Chapter 13

The Hot Box

For your enjoyment!" the announcer at the hot box said "Miss Adelaide and her Hot Box Chicklets!"

the opening cords for "Bushel and a peck" play as the lights come up on the Hot box dancers with Ginny in the center all wearing fringed Dresses With cowboy boots. Off to the side Harry sits at a small table with a reserved sigh on it. Ginny starts to sing with a Brooklyn accent.

"I love you, a bushel and a peck,
A bushel and a peck and a hug around the neck,
A hug around the neck and a barrel and a heap,
Barrel and a heap and I'm talkin' in my sleep,
About you-"

"About you?" the girls sing in response.

"About you-"

"My heart is leapin', I'm havin' trouble sleepin'" the girls sing as they dance.

"'Cause I love you, a bushel and a peck,
You bet your pretty neck I do!"

"Doodle oodle oodle, doodle oodle oodle,
Doodle oodle oodle, oo doo" they all sing in unison

"C'mon girls! Aaaaaaaaaaah!" she tosses a ear of corn to Harry who blows her a kiss

"AAAAAha! Mmm Mmm!"

"I love you, a bushel and a peck,
a bushel and a peck tho' it beats me all the heck" the girls sing happily

"Beats me all the heck, how I'll ever tend the farm,
ever tend the farm when I wanna keep my arm about you-" Ginny sings.

"About you?" the girls sing

"About you-" sings Ginny in response.

"The cows and chickens, are going to the dickens"

"'Cause I love you, a bushel and a peck you bet your pretty neck I do!
He loves me, he loves me not!
He loves me, he loves me not!
He loves me!
And I love you, a bushel and a peck,
A bushel and a peck
You bet your pretty neck I do!"

"Doodle oodle oodle," they all sing.

"Goodbye now!
Wow! Ooh! OH!" Ginny Yelled Happily. This was her favorite number. She went of stage put on her silk robe and reentered. She knew what she had to do.

"Nathan darling!" she said running to him and kissing him on the lips. This surprised Harry, because they were suppose to air kiss. Not that he was complaining. It was a really good kiss and he didn't want it to end.

"Adelaide you did wonderful" he said spinning her around.

"Oh I know" Ginny said with a smile. "Nathan how 'bout we go out to celebrate!"

"I can't doll I've got some, um, business to take care of." Harry said nervously.

"NATHAN DETROIT YOU BETTER NOT BE RUNNING YOUR CRAP GAME or I'll, or I'll LEAVE YOU!" Ginny shouted angrily before sneezing loudly.

"Look, Adelaide," Harry said "you're gettin' yourself upset! You and I are gonna be all right.
After all, we love each other, and we're gonna get married!"

"I don't believe you anymore." Ginny said turning away from him. She herself didn't know what to think. She couldn't tell how Harry reacted to the kiss."But it's true! Oh, you'll get better tomorrow; come on!
Cheer up, honey, let's see that old smile!" Harry Pinches her face.

" Ahagh..."

"That's my girl, see you tomorrow!" he exits leaving her alone on stage. She sneezes again.

"It says here...
The average unmarried female
Basic'lly insecure
Due to some long frustration
May react
With psychosomatic symptoms
Difficult to endure
Affecting the upper respiratory tract"

She pauses and looks at the audience.

"In other words,
Just from waiting around
For that plain little band of gold
A person can develop a cold
You can spray her wherever you figure
The streptococci lurk
You can give her a shot
For whatever she's got
But it just won't work
If she's tired of getting the fish-eye
From the hotel clerk
A person
Can develop a cold"

She flips through the book again.

"It says here...
The female remaining single
Just in the legal sense
Shows a neurotic tendency
See note"

She looks confused.

"Tendency see note
Oh, see note ah!
Chronic organic syndromes
Toxic or hypertense
Involving the eye,
The ear and the nose and throat
In other words,
Just from wond'rin'
Whether the wedding is on or off,
A person
Can develop a cough!
You can feed her all day
With the Vitamin A
And the Bromo Fizz
But the medicine never
Gets anywhere near
Where the trouble is!
If she's getting a kind
Of name for herself
And the name ain't "his"
A person
Can develop a cough"

she puts down the book.

"And further more
Just from stalling
And stalling and stalling
The wedding trip
A person
Can develop La grippe"

she then takes a vale out of a box that is sitting on the table, and puts it on.

"When they get on a train
For Niag'ra
And she can hear church bells chime"

Bells are heard offstage.

"The compartment is air conditioned
And the mood sublime"

Suddenly she throws of the vale and sings angrily.

"Then they get off at Saratoga
For the fourteenth time
A person
Can develop La grippe
La grippe, La post nasal drip
With the wheezes
And the sneezes
And a sinus that's really a pip!
From a lack of community property
And a feeling she's getting too old
A person
Can develop
A bad, bad cold!
Atchum!" she finishes the song with a sneeze that knocks her into a chair.

Backstage during the song Harry can't keep his eyes off of Ginny. She really had grown up since her saved her from the chamber of secrets during second year. He realized that she wasn't just Ron's little sister anymore, she was something more.

'shit' he thought closing his eyes 'Ron is going to kill me.'