“Fourteen.”
“All right, well, you enjoy the fighting now,” The man turned back to face forward and watch the action himself.
I kept quiet and suffered through another round of fighting as brutal as the first one. Midway through, the sun reached us and the men around us stripped out of their shirts.
Tyton was half into taking off his shirt when he asked, “You don’t mind if I take it off, do you?”
“No. I’m just envious.”
“Do you have anything on underneath?”
“Yes, a top and a t-shirt.”
“Can’t you take that off at least?”
It was a bit of a trick to get the t-shirt off while still wearing the big hoodie, but because it was so baggy, I managed without anyone but Tyton noticing.
“Better?”
“A little, but I wish I had a fan.” I threw a nod to the VIP section, where Wilma and seven other women sat with electric fans in front of them.
“Let’s hope Emmerson knocks out his opponent and gets a quick victory.”
With a sound of agreement, I leaned back and since I had zero interest in the fighting, I studied Tyton’s broad shoulders and back. It was incredible how large all these men were compared to our men at home. He was resting his elbows on his thighs and even without flexing there were still bumps of muscle on his arms.
My mind was occupied by taking mental notes and putting words to all the strangeness around me.
The large turkey legs that men chewed on and ripped pieces off with their teeth. The large cups of beers that they drank like it was water, and the group to my left who smoked something with a spicy smell.
I watched how they shared things, like when one brought back six beers and handed them to people around him or when the man who lit up the strange device that he used for smoking passed it around to others around him.
At one point when Emmerson threw a mean punch, a man nine rows down from us stood up and called Emmerson a long row of curse words. It provoked another man in the audience who had been cheering for Emmerson and he threw the bone from his turkey leg at the critic but hit a third man instead.
The three of them now stood across a sea of people and shouted obscenities at each other.
“They’re missing out on the fight,” I said after having been silent since the whole thing began.
“You’re right, but the later in the day, the more fights break out among the audience members. People get drunk and stupid.”
When others rose from their seats and shouted for the three men to sit down, Tyton leaned in and whispered, “I don’t like this. Unless security comes to calm them down, we’ll have to get out of here. I don’t want to get caught in a massive brawl.”
“I wouldn’t mind leaving now. I’m melting from the heat.” I’d been wanting to ask him if we could leave but was afraid of sounding whiny.
Tyton kept staring at the fight, where Emmerson and the other man were going at each other. I envied Wilma, who sat in a short-sleeved dress with a fan in front of her. She was in the shade and still hot. I was in the blazing sun and felt like dying.
“Just hang on for a minute.” Tyton was invested in the fight and had bet a lot of his money on it.
For another five minutes I sat in agony. With my sweat dripping down from my wet hair into my eyes, I was worried about the glue of the fake eyebrows. Joan had given me extra glue in case I needed it, but I would need a mirror to apply it.
When I felt dizzy and weak like jelly, I touched his arm. “Tyton, if you take me to a cold place, I’ll be forever grateful. I’m so hot.”
“Yeah, I will, just… I think Emmerson has him now.” Tyton wasn’t looking at me but focused on the fight.
I couldn’t wait for Emmerson any longer. If I didn’t get out of here, I would faint from overheating. Even now, I was worried that I would fall down the stairs if I tried walking.
“Tyton…”
“Uh-huh?” He kept his eyes on the fight.
