Stephanie - A Girl In A Million

Chapter 10 Desperate Diversification With the loss of our trained beautician the only person left to do the salon treatments was me; I'd had no formal training, but had been practising long enough to feel reasonably competent. One of our regular customers was a lady called Yvonne, whom I'd become fairly friendly with in a business-like way who ran a massage parlour. When Yvonne casually asked one day how the business was doing, I told her how difficult we were finding things and confided my fears for the future. 'What you need, Stephanie, is to offer new service.' 'What do you mean?' I asked. 'Well, perhaps you should consider offering a massage service for gentlemen', she suggested. I couldn't even begin to imagine what Yvonne was trying to say. 'What do you mean? For gentlemen?' 'You know, with ''extras'' provided on the side. It would help to get you out of the financial mess you're in. And besides, it's perfectly legal if you do it in the right way.' I was so taken aback by Yvonne's suggestion and the casual way she had mentioned it that I didn't begin to consider it seriously, particularly as I was certain it couldn't be legal. However, when she next visited the salon and repeated her idea, I began to wonder. 'Look,' she insisted. 'It really is legal if it's only a single girl. If you don't believe me, why not give my solicitor a call? He'll certainly back up what I'm telling you.' I still couldn't take Yvonne's suggestion seriously - though I mentioned it in passing to Raiko, who agreed with me that it sounded highly illegal. A few weeks later Yvonne appeared in the salon again and asked whether I had spoken to her solicitor, Ian Burton yet. Exasperated when I confessed I hadn't, Yvonne took matters into her own hands and arranged an appointment. Raiko and I were by this time so worried about business that we decided we had nothing to lose by checking Yvonne's story out, so I went along to Ian Burton's impressive offices in Manchester to hear what he had to say. Ian turned out to be a highly intelligent and very successful solicitor who specialised in handling some of the more newsworthy criminal cases. He was very friendly, very personable and quite obviously very much a ladies' man, and when I told him of the reason for my visit he assured me that there was nothing in the law that prevented a girl from offering sexual favours to clients for reward, providing that she worked entirely on her own. I returned home in a thoughtful mood, conscious of the fact that I would have preferred it if Ian hadn't confirmed what Yvonne had said, because now I was presented with a dilemma that I had no real wish to face. Even if it was legal, could I really cope with doing such a thing? And if I could, was I capable of offering the kind of services that Yvonne had suggested? I recounted everything to an incredulous Raiko. As I wanted him to hear the facts from Ian himself, I arranged for us to visit him together, and this time we went along armed with a list of questions. Once again Ian assured us that, providing we stuck to the rules of just one girl working alone, I couldn't possibly be accused of doing anything outside the law. Raiko and I spent many hours trying on the idea for size, but before we were ready to give further consideration we felt it would be wise to invite Ian along to the shop to check out the premises. Raiko also felt that, as it was such a drastic step to take, it was a decision that only I could make. In the event, the decision was taken right out of my hands. For when Ian arrived the following evening, after giving his seal of approval to our premises, he astounded us both with a suggestion all of his own: that he should become my fist customer! I didn't even have time to digest what he had said before I found myself being taken upstairs, and then demonstrating what was soon to become part of a familiar repertoire of providing oral sex and full sex in return for monetary gain. When it was over, a clearly well-satisfied Ian turned to me and said: 'Now, how much do I owe you?' Caught off guard, highly embarrassed and unnerved by this matter-of-fact transaction, I flustered: 'Well, I'm not sure...I mean...hell, why don't you just pay me what you think it was worth?' Fifty pounds poorer, Ian departed leaving Raiko and me to discuss this amazing piece of providence. Both of us were amazed by the whole thing, and even more so by the fact that I had been able to handle the whole thing with emotional detachment. If £50 was the going rate, we thought, it wouldn't take us very long to get our business back on its feet! Emboldened by the exercise - and by the fifty crisp notes now filling our empty till - Raiko and I immediately went to a wholesaler's where we purchased a gross of condoms. Then we placed an advertisement in the personal column of the Manchester Evening News, which read: 'Massage and all facilities provided by attractive transsexual.' Can anyone believe how brazen & naive we were?? The phone calls began to pour in and, delighted