“Lucina, that guy I was telling you about is here. I really think he’s stalking me.”

She was a brown-haired white girl with very pert breasts, wearing a small top that exposed her flat stomach.

“The military guy?” Lucina asked her.

“Yeah.”

Lucina had heard enough already. She wanted to get to the bottom of things. Her girlfriend had obviously gotten herself into more trouble than she could handle.

“Where is he now? Point him out to me.”

Her friend looked even more terrified. “What are you gonna do?”

“I’m gonna ask him what his problem is,” Lucina told her.

“Lucina, he’s crazy, that’s his problem.”

“Well, you let me be the judge of that. Now where is he?”

She began to search through the partially crowded dance floor. It was a mostly red-lit club called the Red Cave.

“He’s right at the bar,” her girlfriend informed her.

Lucina spotted a clean-cut, clean-shaven white man sitting at the bar solo.

“The guy in the striped shirt?” she asked.

Her girl looked cautiously. She didn’t want the man to turn and spot them looking at him. “Yeah, that’s him.”

Lucina took a breath and began to walk in the man’s direction through the club. The party was too upscale for any nonsense. It was more of a business affair.

“Lucina, no…” her girl cried out to stop her. But it was too late. Lucina was halfway to the bar already, and she was not planning on turning back.

When she arrived in front of the young Marine at the bar, she said, “You seem to know one of my friends very well. Her name is Faloni.”

The soldier, in his midtwenties, looked into Lucina’s eyes and nodded. He said, “Yeah, I do know her. But she’s trying to pretend now that she doesn’t know me. And I just wanted to ask her why.”

“Is that why you’ve been following her?” Lucina asked him. “Because she does not like it. And you should give yourself something else to do before I tell security.”

“Tell security what?” he asked, confused. He hadn’t done anything wrong.

“That you are making a guest feel uncomfortable.”

He said, “Well, excuse me, but I have the right to be here like everyone else. I paid my money to get in just like they did.”

Lucina dug into her purse and pulled out a twenty-dollar bill. She held it in front of him and said, “You may leave now. And my friend does not choose to know you any longer.”

The Marine shook it off and refused to take the money. He said, “Well, I still choose to know her.”

Lucina took a breath and decided to go another route. She said, “Look, you are an American soldier, correct?”

He nodded and answered, “Yeah.”

“So, how come you don’t have any respect for the citizens of your country?”