Take Your Daughter to Work Day - Rena

The alarm clock went off at 5:30 a.m. Monday morning. Rena considered shutting it off and going back to sleep, but she would only get this opportunity once. She climbed sleepily out of bed and dragged herself into the shower.

Twenty minutes later, she emerged clean, refreshed, and ready to face the day. She carefully picked out her wardrobe, dressing not to impress but to shock. Short skirt, too-small top, and no underwear. She carefully applied her makeup, using bold Wanton Temptress lipstick, Sweet Sweet Siren blush, and Black As Sin mascara. The result was somewhere between cheerleader and slut, as she'd intended.

Last of all, she fastened her new necklace so that the pendant rested in her cleavage. The necklace had been a present from her mother on her eighteenth birthday, just a month before, and today was both the first time she'd worn it and the first time in her life that she'd put her cleavage on such bold display. Today was the day she embraced her new adulthood.

Rena gave her backpack, still full of schoolbooks, a savage kick, then sashayed out her bedroom door and bounded down the stairs. She would never need those books again.

Rose Thayer watched her daughter come into the kitchen and gave a loud wolf whistle. "That is quite a statement you're making this morning. What do you charge for a blowjob these days?"

"MOM!" Rena yelled, her face red with shock and embarrassment.

"Babe, you're an adult now. I don't have to censor myself. And if you're going to dress like that, you'll have to expect some similar comments. Where are you going in that getup? I'm surprised to see you even vertical this early."

"Christmas vacation is over. First day back to school."

"Right. Your ridiculous Plan. Now I understand the outfit. I still don't understand the reason for it," Rose said, setting two plates on the table.

"Freedom," Rena said. "It's about freedom."

"Well, have some breakfast first. You'll want something in your stomach besides some guy's sperm."

"That's disgusting, Mom." But she was starving, so she started shoveling the food in as fast as she could.

"It's not that disgusting. Have you even tried the stuff? You're legal now. Free to cock-gobble with the rest of us. And cum doesn't taste so bad, really. Just not that filling," Rose explained. "Unless it goes in the other way. Then it could really swell the belly."

"Are you telling me... No. I don't want to know. There are some things a daughter should not know about her mother."

"I favor openness myself. Let me tell you, your father, God rest his soul, loved getting a good morning blowjob. I would wake him up in the nicest way I knew how, then fix myself some eggs, bacon, and coffee."

"I am so out of here," Rena said.

"It's January. You'll freeze in that skimpy thing."

But Rena had anticipated that. She knew it would be cold, but she wouldn't be outside for long. A few minutes in the frigid morning wouldn't hurt her.

Once outside, she hugged herself and massaged her arms and jumped up and down until she saw the familiar school bus turn onto her street. Then she forced herself to stand still and portray some dignity. She smiled as it pulled up in front of her house and the door opened.

Rena stepped inside the blessed warmth of the bus and looked around. She wanted to remember this moment for the rest of her life. The scratched paint, the ripped seats, the stains, the smells, the graffiti. And the driver. Mr. Kelson.

"Hey, girl, ain't you breaking dress code?"

"That's not really your concern, is it? It's up to the school principal to decide that," Rena told him.

"Maybe not, but I ain't driving you home when you get suspended. Consider this friendly advice. Go change."

"I don't think so."

"Then get in the damned bus so I can close the door and be on the way. You want to dress like a slut, that's no nevermind of mine."

"I'm not going with you today, Mr. Kelson. I graduated early. I was done with high school in December. I'm eighteen years old and you will never again have any authority over me, you horrible prick."

"Then what the fuck did you make me stop here for? You could have stayed warm in your own damn house, and I would have just gone on my way. Neither of us would have had to see the other ever again in our whole fucking lives."

Rena sneered at him. "I wanted to smell your breath one last time. I wanted to be able to tell people that yes, the bus driver has been drinking without you being able to kick me off the bus or tell your bus driver buddies to give me a hard time."

"You little shit. Get the hell off my bus."

"With pleasure." Rena jumped back out onto the sidewalk and strolled calmly toward her house. She was cold and wanted to run inside, but the bus was still sitting there. She could feel Mr. Kelson's eyes watching her walk away. He was probably staring at her ass. She didn't mind that. Guys stared at her ass all the time. But he would not see any sign that she was afraid of him. He'd terrorized her entire high school career. And now she was free.

