MY BOSS, THE CALL GIRL

Briefly after high school, I worked for a Physician and Surgeons answering service. It was often stressful for the people calling were usually in mild or severe panic trying to reach a doctor. We would contact the doctor and he would let us know who to send to the hospital, who he would call back, or who were to take two aspirin and call him in the morning.

Our clients in addition to doctors, were attorneys, architects, and merciful heavens, a cable company. Trust me, people with out TV when service was interrupted, were much harder to handle than those with mild medical emergencies.

Pete owned our service and several in other cities. He was an easy guy to work for. He usually just showed up on payday to share the wealth. One day, the girl on the day shift stayed after I took over to tell me the latest news. It seems Pete had just gotten married and he was bringing his new wife by to meet us as she was going to take over running our office. Pete had given Sadie strict orders for us not to say anything about his new wife's face.

I asked Sadie just what in the world was wrong with this ladies face but she had no idea. Our office was on the second floor of the building and Sadie sat glued to the window on look out.

"They are coming. " she whispered and I rushed to look but could only see a blond head beside Pete as they entered the building.

Now Pete was a very eligible, good looking and successful bachelor so we figured she couldn't be too bad. When Penny entered the room, Sadie and I were doing our best not to squeal like the teenagers we still were. Instead we inhaled air nosily like faulty vacuum cleaners and eased away from her.

The lady before us had a face that was one giant scab. Skin on the tip of her nose, around the eyes and mouth were a nice pink, the rest of her face was brown raised skin that looked like it had been burned or was very contagiously diseased.

She looked at us for a moment, then as best as she could with that face full of scab, she laughed. We "heh, heh'ed" a forced, uncomfortable laugh, wide eyeing each other.

"I suppose you didn't tell them. " she said to Pete between chuckles. "Trust me girls, it isn't catching. I have just recently had a chemical peel. I'll be gorgeous in no time when this scab falls off."

She made us feel at ease immediately and our laughter went from fake to relieved. We both instantly like her. I was glad she was to be our new boss.

Penny was right, when the giant scab fell off, she was a very attractive woman. She was also a very open woman. Since we were often couped up together in a small office, she talked freely. I don't know why but with out any hesitation, Penny told us she had been a high class call girl and was now retired. Perhaps she thought Pete had all ready told us though he had failed to tell us what we need to know about her face. In our late 1950's innocence and curiosity, we timidly, yet eagerly asked her questions which she freely answered without guile.

In her working days she got $125 an hour and had the right of refusal if she didn't like the guy. That was a whole new concept for us to grasp. She said most often she was an arm date for out of town business men who wined and dined her. Of course there was usually sex involved but she never went into detail about that. Darn.

Sadie and I were simultaneously fascinated and repulsed but listened closely to every story. This was pre"pill" days and Penny had the misfortune of getting pregnant a lot, well at least three times. She had three children, all girls which Pete was adopting.

The way she talked, she looked at prostitution as a business like selling real estate. Sadie and I were a bit shocked and we never lost the EEWW factor of having sex with total strangers for money. Have to admit though we were eager to hear the tales. This was a world we could only imagine. She was way more interesting than any 25 cent paperback novel.

One day Penny was telling me of some of the famous men she had entertained. She mentioned a prominent lawyer that had run a close but unsuccessful race for high office. The more she talked, the more I realized the man she was talking about was my cousin. I guess my face showed the shock and after she asked what was wrong, I had to claim my wayward, very married cousin.

That ended all of Penny's stories. She realized that maybe telling all was not a good idea. While I missed the stories, I really didn't want to hear about any more of her "dates" that I might share DNA with. Seeing family heroes crash and burn is never fun.

While she was not the storied prostitute with a heart of gold, she was a kind person who loved her children and adored her husband. If you didn't know about her past, you would never know by looking at or talking with her.

She did teach me that even those who do things we do not approve of, are people with goals and dreams not all that different from our own. We just have very different ways to achieve them. How we start in life often determined the direction and paths we take. She took a turn I fortunately was never forced to take. Call me lucky. She was an interesting, learning chapter in a young life.