Got Your Number

our dorm."
    "I don't think I want to hear this."
    "It was a Friday night, and I didn't have a date, so I thought I'd wash a few towels while the laundry room was empty."
    Roxann steeled herself for graphic details.
    "I climbed up on the washer to sit and read, and suddenly, I started feeling really weird and warm. Then in the middle of the spin cycle, whammo!"
    A few seconds passed before her words fully sank in. "You mean..."
    Angora nodded. "I still do laundry every Saturday night. The smell of a dryer vent turns me on."
    "Um...wow."
    "You think I'm nuts."
    "No, I think you're...resourceful."
    "You and I are in our sexual peak right now, you know."
    "Whatever that means."
    "If you don't have a boyfriend, what do you do for sex?"
    Roxann squirmed. "Let's just say I do my laundry about once a month."
    "So is everyone in the world doing laundry?"
    "Less risky, I suppose. Physically and emotionally."
    "But why are relationships with men so hard?"
    "Relationships in general are hard, but throw sex into the pot, and it's a recipe for disaster."
    "But women want sex, and men want sex."
    "But not at the same time, or for the same reasons."
    "So it's all a game."
    Roxann shrugged. "Life is a game."
    "Don't you believe there's a perfect man out there for you?"
    "I'd settle for an imperfect man with a small measure of nobility."
    "And will you know him when you find him?"
    "I'd like to think so, although I haven't been actively looking."
    "But what if he's not looking, either?"
    "Huh?"
    "If he's not looking, and you're not looking, then how will you find each other?"
    "Angora, I'm not losing sleep over a manhunt." There were too many other things to lose sleep over. "When it comes right down to it, you have to be happy with yourself before you can be happy with someone else."
    "The reason we're alone is that we're not happy with ourselves?"
    Roxann squinted. Did she say that?
    Angora reached behind the seat and dug an item out of the box of junk on the floorboard. "Let's consult the Magic 8 Ball." She held the toy reverently and closed her eyes tight. "Will Roxann and I find the person who fulfills us?" She turned over the toy and squealed. "Yes, definitely."
    Roxann laughed. "I told you that thing is broken."
    "Maybe not—maybe we're just coming up 'Yes, definitelys.' What would be so bad about meeting the person who fulfills us?"
    "I...need to focus on the road signs."
    Angora pointed to a banner strung across the road ahead of them, swaying in the waning daylight. "Little Rock Fall Festival, October tenth through the twenty-first. Oh, can we stop?"
    "Sure. I could stand to stretch my legs a little."
    "And I'm starving."
    "You have Frito crumbs on your chin."
    Several miles down the road, they entered the commercial and residential outskirts of Little Rock.
    "There's a sign for parking up ahead," Angora said, bouncing. "Oh, look at the crowd—and there's a carnival going on!"
    Tomorrow she was limiting Angora's sugar intake. Roxann pulled Goldie into the parking lot and backed into the space a parking attendant indicated. When she jumped down from the van, she found herself smiling in spite of the worries nagging the back of her brain. The scent of buttered popcorn floated on the warm night air, and organ music danced on a breeze. Families were chained together by their hands, with children straining in every direction. Roxann could feel the tension draining away. The snug black jeans and silky red tee felt alien, as well as the new hair and makeup, but she was enjoying the "disguise"—it made her feel freer somehow. Freer to have fun. With a jolt she realized she'd forgotten what it was like to have fun.
    Corn dogs and beer were first on Angora's list. Roxann indulged, too, even though she knew she'd probably regret it later. Next they rode the carousel and the Tilt-A-Whirl. Then Angora spotted a flight simulator and talked Roxann into going a round for the sake of the “piloting” item of her life list. Angora was so dizzy afterward she needed to be helped from the ride. Still, she insisted she was going to learn to fly a plane someday.
    Roxann couldn't help but notice that Angora's confidence grew in relation to their distance from Dee. God only knew what evil things that woman had done to her daughter, and how the trauma would manifest itself. It was good to see her cousin smiling and laughing, playing children's games and buying silly souvenirs. She fairly glowed. It helped that because of her crown, the locals