Panties for Sale (10 page)

Chieko’s house mother took her feet one by one out of the
hot water, carefully drying them with a soft towel.
 
“Yes, Chieko-san,” she said in a low soothing
voice, “all maiko’s say the same thing, especially in the summer.
 
It is so very hot.
 
But just you wait.
 
You will get used to it. You will grow to be
a beautiful geisha. You will be proud of the tradition someday.
 
It is very important. What should you care
what some stupid tourists think, eh? Can you imagine how cold and dull their
life must be outside of Japan?
Of course, they want to know more about you.
 
Everyone wants to know more about our ways.
 
Our way of life is the best. I know it’s
hard, Chieko-san. Sometimes we don’t fit in this world.
 
But your grandmother would be so proud of
you. You know, you look like her sometimes.
 
She used to sit here just like you.
 
And she hated the long hot summer days too. I promise,” the house mother
smiled, “one day you will think dressing up in this costume is very enjoyable.”
Chieko remembered how her house mother softly hummed as she gently pushed and
pulled on Chieko’s sore feet just like Mr. Smith was doing now.
  

“Mr. Smith!” Chieko opened her eyes and tried to pull her
foot away. But Mr. Smith’s hands were wrapped firmly around Chieko’s feet,
holding them tight in his strong grip while his tongue slowly circled each
toe.
 
His eyes were shut tight and he
moaned as he rubbed his thumb up and down the arch of her foot, oblivious to
Chieko’s protestations.
 
Wincing in pain,
she clenched her fists to stop herself from crying out as Mr. Smith focused all
his powers of suction onto her big toe.

Chieko watched as Mr. Smith’s eyes rolled back into their
sockets and his whole body twitched, stiffened and then shuddered.
 
Chieko’s foot dropped to the floor and with
barely a nod to Chieko, Mr. Smith crawled over to the bed and lay down with a
flop. “Money is on the TV.
 
Thank you,”
he whispered and then closed his eyes.
 
Within seconds, Mr. Smith was snoring peacefully leaving Chieko looking
down at her pickled toe.
 
She wiggled it
gently, then she wiggled the other toes.
 
Funny, Chieko thought as she shook her head, her feet had probably never
been cleaner, but had never felt so dirty at the same time.

Alex stood on the 7th floor of the Royal York Hotel just
outside the door to room 704.
 
It was
3:55.
 
She sighed.
 
5 minutes early. She didn’t want to be 5
minutes early.
 
Wouldn’t it be better to
be 5 minutes late?
 
She turned and walked
slowly back down the hall and tried to remember what else Angela had told her
about this client.

“His name is Joseph Cohen. He spells it with a J but it
sounds like a Y, like Yo-seph. I
 
don’t
know, is that French?
 
I think so. He
sounds French. He has the most gorgeous low voice.
 
He is 45. Nice age. And he’s wealthy.
 
He’s a new client for us.
 
But he was so excited to meet you.
 
He said you were just what he was looking
for.
 
Young, beautiful, perfect!
 
That’s what he said. And,” Angela had paused
to catch her breath, “you’re meeting him at the Royal York Hotel. That’s a high
class hotel.
 
Luck you!”

Alex wasn’t sure how lucky she was as she stood by the
elevators waiting for the clock to turn 4:00.
 
What if she screwed this up?
 
What
if he didn’t like her?
 
Would Angela give
her another chance?
 
What if she didn’t
like it?
 

“Say he is one of your first dozen appointments.
 
Don’t tell him he is your first,” Angela had
said.
 
“That way you still sound new,
fresh, but not so inexperienced that you don’t know what you are doing.
 
And be loud honey!
 
Make sure that he thinks he is amazing.
 
Moan and groan and climax just before he does
or when he does.
 
Don’t worry, if you
really are there, you know what I mean?
 
You know how to do that, right?
 
Oh and be touchy with him.
 
Touch
his arm when he talks to you.
 
Smile at
him.
 
Play with your hair, men like
that.
 
But, don’t forget.
 
Make sure he thinks he is the best lover you
have ever had.
 