Closing the front door behind her, Rena ran upstairs, stripped out of her slut clothes and put on a warm robe before coming back down to the kitchen, where her mother was putting away the just-washed breakfast dishes. She sat at the table, made a quick call to the police to report a drunk driving a school bus, then picked up a strip of bacon from the plate still sitting in the center of the table.

"Well," Rose said. "Was that phone call the point of all this? Was it worth it?"

Rena shook her head. "I needed closure. I needed to get on that bus and then get right back off. I needed to say goodbye to childhood and adolescence forever. I am an adult now and I can speak to other adults as an equal. The call was a fringe benefit."

"Okay. Well, Miss Adult, what are your plans now that you've put school behind you forever?"

"I'm thinking of getting a job," Rena said. "I'd be good at a job."

"Hmmm. I may have a suggestion or two towards that goal. I just put on some coffee. It's almost ready. Pour us both a cup and then join me in the living room so we can discuss your career path."

With that, Rose left the kitchen. Rena did as she was told, fixing two cups of coffee with honey, and a little cinnamon and milk in her mother's. But she was reluctant to really have the suggested discussion about employment.

Her mother was the night manager at a run-down motel outside of town. She had the authority to do the hiring for the place, but Rena didn't really want to work there. She wasn't exactly ashamed that her mother helped run a no-tell motel, renting rooms by the hour for sleazy trysts between people cheating on their spouses. But she didn't brag about it, either.

She couldn't put it off forever, though. She got out a tray, put the cups and the plate of bacon on it, and headed into the living room. "Mom, I don't want to work at the motel," she said, taking a firm stance.

"And why not?"

"Well, I don't really think cleaning rooms is for me."

"You could maybe work in the restaurant. The motel owns the place."

"A waitress?" Rena said, barely hiding the scorn. "No, thank you."

"So what job did you have in mind? Right now, you have no experience and just a high school education."

"I was thinking of being a cashier somewhere," Rena replied.

"The restaurant has cashiers. So does the motel, though we call them clerks. Money-handling isn't their only duty. At least it would give you some experience to put on a job application for something you liked better."

Rena had to admit there was some sense in that. She had already begun to worry about having no resume. It might be a little creepy, dealing with the cheaters and hookers, but she could handle that. "Well, maybe. As long as I don't have to clean dirty rooms or touch dirty dishes."

"I was even thinking," Rose said, "that I could start training you to be one of the managers."

"That would be okay."

"But you'd have to spend some time learning how to wait tables and clean rooms before I would give you any authority over the maids and food servers."

Rena wrinkled up her nose at that, but she liked the idea of being a manager at age eighteen, just out of school. "Would your boss approve of that?"

Rose laughed. "I haven't been completely honest with you. And you have displayed an astonishing lack of curiosity for a teenager, and for a girl. I expected you to start asking questions a long time ago. How do you think we afford this house on a night manager's salary?"

Rena thought about that. It suddenly did seem a little odd. She still thought of herself as poor. When she was little, they'd actually lived in the motel because they couldn't afford an apartment. And that was even when her dad was still alive. But this was a beautiful house in a good neighborhood. And Rena had her own car. They were doing pretty well for themselves. "I guess I don't know," she said.

"I own that motel," Rose told her. "I also own the Bradford Hotel and a couple of houses in Raintree. And, your name is on all of the deeds as co-owner."

"How?" Rena asked. "Since when?"

"Well, that's a story. I'm not sure you're ready to hear it, but you need to know it sooner or later. I just hope you can handle it."

"That sounds ominous."

"When your father died, we were dead broke. Even with free rent at the motel, I was barely keeping us on our feet. I was actually considering stealing from the motel when Dr. Beaumont arrived."

Rena didn't know a Dr. Beaumont. She didn't think she wanted to know. Her mother wasn't one to keep secrets. This must be a really huge one. But the story was begun now. Rena waited as patiently as she could for the tale to unfold.

"He came in about eleven p.m. He paid for his room. Then he showed me the newspaper he'd been carrying. It was folded to an article he'd circled. He asked me to read the article while he put his luggage in his room. Then he'd be back.

