makeup. She had selected one of her western, fringed outfits (they were all pretty much the same but this one was maroon and of a velvet kind of material), very expensive and custom-made. She never wore her stage garb outside anyplace where she worked because if the income tax people caught you they were declared not deductible. The rule was, if you could wear it on the street you could not deduct it and so she always changed, even between shows when she didn't leave the building.
She listened now to he sounds of musicians and performers warming up and rehearsing in the adjoining dressing rooms as she primped and got ready for her first show. There was a trumpet playing scales and a vocal trio trying out a new number. From upstairs, in the main room, she could hear a final chord from the large band that backed the star in the main room. Someday, she hoped she would stop playing only lounges and play the main rooms where you have a full band for accompaniment and where the real money is. "Don't worry, sugar," her father said from the couch behind her. "Some day you'll play the main rooms, too." It was eerie the way Daddy sometimes seemed to read her mind. Well, she decided, they both had the same goal. Stardom. When she became a full-fledged star they would have oodles of money, and they could take long vacations and go to Europe or the Orient.
"I know, Daddy," she said. "It's just a mater of time. After all, I'm only sixteen. I've come a long way. I guess I shouldn't be overanxious."
Actually, she felt a lot older than sixteen and they both knew it. Her feeling older and acting older was partly because of the unique relationship with her father and, too, traveling and working in show business tended to accelerate one's maturity. She knew that she felt a lot older than sixteen this afternoon when they had watched that threesome fucking and sucking in the woods. Any other normal sixteen-year-old would undoubtedly have been shocked, but she had accepted it as perfectly normal – a little indiscreet perhaps but perfectly normal. She had done everything they had done and more as far as sex was concerned – Daddy had seen to that except she hadn't ever had sex with more than one person at a time. Well, maybe a man with a cock the size of Tony's required two girls to handle him. Still, she wouldn't want to share a man like Tony with any girl. She would want him all to herself. She smiled at this. But maybe he was so much in demand he had to take them on two at a time so they could all have a turn. "What are you smiling about?" her father asked. She looked at his reflection in the light-bulb rimmed mirror. "Oh, nothing," she said. "Just happy, that's all. You know I always feel good about opening night." She was the opposite of most performers, she knew. Opening nights never gave her the jitters. The rehearsal with the light man this afternoon had gone perfectly and her voice always carried well on this stage and there was absolutely nothing to be worried about. Most performers, if they were at all inclined to get jittery, did so on opening nights.
"You're my little trouper, honey," her father said.
"I'm your little everything," she said.
"Don't start looking at me that way or I'll muss up your makeup kissing you," he said, grinning.
"You could just slip off my bottoms," Sherry said, joking. "That wouldn't muss up my makeup."
"No, that's not a good idea. We can wait until bedtime. Don't you know about sublimation? The sex drive is very important. When you're satisfied sexually you don't perform as well. When your sexual drive is unsatisfied your actions are channeled into whatever you are doing. The sexual drive can be sublimated in many ways. Tonight you should use it to give your all when performing."