And don’t do everything
on the first appointment.
 
Hint at other
things you can do to please him.
 
Something to do at a future appointment.
 
Then he’ll ask to see you again.
 
Just remember, you are there to please him. It’s the little things that
drive men wild. And that’s why my Angels are so special.
 
But, really darlin’ I don’t worry about you.
You have built in sex appeal.
 
If you are
half as good as you look, he’ll be dreaming about you for days.”

“Yeah, right,” Alex snorted as she looked in the mirror,
“dreaming about me for days.”
 
She put
another layer of pink lip gloss on so it looked wet and moist and pulled a few
more strands out of her bun to frame her face. She pushed her hand to her
stomach to try and stop the butterflies and then closed her eyes, breathing as
she counted to 10.
 
“Calm down,” she said
to her reflection.
 
“You can do
this.”
 
She grimaced, then turned and
walked down the hall.

Before she could knock, the door of room 704 swung open.
Time stopped as Alex’s eyes met the dark mysterious eyes smiling down at
her.
 
Eyes that hinted of darkened
entranceways, smoldering fires and exotic spices. Eyes that sparkled like deep
water in the moonlight, or a puddle of black oil trickling down the pavement in
front of a mechanic’s shop on a hot summer’s day.
 
Alex took a deep breath and tried to recover
her senses, as she took a step back and smiled.
 

The man standing in the doorway was absolutely gorgeous; tall,
dark, tanned, with strong shoulders and features of chiseled perfection.
 
As he turned his head, Alex thought he looked
just like one of those Roman marble statues in the ROM.
 
His silver framed glasses alone gave his
weakness away and brought him back into the realm of mere mortals.
 

“Beautiful.
 
Absolutely beautiful.”
 
The man
said in a deep rich voice. He let his eyes leisurely roam up and down Alex’s
curvaceous body as the two stood in the hall admiring each other.
 
“Please to come in,” he finally said. His
accent was rich and deep and sent thrilling shivers racing up and down her
spine. He reached out and gently took Alex’s arm to guide her into the living
room, his touch making her heart flutter like a million monarch butterflies
being released at once.

Alex knew a suite at the Royal York did not come cheap. It
was rumored to be the height of luxury in Toronto,
and this suite did not disappoint. She was impressed with the elegance; the
dark antique mahogany furniture, light cream walls, luxurious Asian carpets,
and porcelain vases full of mountains of fresh flowers.
 
Heavy velvet curtains blocked the way to what
Alex guessed must be the bedroom beyond double French doors.
 
Although curious to see what that looked
like, Alex resisted the urge to rush this encounter. Instead she walked slowly
around the sofa to the large bay windows.
 
The late afternoon sun was just beginning to drop, its golden rays
kissing the tops of the buildings and lighting the waves of Lake Ontario into a
shimmering orchestra of dazzling sparkles.
 
Alex had never seen the harbour look so beautiful.
 
“Please” the deep voice came from behind her,
“will you sit down?”

“Yes, thank you,” Alex turned from the window. She sat down
on the sofa, holding her jacket tight to make sure the buttons stayed
closed.
 
“What is your name?”

“Joseph,” her new client said, pronouncing the J as a Y in
a most exotic way. He sat down beside her, leaning back into the couch and
resting his elbow on the pillows, “and yours,” he raised one eyebrow, “is Alex.”

“Yes,” Alex smiled. “Where are you from?”

“I am from Tunisia, do you know it?”
 

“Yes,” Alex nodded, “it is near, it is in,” she paused,
really having no idea where Tunisia was.

As Joseph smiled at her, his eyes twinkled and Alex noticed
that he had the most adorable dimple on his left cheek. “It is in Africa, near
Morocco.”

“Yes of course,” Alex tried to picture it on a map in her
head. She didn’t want to offend this gorgeous man by not knowing where he came
from.
 
But geography, outside of Toronto wasn’t really
Alex’s strong point.
 
She still got
confused with Oakville and Markham; she knew one of them had a new IKEA but she
could never remember which.
 
Especially
since both their downtowns were trendy but old fashioned type villages, and
each with a really good bakery.
  
