I was wearing my usual shorts and white T-shirt. I’d bought this body because I liked it as it was, a pure fashion item that didn’t require elaboration.

I laughed when I saw that Alicia had attempted to comb her hair, making it look even more frizzy. With the light behind her, she looked as though she had a halo. She also wore lipstick, which I’d never seen on her. It was as if she were trying out being “a woman.”

“I was afraid you wouldn’t come,” she said.

“Me, too,” I replied.

“We’re on the trip, then.”

“Looks like it.”

Our singularity made us both seem insubordinate, as if we were refusing to enter into the spirit of the evening, which was how, to my regret, I’d been as a young man—rebellion as affectation. Not that anyone seemed to notice. With the arrival of Princess Patricia in a long tie-dyed skirt and with flowers in her hair, the party became impossible to resist.

At Patricia’s entrance, I said to Alicia, “I didn’t realize we were attending a film première!”

After posing in the door until everyone became silent and took her in, she came to me, kissed me on the lips, patted my face, licked her lips, and refused to acknowledge Alicia.

“Are we ready?”

She held my arm and pulled me along, telling the others to follow. It was clear: she wanted to go on the cruise because she wanted to show me off.

Patricia and I led what became a kind of procession through the village to the beach. The old men, sitting at café tables watching us pass, seemed not only to be from another era but appeared to be another kind of species altogether.

On the beach, where other foreigners from the island were gathering, a band greeted us. In the distance, the yacht, the only bright thing in the dark ocean, glittered beneath the emerging stars. Despite Patricia’s attention, I was glad to be there.

Small boats carried us to the yacht. Patricia sat beside me, holding my hand. “I’ve been walking on air ever since our lovemaking. You were just what I needed.” She kept leaning across me.

“Patricia …” I was going to tell her, coyly, that I didn’t want things to “move along” too quickly. “I think we—”

She interrupted me. “You didn’t even get changed,” she said. “Hold still, then. Let me put this in.” She was fiddling with my ear. “Now we have matching earrings.” She patted my face, sat back, and looked at me.

I touched my ear. “Oh, yes,” I said, perplexed. “I must have forgotten I’d had it pierced.”

“There are several holes. What a funny boy you are,” she said. “I’ve watched you dancing. You do it wonderfully. You must have trained somewhere.”

“I did.”

“Where?” She went on, “Will you dance with me all night?”

“Not all night, Patricia.”