“Excuse me.” Laurie tugged on the usher’s sleeve with as polite an expression as he could muster while other auction attendees elbowed past him. "I have this special ticket – see, my dad couldn’t make it today, but he’s an official – “
The usher plucked the ticket from Laurie’s fingers with looking at him. "Front row, third seat from the right, your pa’s name’ll be on the back. Git in there.”
Laurie sighed and slipped into the stream of well-dressed men flooding into the auction house. His father had refused to explain, mumbling something about “being a good grown-up lad” as he handed over the ticket in a fit of coughing. Dutiful to a fault, Laurie took the ticket. Now he was here and completely confused.
The auctioneer started almost as soon as he sat down between two mustached men who refused to look at him. "Do I see ten? Ten ten ten on the floor, do I see ten, yes, ten, ten to number twenty-eight, do I see fifteen, fifteen? Fifteen, all right, thirteen, thirteen, we are bidding on a fine fine set of lovely luckies, all the way from Care-oh-LINE-uh! Thirteen, yes, I see you there, sir, thirteen.“
As the hubbub continued, Laurie raised his hand tentatively. The auctioneer squinted, pointed. "Yes, you in the front there, the little one, thirty-five, I see you, thirty-five thirty-five do I see forty? Forty? No? Going once, thirty-five going twice…”
Laurie held his breath.
“SOLD, to the little man in the front, for thirty-five dollars.”
An unexplainable excitement filled Laurie’s chest as he rose to follow the frozen smile of the blonde assistant. She slipped behind the heavy curtain and Laurie held his breath as he went in.
Beyond stretched another huge, heavy curtain, dark and velvetty, but cut in places to reveal small clear boxes at about elbow height. Laurie bent to look inside one but the blonde assistant batted him away. "Touching only, kid. Here.“ She scrubbed roughly at his hand with a cloth soaked in the unmistakable smell of antiseptic. "Let it dry, then have your fill, then meet me at the other end.”
She disappeared. Laurie frowned as he approached the nearest box. It had a man’s hand-sized opening, and into this he slid his arm nearly up to the elbow. The plastic passageway curved upwards and he followed it, fingers tingling with anticipation.
They brushed something smooth and impossibly soft, and a delighted giggle sounded from above it. It was warm, wet flesh. Laurie jumped and almost withdrew his hand, but now something came alive between his legs and he could not resist. He reached upwards again and this time felt more aggressively; his fingers slipped up to the fingernail inside the silken lips, eliciting a gasp from the invisible girl.
Biting his lip in determination, Laurie slipped in and out of her until his hand was wet with her delight. Thirty-five dollars well spent, he thought, because suddenly he remembered that there were five other boxes.
He skipped on down the row.