"The article was about our state legislature. They had been trying to update the laws to ease penalties on streetwalkers and create harsher penalties for pimps. But they didn't amend the law. They completely rewrote it. And they rushed it.

"The new law only mentioned streetwalkers and pimps. It left out all other forms of prostitution. A clever lawyer noticed the omission and when a call girl got arrested, he took her case and challenged her arrest in court. Based on the wording of the new law, a judge agreed that there was no probable cause for the arrest. Except for the streetwalkers, prostitution was now legal in the state.

"Dr. Beaumont returned shortly after I finished reading the article. Then he told me he was horny and asked if there was anybody I could send to his room to ease his condition."

"Mom, tell me you didn't," Rena begged.

"We needed money. We needed groceries. And I was lonely. I hadn't been with a man since your father died. So I told Dr. Beaumont I could take care of his problem for $500. He agreed. I closed the office for an hour, we both had a great time, and I had a new career.

"I found a couple of other girls. They gave me a cut of every transaction and soon, I was making money hand over fist. I bought the motel from the owner when he retired, got even more girls, and started an escort service. I now supply girls to lonely men all over the state. I bought the Bradford Hotel five years ago, for a more expensive and luxurious version of what we offer at the motel, and a couple of nice houses to give extra privacy for well-paying VIPs."

"This can't be happening," Rena said in shock.

"You should know that the legislature closed the loophole a couple of years ago, but I got grandfathered in. I have the only legal prostitution business in the state. I can't expand. No new brothels. And I can't advertise. But I added two strip clubs, an adult video store, a webcam site, and a small porn studio. And you, my daughter, own 40% of all of it. How's that for a new job?"

"My own mother is a whore," Rena whispered in horror. "A cock-sucking whore."

"Cock-sucking, cum-swallowing, fucking-for-money-whore. And proud of it," Rose agreed.

"Well, I'm not proud. This is terrible. I want nothing to do with your fucking business. I will clean restrooms at the truck stop before I join you."

Rose's eyes flashed with anger. "Listen to me, you spoiled child. You don't have to approve of the career I've built. But you will respect it. The bedroom you sleep in, the car you drive, and the phone you spend all day texting with, were all paid for by men who traded money for sex.

"That robe you're wearing was a Christmas present from me, Rena. And my friend and employee, Julia French, spent an hour on her back to earn the money to buy it. The bed you woke up in, the breakfast you ate, and every luxury you enjoy was provided to you by whores and johns."

Rena felt a little ashamed of herself, but she was still angry. She hadn't chosen to be the daughter of a prostitute and madam. It wasn't fair to expect her to suddenly be okay with all this. "And is this the real job you expect me to do for you?" Rena asked. "Be a whore?"

"No. I expect you to help me run this enterprise. Judith helped me build it and has been essential in the running of things. But she wants to go join her daughter in Germany and I'm going to need to replace her. As co-owner, it is high time you took an interest, and as you are now 18, you are legally able to participate in the business."

"I guess that's something, anyway. You're not pimping me out."

"I won't force you to do anything," Rose promised. "But I do have some standards. If you want to work as a cashier in the motel restaurant for fourteen dollars an hour, that's one thing. You're hired. Congratulations. But if you want to be a manager there, then I expect you to learn all the jobs. I won't put you in charge of the servers and bussers and cooks if you don't know how to serve food, bus tables, or cook a steak to order. Since you're only 18, the other employees will accept you as a manager because you're the daughter of the owner, but the only way to earn their respect is to let them see you learning their jobs and shouldering some of the work.

"By the same token, one of the duties of the clerks in the motel is to take guest requests for female company, then assign an available girl to fill the request. Before I'll trust a clerk with that responsibility, she needs to entertain at least five clients herself and know what the girls go through. And a manager in the motel has to be willing to take a client at any time if we're busy and short of girls."

"How often do you have to fill in?" Rena asked.

"Have to? Not often. I have plenty of girls. Maybe once in two or three months. But even at my age, I have some regulars who want to see me personally. Dr. Beaumont still requests my company when he comes to town."

"This is all a shock."

"Yes. I knew it would be," Rose acknowledged.

