Toni, Dana and Melanie collapsed into chairs at a café in Denver´s Cherry Creek Mall, dumping packages and bags on an empty chair. A server appeared and they ordered Cokes. As they were finishing their order, Jenny appeared and ordered the same. She sat down with them and Sylvia followed closely after.
“You keep wandering off, Jen, what are you looking for?’ Toni asked her.
“I´m checking every clothing store I can find for shirts.’ She looked at her friends. “I´ve been looking for a really nice, sheer white blouse, and I can´t find one anywhere.’
“What kind of sheer blouse. See-through?’ Melanie asked.
“Well, sort of,’ Jenny replied, “I want something that almost shows my breasts, but not quite. It´s pretty hard to find really sexy tops.’
“Don´t even talk to me,’ Sylvia said.
“Funny,’ Dana said, “I´ve been looking for something sexy in skirts. That´s hard, too.’
Melanie waved her hand dismissively, “You mean those knit tubes they call skirts?’
“No, Mel,’ Dana countered, “not those – they´re awful. I mean real skirts, different lengths, with slits and stuff that look sexy. Real hard to find.’
“That´s different,’ Mel agreed. “They are hard to find. Maybe we should start a new product line – Tops and Bottoms. What do you think of that?’
“You´ll get every lesbian in town in your store – once at least,’ Dana said, grinning hugely.
“So?’ Melanie asked, with a leer. “Just as long as they buy something, what do I care?’
Toni looked thoughtful. “You´ve got a point, Dana. I know some people who can come up with tops; it´s not as hard as you think. But I think I´ll have a fling at some of those bottoms. See what I come up with. The trick we should be able to pull off is to get them all into a single line that stands by itself. Sort of like the old Mix ‘n Match idea.’
Melanie waved at the server, ordered a salad and a glass of wine. The rest followed suit. “Now,’ Mel said, “what have we got, today?’
“Not a hell of a lot,’ Jenny said. “We´ve checked everything in Lower Downtown, Larimer Street, then the 16th Street Mall and now Cherry Creek. Nada. Not one place that sells the kind of stuff we´re doing.’
Sylvia volunteered, “I went into a couple of sex shops on Colfax. They haven´t got a thing that isn´t trash. No imagination. Didn´t get too much time to look around, though.’
“Why not?’ Jenny asked.
“Soon as I´d get in and start looking at the lingerie, they´d think I´m a kid and throw me out. No point in making a fuss, though, so I went.’
Melanie was jubilant. “Hey, that means the field is wide open. We can open stores of our own, or franchises, or get established lingerie stores to take us on as an added department, a boutique. We may have hit a niche in the market.’
“The field may be wide open, Mel,’ Toni observed, “but that doesn´t mean smooth sailing. Don´t forget that Victoria´s Secret has a lot of really sexy clothes. We´re going to have to really merchandise our stuff, if we want to get established. At least in Denver – that´s all we know about. We need more information about other markets. And, Frederick´s of Hollywood has upgraded their line a lot, too.’
Melanie sighed. “I just don´t see why there can´t be a place in that market for the independent, for the little girl, like me.’
Jenny noted, “I went through the yellow pages last weekend, you know. Called just about every lingerie shop in town. There´s really no one in that business here. I agree we need to check other markets. I can get CD-ROMs of the yellow pages in some other markets, find out what´s going on there.’
“Why not just get some canned market research?’ Melanie asked.
“That stuff´s expensive, and unless you really know what to ask for, it can be a waste. I´ll check it out, though.’
“Hey, Jen,’ Dana said, “I´ve got a problem. Ed and I miss you since you´ve moved. When are you coming by again?’
“Just ask, Dana. I miss your cooking. Not to mention your body.’ She looked around. “I love living with Sheldon, so far, but there are drawbacks.’
Toni said, “Yeah, me too. I´ve got the couch in my office, but now you have my apartment, I don´t have a hideout.’
Sylvia snickered. “I thought that was what it was for.’
Melanie gave her a grin. “We need a commune,’ she said. “Where we can all live together and have places to go when we want to get bare or get laid.’
“Forget that,’ Dana said. “It didn´t work too well in the 60´s and it won´t now. Maybe a community of some kind, though. Like, if we all had houses close to each other. Maybe Sylvia has ideas about that.’
“Oh, sure,’ Sylvia said. “I´d love to do something like that. All the houses with a common play area, maybe physically joined so as to share utilities. Be a lot of fun to figure out. And a challenge to stay inside the codes and zoning regs.’
“Well,’ Toni added, “I don´t know if I want to live in someone else´s space, like a commune. No offense; it´s just, I do like privacy – if I can make up the definition as I go along. But, it sure would be great to be able to get together more easily. Kind of difficult to arrange, I suspect.’
“At least,’ Jenny said with a half-smile, “we might have a pool and a place we could sun without having always to get Ned to invite us.’
Sylvia said, “Well, we – you – all act and live like you are one family, even if you do have different ideas. Sort of a polyamorous community. You could probably share a lot of utilities, hold down construction costs if... well, if I get a bright idea. I guess, if I could create enough privacy for each couple, for the family as a whole and some common bare-ass space, I might want to live there, too. After all, it´s my choice who I sleep with. Phil´s got a say in it, too, but we haven´t talked about it yet. Probably about time. We´re all going to want kids someday, too.’
Toni rose to the bait. “Think about it,’ she said to Sylvia, then to the others, “And, you all know you´re always welcome at our place when you want take your clothes off. But, she´s right, we could use a place where we had some community space.’
“Right now, ladies,’ Melanie said, “I´m going to head back to Ned and Toni´s and collect Rudy. If he´s already got his clothes off, I´ll make him take care of me before we leave. You joining us, Sylvia?’
“Know what guys? I´m going with you. Phil´s there anyway.’ she said. “I love to be bare, and I´ve been thinking about some of the things Toni and Ned told me. Phil and I have been talking all this over. Maybe we can have it our way while you have yours.
“On the other hand, Sheldon´s there, too. I´ve missed him. Have to see what happens.’