Lunch in the sunken courtyard.

"Are you hungry," I asked Lisa, "shall we do lunch and the personals, or do you want to watch the people some more?"

Lisa blinked, breaking her gaze on the blonde skater lovingly licking her ice cream cone. "Let's get lunch," she said. She gave me a sly little smile. "How about that place with the sunken courtyard?"

Lisa was on the prowl.

When we'd come out to look at houses a few weeks ago, we had stopped for lunch at a restaurant in the mall with a sunken garden. Lisa had had to keep kicking me because our table was at an angle where I could hardly help but look up the skirts of the women passing by on the suspended walkway above the garden. From the looks she'd given me that day, I never thought we'd go there again.

Ten minutes later we were at the same table, sipping tall lemonades and waiting for our orders. Our waitress was a cheerful young woman whose nametag said, "Scout," and she and Lisa had chatted amiably while I considered my order. Lisa was sitting where I'd been last time, and I saw her glancing up from time to time. While I'd seen her check out men before, I'd never seen that nervous fascination in her eyes until now, when she was looking at women "that way".

We took turns reading the "Hot Connections" personals from the local alternative paper. After a lot of snickering and raised eyebrows, Lisa ended up with a few possibilities.

Renaissance (Faire) couple seeks lovers of life for lusty adventures. She: velvet dresses and chainmail bracelets, gargantuan appetite for sex and sensation, missing the feminine touch but could always fit in some time with the right guy. He: cook, home brewer and exotic gardener, loves to watch, open to participate. No pain, humiliation, or mercy fucks. Couple, female, or man with strong common interests preferred.

SF, bi-curious foreign student, suddenly lonely for best girlfriend, wishes to meet other women thinking about women seriously for the first time. How do you figure these things out? Friends first, no agenda.

MBF, too much love to keep it all at home, seeks lovin' F for fun times. Race/figure unimportant, be healthy, happy, and horny. Novices OK, I was shy too, sugar. Want to try something wild? Just ask.

Fit and Active DWF, seeks gal pal for swim, sauna, exercise, massage, and mutual orgasms! A big old house gets lonely now that I'm an empty nester.

"What do you think?" I asked Lisa. "Worth checking some of them out, or should we put an ad in, now that you see what they look like?"

Lisa looked down abruptly from her inspection of the suspended walkway. "Ummmm..." she said. Her ears were pink, and not from sun.

Our food arrived in the arms of our waitress Scout. She looked at Lisa and asked, "Is everything all right? You suddenly look very flushed."

Lisa said. "Do you have a restroom?"

"Oh." Scout said. "Actually it's out of order, but we have one through the kitchen. Let me take you back," she said to Lisa.

"Excuse me a minute," Lisa said to me. Scout took her hand and threaded her through the maze of tightly packed tables to the kitchen entrance.

You look at your empty lemonade glass. It occurs to you that you might want to visit the restroom too, though you could probably wait.

You look up toward the suspended walkway. There's a woman headed toward the walkway who looks sort of familiar. If you move into Lisa's chair, you could probably get a good view of her from below.