Forrester blinked. "Really?"
"Take it from me," Diana said. "How about Tenting Tonight?"
"How about what?"
"Tenting Tonight," Diana said. "You know."
"I--guess I do." Forrester wished that Diana would do more than treat
him like a pal. She was a remarkably beautiful woman, if you liked the
type, and Forrester liked virtually any type.
Now, success appeared to be within his grasp. But it did seem an odd
time to bring the subject up. Oh, well, he thought, maybe she was just
trying to cheer him up and had picked this way of doing it.
It worked, too, he told himself happily.
He cleared his throat. "Where?"
Diana stared. "Where?"
"That's right," Forrester said. Something was going wrong but he
couldn't discover what it was. "The tenting."
"Oh," Diana said. "Right here. Now. Raises the spirits."
"I should say it does!" Forrester agreed enthusiastically. "But after
all--right here--"
"Don't worry about it, kid. Nobody will hear you."
"_Hear_ me?"
"Anyway, it's nothing to be ashamed of. Lots of people do it when they
feel low."
"I'll bet they do," Forrester said. "But it's different with you and
me."
"Me?" Diana said. "What do I have to do with it? I just told you--"
"Well, sure. And here and now is as good a time and place as any."
Diana stepped back a pace. "Okay, let's hear it. Sing!"
"Sing? You mean I have to sing for my--"
"I'll join you," Diana said.
Forrester nodded. He was beginning to get confused. "You'd better," he
said.
"_Tenting tonight on the old camp grounds_," she sang. "Now come on."
Forrester coughed. "Oh," he said. "Sing."
"Sure," Diana said, and they went through the song together. "How about
another chorus?" she asked.
"It's all right, Diana," Forrester said, knowing she preferred the name
to her Greek one of Artemis. "I feel fine now."
"Well," Diana said in a disappointed voice, "all right."
What surprised Forrester most was that he _did_ feel fine. All the Gods
had helped him in the past several months, but Diana had been especially
helpful. As a forest Goddess, and as Protectress of the Night, she'd
been able to tell him a lot about how an orgy was arranged. He had often
wished that she would teach by example, but now, he discovered, it was
too late for wishing.
She was, he told himself with only faint regret, just like a sister to
him. Or even a brother.
"I guess everything will be okay," he said. "Won't it?"
Diana clapped him on the back. "You're going to be great. Just go out
there and show 'em what kind of a God you are."
"But what kind of a God am I?"
"Just keep cool, kid. You won't fail me--I know it."
"I'll try," Forrester said. "Only I'm getting nervous just sitting
around here. I wish we could go out and stroll around; we've got plenty
of time, anyhow."
Diana nodded. "It's ten minutes yet before the Procession starts. I
suppose we might as well take a look around, kid, if it makes you feel
better."
"It might."
"Fine, then. But how do you want to go?"
Forrester blinked. "How?"
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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