On the very last row of seats, a man sat, light jacket over a dark t-shirt, long denim jeans, athletic shoes, a Brave’s baseball cap covering a fresh haircut, pulled over his forehead and dark sunglasses. He had hoped that the librarian would not have given in to the older black man and stayed at the back of the auditorium. The Stalker could have gotten some awesome voyeuristic pictures of her seated alone, nothing to obstruct his view. He cursed Rufus under his breath, the small compact digital camera hugging his palm. He hoped that the trouble of following her tonight would pay off, with at least a few pictures, if not something more. The lights dimmed throughout the auditorium as those on stage intensified. He thought back to the few hours prior. Holding her hand in his, so soft, so feminine, he’d gotten caught up in the moment and almost gave her his real name. Thankfully, ‘Rob’ had come to his mind quickly. Surely he’d be able to come up with a logical explanation for that guffaw later, when he revealed himself to her completely.
An announcer made his way to the microphone positioned in the front center of the large stage. He wore a striking, classic black suit, white ruffled shirt and black bow tie. Blanche suspected he’d be the only one dressed so modestly appearing on stage tonight. He welcomed the crowd who responded with hoots and hollers, except for the timid Blanche, who clapped in her own unassuming way. Rufus, on the other hand, was making enough noise for both of them. The MC explained the rules of the competition and introduced the three judges seated at a long table in front of the stage, a pitcher of water and glasses with ice, before each judge, as well as pads and pens. The women’s portion of the evening would start, beginning with the mandatory portion of the event. Blanche understood, based on the explanation, that contestants must present themselves on stage and perform a set series of poses to display their overall fitness and physique. Scores would be tabulated and recorded, and then the second half of the competition would begin. It was deemed ‘freestyle’ and was set to music. The bodybuilders were allowed 90 seconds to wow the crowd with whatever moves and poses they saw fit. Again, this would be scored and the highest overall tally would be reigned Ms. Muscle or Mr. Muscle, respectively.
Blanche had no idea what to expect, she’d never seen such a competition either on television or live. There were seven men and seven women vying for the titles. The original field of applicants had been over a hundred but the judges had looked at photos and past performances to determine who would compete in the final seven. The women were introduced one by one as they walked onto the stage, each wore a small cover up that they dropped to the floor when they reached their marker on the stage floor and their name was announced. The male portion of the audience greeted the dropping of the shroud with exuberant applause and catcalls. The women were a bit too mannish for Blanche’s taste but they were in phenomenal shape, each muscle group well defined and shimmering in the lights as the oil reflected the multi directional beams. There were four black ladies, two Caucasian and a Filipino; the heaviest of the group was 195 lbs of rock solid muscle. As far as the toned, but less than muscular Delaney could tell, most of the women appeared to have breast implants, some more natural looking than the others. The smallest of the group was the Southeast Asian, she stood 5’ 4” and weighed only 150 lbs, but she was very well proportioned and perhaps even had natural breasts, at least what was left of them. Apparently, Blanche gathered, bodybuilding was not for women interested in keeping a full, natural bustline. She noted that the women were all quite dark except for their faces. It was obvious that they were tanning from the neck down but avoiding their faces, even the black contestants. She filed away in her memory a question for Jasper regarding this observation.
The contest began with the larger of the Caucasian women, and before she was allowed to start, the judge reminded the audience to be respectful of the ladies and keep the sexual epitaphs to a minimum. Concentration was needed and the contestants had worked hard to get to this stage of the competition. That said, the first ran through her routine, demonstrating the various mandatory poses, exited the stage to the rampant applause of many in the audience.
“Must have a lot of family here,” Blanche thought, looking over her shoulder at the people clapping in wild abandons.
This repeated itself six more times until the compulsory portion of the competition was over. Blanche favored the smaller woman but each could hold the title as far as she could tell. Amazing what one can do with their body, a barbell, hours of spare time and hard work in a gym, Blanche concluded, and determined to make sure she allowed time for a run in the morning.
The men’s portion began a few moments later, giving the women a chance to change and prepare for the freestyle portion of the program. The men, one by one, entered the stage sans cover up, each taking up a spot on the platform and did a couple of quick poses to the delight and thunderous applause of the audience. Jasper was number four in the lineup and Blanche had to admit he looked good, very good, all shiny and pumped up. He gave her a quick wink when he’d concluded his introduction; she applauded and waved in return.
Rufus was much more excited than Blanche, he stood and stomped his foot on the ground and chanted, “Whoot, Whoot Jasper — Whoot, Whoot Jasper!” Bringing even more applause from the revved up audience.
Much like the women’s portion had been, the men each had their time on stage to display their physiques and their ability to present a set routine of poses. Each contestant was very muscular. Jasper was the tallest of the bunch, but not the thickest. One fellow had extremely broad shoulders, giving the illusion that he was as big around through the chest and arms as he was tall. The smallest of the group again appeared to be of Asian descent, was well proportioned but perhaps not as defined as the rest of the field. Blanche, oddly enough, felt more comfortable watching the men’s portion of the competition than the women’s, but she found herself enjoying both. At the conclusion of the men’s compulsory, the women started into the freestyle.
“This looks like it should be fun,” she leaned over and said to Rufus, who had his eyes glued on the stage in anticipation of the first female competitor.
“Oh, yeah, dis is gonna be good, ah ight, rea good!” he indicated, without taking his eyes from the stage.
The first woman waltzed onto the stage, a different suit barely covering her unmentionables, and a popular tune with lots of percussion began thumping out a beat. She moved, flexed, pirouetted and shook her ‘things’ like nobody's business. Blanche found herself looking around, expecting the police department to raid the place, but none did and the audience members, women and men alike, got into the groove with the young woman and cheered her on until the final note played. Again, this carried on for six more contestants, each tune somewhat different, some having more dance skills than others, but each uniquely talented and possessing a body blown up beyond its normal limits. The judges madly conversed with one another, frantically writing down notes, as the dancing and flexing finally concluded. Blanche felt like she needed to get home and take a shower. The awarding of the Ms. Muscle title would be postponed until the men had completed their side of the event.
Blanche was surprised to see the men do basically the same thing but with somewhat less finesse. After all, how to you bump and grind 300 lbs of muscle and make it look appealing? However, when Jasper took the stage, she was in awe at how well he could move that huge physique? She was also surprised that he had been able to find a thong swimsuit smaller than the one he’d worn in the first half of the competition. The massive bodybuilder played well to the audience but went out of his way to look in her direction as he worked his way through the 90 seconds of music. Again, Blanche was impressed with all the contestants, thinking that any of them could hold the title.