"I need to think about this."

"Of course. Take your time. If you decide to find some other employment, it won't hurt my feelings. If you want to go to college, you'll have my full support. And the brothels will pay your tuition. But never forget whose shoulders you're standing on. I won't have my girls disrespected. Not even by you."

Rena stood up from her seat and went up to her room as quickly as she could. She was furious at what she'd heard, but the truth of it was undeniable. Her whole life was paid for by prostitution. Unless she was ready to walk out the door and live naked and homeless on the streets, she would continue to be dependent on the whores.

For three days, Rena couldn't face her mother. She took meals in her room, watched television, listened to music, and read some favorite books. All the while, she was more and more aware of how all of it had been paid for. Her comforter, her new boots, her cat's cute little house. All of it earned by women on their backs. Rena's world had shifted and turned and pointed her in a new direction, one that she would never have contemplated on her own.

Eventually, she came down to the living room. "Okay. I guess I need to try this profession we're in."

"That's my daughter," Rose said. "I admire your courage."

"It's not courage. It's acceptance. No husband and children for Rena. Just a life of bedding strangers for cash."

"Don't give up on those dreams. I've known many whores who found husbands. One of the reasons Judith is leaving is to get married."

"How do I get started? Do I have to find my first client, or will you pick him?" Rena asked.

"I won't arrange anything if you do this in bitterness and anger," Rose warned her.

"I'm not angry. I promise. I was, but not anymore. It was a shock. If we'd had a conversation about prostitution that didn't involve my mother, I would have defended a woman's right to sell her body if she wants to. And now, you've gotten my curiosity up about this. I think I'm ready."

Rose shook her head. "Not quite, you're not. You've got the wrong perspective. A prostitute doesn't sell her body. She doesn't even rent it. She performs a service."

Rena gave her a skeptical look. "It's her body the guy is using."

"No. He doesn't use her body. She uses her own body to give him pleasure. So does a massage therapist. Or a professional athlete. Or a singer."

Rena thought about that for a moment and recognized that there was some truth to that. She nodded. "Okay. I think I'm ready."

"Why don't we take this one step at a time. First, are you a virgin?"

"I am, yes. Should I find myself a guy to take care of that first?" Rena asked.

"Oh, absolutely not. This is a rare opportunity. Only once in a blue moon do we have a virgin. We'll have an auction. You'll make a ton of money. But how do you feel about stripping?"

"Stripping? I've never thought about it. I'm not sure I'd have the courage."

"I own two strip clubs," Rose said. "Or rather, we own two strip clubs. Kittens and Cherry Orchard. I can have you on stage tonight if you're up for it."

"I'm still having trouble facing all this. However, while I had no idea my own mother owned the place, I've been curious about Kittens. I've even thought about getting someone to go with me. And maybe I've had a fantasy or two about going on stage. It scares me, but I think I'm up for it."

"You are definitely my daughter. Tonight it is, then."

Rose e-mailed several links to her daughter, leading her to instructional videos on trimming, shaping, and shaving pubic hair, and several tips and techniques for exotic dancers.

After these had been studied, and Rena had done some personal grooming, Rose took her daughter shopping for lingerie and sexy outfits that were easy to remove. The salesclerk gave them some disapproving looks, clearly believing that a mother should not be advising a teenage daughter on how to dress sexy. Rose told her that Rena was about to get married and they were putting together her honeymoon wardrobe, but it didn't seem to help.

Rose had chosen ten p.m. for Rena to make her debut. The hours seemed to tick by, one slow second at a time, and yet speed by at a record pace. At eight-forty-five, they pulled up in front of Kittens, offering all-nude female entertainment. Rose gave their car to the valets, and they walked into the club.

A doorman in a black bow tie and white tuxedo shirt tried to prevent their entry. "I'm sorry. Women must be accompanied by a man."

"Guys love to buy lap dances for their girlfriends, but women on their own don't buy many dances," Rose explained to her daughter. To the doorman, she said, "Please let Keith know that Rose is here."

A few minutes later, they were in a VIP booth with a good view of the stage. Rena stared with wide eyes as girl after girl took off every scrap of clothing and danced totally naked for a few dollars laid on the stage for them to pick up.