“How do
you spell it?”

“T-U-N-I-S-I-A,” Joseph spelled out the letters.
 

“Ah,” Alex nodded, making a mental note to google it that
night. “Yes, Tu-ni-she-ah.”

“I like the way you say it.”

“It's a small country, isn’t it?”

“Yes.”

“But your accent, it sounds, like French.”

“Yes, in Tunisia, French is the official language. Maybe
you will know Tunisia as Carthage. That was its
first name.”
 

“Oh, yes” Alex nodded, not knowing Carthage any better.

“I like your name, Alex.
 
It is very strong.”

“Yes,” Alex smiled.”

“Alexandria,” Joseph repeated, rolling the ‘r’ off his
tongue. Alex liked how he said it. Alexandria made her sound so exotic.
 
A name reserved only for first born Nubian
princesses.
 
Or Tunisian princesses.
 
Does Tunisia have princesses? Alex
wondered. She imagined herself wrapped in silks, her hair braided with ribbons
of gold and scented with jasmine. She would spend her days looking divinely
gorgeous in low cut silk dresses while lounging on top of rich sumptuous pillows
and sipping chilled wine. She would be served, and of course, fanned with huge
lotuses leafs by only the most young, nubile, half naked men attendants in the
land.
 
“I like Alexandria,” Joseph
snapped Alex back to reality. “Yes, you are Alexandria.
 
Very beautiful, mysterious, delicate Alexandria.
 
I shall only call you Alexandria.”

Alex looked down and inspected her new manicure. She had no
idea what to say. She really wanted to impress him, to sound witty and
 
intelligent, but what would he like to talk
about? Alex could feel Joseph’s eyes on her; so finally, she looked up at
him.
 
“Would you like to stay out here,
or move back into the bedroom?”
 

“Um... yes, definitely,” Joseph smiled mischievously, “I
would like to take you to the bedroom, many times.
 
And,
 
I
will say that beautiful name of yours over and over again.”
 
Alex bit her lip as she pictured Joseph
calling out Alexandria in the throes of passion.
 
“But, not now.
 
We will have lots of time.
 
Right now, I am enjoying looking at you here
and talking with you.”

“Oh, ok,” Alex said, a bit disappointed and a bit relieved,
“I’m enjoying talking to you too.”

Joseph smiled a marvelous wide smile.
 
Alex couldn’t help but smile back.
 

“It’s very contagious, no?” Joseph laughed.
 

Alex leaned back into the couch and began to relax as
Joseph told her more about Tunisia.

Alex jumped when her cell phone rang.
 
Had it been an hour already?
  
“I’m sorry,” she smiled sheepishly at
Joseph, “but our time is up for today,” she paused, realizing that she had forgotten
to ask for ‘Angela’s business’ when she came in. She would have to ask for it
now, even though she hadn’t really earned it.
 
How do you ask for money just for conversation?
 
“We haven’t really done anything.”

“Shush, shush,” he silenced her.
 
“We have done so much.
 
Now I know this beautiful Alexandria.
 
And I know I want to see her again.
 
Next time we will have time to talk more.”
 
Joseph got up and walked over to the side
table where he picked up a white envelope that was waiting there.
 
“Here you are. It was most pleasurable.”
  

When they reached the door, Alex stopped and turned
around.
 
Joseph took her gently by the
shoulders. “Alexandria,” he whispered and lowered his face to hers. He gently
pressed his lips to her forehead as Alex closed her eyes and breathed in the
musky warmth of his after shave.
 
“Good
bye, my beautiful.”

Alex forced herself to keep walking down the empty hall,
and not to turn around because she knew Joseph was standing there watching
her.
 
She held her breath and counted her
steps until she was safely in the elevator.
 
Then she nearly fainted.
 
What the
hell was that? She leaned against the wall and pressed her hand to her heart.
 
Who was that?
 
Who does that?
 
He paid me to come
and talk to him?
 
How sexy was he?
 
And that accent!
 
She used the envelope he had just given her
as a fan and furiously tried to cool her burning face.