And marched away from me,
For duty sounds beyond my door
A call to destiny.
Waited true these lonely days
Until his letter came.
I saw the words: 'My darling,
We 'll soon be one again!" "
It was a cheerful, upbeat song, and Duvalier marched across the dance floor, stepping high with her legs, swinging her arms in parody of a dress parade, touching and bouncing from man to man at the edge of the dance floor like a pool ball ricocheting across a billiard table. She ran her fingers up the arm of one, pressed her barely covered derriere against another, brushed a third's hair with her breasts.
Valentine felt the Blue Dome grow warmer, brandy and lust heating his blood.
The other dancers came out on the stage for the chorus, costumed in variants of Duvalier's getup. As they sang, she pretended to wipe the sweat from an officer's brow with the fake letter crumpled in her hand.
She lingered at Valentine's table, tousling the hair of each man as she continued the song. She sat on one's lap and sang into his face, then moved on to Valentine. She wrapped her arms around him and nipped him on the ear as she thrust her hands into his tunic, unbuttoned by RC in her efforts to clean his shirt. Valentine noticed, when her arms came back out, that she only had one sheet of paper in her hand. She kicked up a leg and planted a foot on the table, and all eyes went to her as Valentine buttoned his tunic over the note.
She finished the last chorus of the song at General Hamm's side, singing it to him. She hopped up on the table before him, feet planted wide to either side of his plate, joining the other dancers for the last chorus.
"Wait at the station
For the victory train.
We'll run from the siding,
Dance up lovers' lane,
Stroll along the river
Where first you became mine,
Lose all our worries
In my ring's golden shine!
The general helped her down and gave her a lip-smacking kiss. Valentine winced, feeling like a man who has just come across his sister in a brothel. Jealousy and disgust, infinitely fouler and more upsetting than the brandy and sweetwater, swirled and bubbled within him.
She looked around the table. "Good evening, Captain Mantilla ... who's the new face?"
"Colonel Knox Le Sain."
"You don't like oldies, Colonel?"
"A bump and grind on top of my dinner puts me off my feed, funbunny," Valentine said.
"Colonel," Hamm growled. "I won't have you talking about Tanny like that."
"I'll give him funbunny," Duvalier said, reaching for a fork.
RC leaned forward. "The colonel just finished off the brandy in the Third Division Cup-and a tab of Horny. Cut him some slack, Ty."
Valentine's former mentor sat back down on Hamm's lap. She didn't flinch as Hamm rested his hand across her shoulder, fingertips touching her breast. Valentine looked away and back at the stage, nauseated.
"You're in for a messy night," Duvalier said, looking at RC.