1950's music was making me sway my hips as I tied my frilly apron. It was impractical, made of layered organza with little ribbon bows making indentations. It could never be a real apron. It was the kind of thing you found on a doll. My drag persona, Amelie, was like a doll. 1950's housewife Barbie mixed with Lucille Ball. This apron was my final touch, putting me into character, getting my head on right. It was my license to go wild. I was no longer shy, mild-manner Kazuya. This apron said I was allowed to be whoever I wanted to be. 

Today, my dress had a strawberry pattern. Cute, little paired strawberries with their green stems along the bottom of my white and mint circle skirt. Layers of tulle were underneath, rustling when I moved. The top was off the shoulder, a straight line. Much too fancy for a normal housewife. I imagined she must be very fancy, not actually having to do any work. She was the idea of a housewife, but in reality she must be a rich person who never lifted a finger. A show, a put on, for her husband. Now that I knew about actual rich people from the hotel, this persona took on a whole new perspective. Maybe there weren't any nice rich people like Amelie.

My hips swayed as I peered behind me. I grinned, seeing Gyeong-Wan staring at me. His shoulders straightened up when he saw me staring at him. He was sitting on a stool near my work table. Had he been staring at me the whole time? He was supposed to be boxing up cookies. Tonight, we were offering a dessert bar alongside Drag Bingo. Free cookies and melted chocolate dip. I'd made them this morning and some more after we closed, rushing around. They'd been simple, and Gyeong-Wan had helped me with the last couple of batches, stirring in chocolate chips with an unsure face. So nervous. He didn't need to be nervous. It was just chocolate chips! I'd seen him cutely sneak one or two into his mouth when he thought I wasn't looking. It made me giggle inside.

Outside the door, Yash and Nikki were organizing the stage. In thirty minutes we'd have a full house. Miyuki was bringing pork dishes, agreeing to provide food. She'd argued with me over the phone that a dessert bar wasn't enough. "You remember at the drag bar when the crowd was hungry? They'd turn on us. Get all grumpy. I'm not going to allow that." So, she was making pork dumplings and pork cutlets, gravy, as well as mountains of rice. Comfort foods, so that we wouldn't have a riot. I hoped to get a pork cutlet afterward, if they didn't eat them all. Miyuki's cooking was always the best. A variety of people often volunteered to make the food, but I always loved Miyuki's. She put in more effort.

A lot of noise went up outside of the door. I paused in securing my little fruit basket earrings, my fingers at my ear. Cheers went up from Nikki, who was always the loudest one in the room. Next, I heard Miyuki's familiar voice. I started jumping in my shiny red heels. The pork was here. I turned to Gyeong-Wan, who was looking quizzically at the door.

"That's Miyuki. She brought some pork dishes. Go eat, okay? Before everyone gets here and it's a mad dash for it." I finished securing my earring and went for the other one. 

"What about you?"

"Huh?" I turned, my fingers at my other ear. He'd stood up, staring at me now with a hopeful expression. "Me?" Where was my shyness coming from? My cheeks were aglow under my makeup. 

He made his way across the room, too handsome in his gray suit and black tie. As he encountered me in my little mirror, I saw the dream come true. There was Amelie, looking like a rich housewife, and there was her rich husband in his suit, much too handsome to be real. Not like Ken to his Barbie at all, but somebody much more serious. It made my eyes go wide, my blush come in full force. He brushed a stray strawberry-blonde curl from my shoulder, exposing it. My whole body stiffened up at it. Just this simple motion was much too intimate. Making my whole body come alive. 

"Don't you want to eat?" He asked innocently, staring at me in the mirror. 

"Uh, yeah," I said dumbly, staring at him over my shoulder. He was even the right height. "But, my makeup. I don't want to ruin it."

"I'll feed you with chopsticks."

My cheeks were aflame, he couldn't have really said that. My eyes were wide and my hands were on my cheeks when the door burst open, making us both jump. 

"Holy shit, Kazu!" Nikki hissed. "Kazu, Kazu!" He was making frantic come here motions with his hand. Outside of the doorway there were loud, adoring noises from Miyuki, a slow scream from Yash. The familiar loud, brash laugh of Prin was filling everything. 

