The Presentation

"What are you doing?"

I must have jumped a foot out of my seat. I hadn't heard my Muse come up behind me. Not that she was sneaking - the background noises of La Taverna would have drowned out the average person's steps.

Muse waited patiently for my heart rate and breathing to slow, then asked again. "The Fish Tank," I finally gasped.

Muse glanced at the old 100 gallon aquarium. Air bubbled up from concealed tubes. A lone sucker-fish was and some plants were the only current inhabitants. Just like the old days, the lid of a treasure chest would occasionally open to release trapped air, revealing the treasure inside.

She turned back to me. "What about it? Nobody uses the old Fish Tank anymore. The new one upstairs in the Function Room is ten times bigger, and has lots of fish in it. Des seems quite pleased with it."

"Oh, I know! I chatted with Desdmona earlier today. It's doing really well."

"Then why are you staring into the old Fish Tank?"

I considered how to answer, without coming off as a complete voyeur. I mean, as an author, there tends to be a little of the exhibitionist in me, I suppose, and as a reader, there's some smattering of the voyeur as well. But nobody wants to be thought just an old perv - well, not just an old perv, anyway.

So I hedged a little. "It's very pretty, and it draws the eye."

"What in particular draws your eye?" she asked.

Had she been reading my mind again? I leaned closer, and caught that gleam in her eye that told me I was being teased. "You know darn well what I'm looking at, and why," I thought at her.

She just laughed. "There's no paint on those stones," she told me. "They are either colored stones, crystals, or glass. Paint would harm fish."

I sighed. She was right, of course. Anyway, it was time to announce the winner of last month's Silver Clitorides Award. As I got up to go to the podium, I would swear I saw figures moving in the Fish Tank, but when I looked back - nothing.

I tapped on the microphone. Everyone does, and everyone else cringes or flinches as feedback squeals and sends shivers up and down spines. I shrugged an apology, and launched into my announcement.

"If I could have your attention, please..." I waited as the noise level dropped in La Taverna's main parlor. Welcome once again to the monthly Silver Clitorides Award Presentation. Yes, it's that time of the month again..."

"Too much bloody information," a heckler shouted. I ignored him.

"The winner of Silver Clitorides Award for the month of April, 2004 is It Was Sexual Right From The Start by Gentle But Firm. So, I'd like to congratulate Gentle But Firm and all the authors and finalists."

The April 2004 Silver Clitorides Awards Winner:

It Was Sexual Right From The Start by GentleButFirm

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