"Nooo," I whined, putting out my cherry red lip. What had Gyeong-Wan been about to say-

"Get over here! Oh my god, I don't know what to do! Tell Prin to take it back!"

"Is it an even bigger dildo than last time? What is it?" I asked, surrendering. I went toward him, fully finished getting ready anyway. 

From the open doorway I got my answer, though, and my feet went faster. It couldn't be. Gyeong-Wan was following me like a loyal puppy. 

"Bleeeh," something responded from the room beyond. "Beeeeh..."

I stood, framed in my kitchen doorway. My eyes were questioning, wondering which planet I had landed on. What alternate dimension I was suddenly in.

"Ahh, Kazu," Prin grinned at me near the stage. He was holding out something that didn't make any sense to Miyuki, who was on the stage now. She was making grabby hands, her grin the widest I'd ever seen. "Do you like him? I got him two days ago from my brother who lives in Chiba. Unfortunately, I can't keep him. I thought it would be full grown, so I could eat him."

"EAT HIM?!" Miyuki shrieked, now taking the obviously terrified, little gray baby goat into her arms. She took him quicker, hugging him to her body protectively. "You were going to EAT this baby?!"

"Hahaha, don't put it that way. I wanted an adult to slaughter for my Christmas meal. It's this Sunday, after all. However, I think some lines got crossed and my brother sent me this baby. I have no need for a baby. I thought somebody would want him. They can raise him and eat him when they're ready."

"Nobody's going to eat him," Miyuki cooed to it, petting its head as it bleated pitifully in her arms. 

"Well, we'll see."

"Prin." Nikki returned to the stage, staring down at him now. "I don't think anyone can take him. I don't think a goat qualifies as a pet that's allowed in an apartment in Tokyo."

"Well, I don't know who has connections. Maybe they can send him to a farm until they're ready. My brother can't take him back. He's a male, anyway. My brother has no use for males." He scratched his old head. He was just an old man who was mildly upset that he would not be eating goat for Christmas. Unsure what to do, trying to pawn off this goat to us now. What in the world would we do with it?

I joined him in front of the stage. My fingers scratched the goat's side, and it bleated to me. That little face. The rectangular pupils on me, staying there. My heart melted like chocolate in my body.

"Well, what have you been doing with it since you got it?" Nikki asked, petting the goat, too. Gyeong-Wan was nervously hesitating, wanting to pet it, too. It warmed my heart.

"He's been in the shop with us." 

The image of the small goat surrounded by dildos and handcuffs made my hand go over my mouth.

"Whaaat?" Miyuki exclaimed. At the loud noise, the goat bleated even more pitifully, scared now. Of course it was scared. I'd be scared, too, if I were a little goat. Where were its green pastures? Where was its mom? It almost made me want to cry. I blinked away small tears.

"Yeah. We have to feed it every two hours. He's so young. He never should have been removed from his mother. Somchai was feeding him. He's grown pretty attached, but I told him that we don't get attached to farm animals. He thought I was heartless, but well. He didn't want me to bring the goat here. He named it. You don't name farm animals."

"I could grow attached, too," Miyuki cooed to it. 

"Well, I'm sure he's very delicious."

Miyuki's mouth opened in scandal, but I spoke first. My hand was over its head, flopping its long ears in my petting. "There's no way. It need its mom. You said yourself, its too young to be away from her." My small tears were threatening to become larger, my heart going out to the little animal.

"I don't doubt that, but-"

The door chimed open and we were distracted. Bingo players were filing in, and as soon as they saw the goat they wanted to pet it, too. Some went for the pork dishes spread about the counter, getting ready to eat. It made me think of Gyeong-Wan, and how hungry he must be. It also reminded me of his offer to feed me. It couldn't be real. My blush was tenfold as I had to go play hostess. All the while, the terrified bleats of the baby goat rang over the crowd, shocking me every time I heard it, having to check if it was still true.

How in the world did a baby goat become a prize for Drag Bingo? There was one thing for sure: this would go down as the strangest prize in Drag Bingo history, and that was an incredibly hard trophy to win. The greatest of all time.