but undoubtedly green as grass, we answered every call openly and honestly. I must confess it makes me go hot and cold to think of it now, but we were so innocent and believed so totally in what Ian had told us that we felt absolutely relaxed about being completely frank on the telephone. If a prospective customer asked what services were available, we would list everything we could think of from had relief to oral sex; bondage to domination; and just about every other conceivable sexual need that came to mind. Of course, neither of us was naive enough to inform David who was a very respectable businessman about what was going on. We both sensed that he would not only wholeheartedly disapprove, but would almost certainly raise every objection & possibly withdraw his investment which would immediately put us out of business So it was that I embarked on a new career which, in addition to saving Transformation, also provided some of the most enlightening and often hysterically humorous episodes of my entire career. Our decision had been made so suddenly that we weren't properly equipped to handle all the demands that our new services created. We had a massage couch, of course, because that was an integral piece of equipment for the salon, but apart from that we could only learn what was required as we went along. Thus the first customers who responded to our advertisements were very often closeted in a cubicle right next to another which was occupied by a woman undergoing a conventional (and, as it turned out, more legal) form of treatment. I soon learned to develop a loud, hasty cough to cover the potentially embarrassing noises that a client might make at certain 'sensitive' moments. We even installed a radio and started playing loud music to cover up the often unmistakable sounds of mounting sexual excitement that would deal with the problem of a gentleman's uncontrollably twitching feet sticking out through the curtains of a cubicle which had been designed for a totally different of treatment! Soon, playing this cat and mouse game of trying to prevent one side of the business from interfering with the more legitimate side was beginning to tax even Raiko's and my own far from limited ingenuity. Still, we were taking more money than we'd seen in months and very often we'd earn more in one day that we'd previously earned in an entire week! But Raiko and I still only took the same wage of £30 a week, because we wanted to plough all the money straight back into the business in order to get the company out of debt as quickly as we possibly could. However, it soon became obvious that we couldn't possibly continue to run the service in this way without causing major disruptions to the rest of the salon, so we carried the massage couch upstairs into the flat, which gave me more room and made Raiko's life downstairs a little less fraught. We bought a couple of chairs, a little table and a few bottles of spirits and put these at the bottom of the stairs so that clients could have free drinks and a magazine to read while they waited their turn. And, of course, with a bathroom and shower upstairs in the flat the problems of hygiene could also now be taken care of in a more discreet and thorough manner. Gradually, and by word of mouth my 'fame' was beginning to spread. Once again we were able to employ staff to run the salon downstairs under Raiko's eagle eye, while I was by now fully occupied upstairs earning the money to support our venture. With our more pressing financial problems easing, I was able to feel a certain sense of pride in my new 'business' guaranteeing that every customer left fully satisfied. David was still blithely ignorant of the true nature of our new 'business success'. When he innocently enquired, during one weekly visit, why I had a massage couch in the middle of my lounge, I convinced him that, as we were now so popular that we'd decided to invest in a second couch (for which there was no room downstairs) rather than lose out on potential business, which was true but slightly disingenuous. Human nature being as curious as it is, I'm sure many readers will be amused by some of the stranger (and more amusing) people, peccadilloes and requests that soon became an everyday part of my life. One of my first regular clients was a man whom we nicknamed Mr Blackburn, after the town from which he came. Mr B was a stoutly built individual who took to coming in late on Saturday evenings. During our first encounter he shyly told me that he was totally unable to enjoy 'normal' sex and was very much addicted do pain, complaining that no girl he had ever visited had been able to provide sufficient pain for him to experience complete pleasure and satisfaction. Far from being shocked, I was able to sympathise with Mr B's unfortunate plight. Armed with padlocks, whips and lengths of chain, I soon had him helplessly trussed like a chicken on the couch as I deployed my entire repertoire of domination techniques in order to provide him with the relief he so desperately sought. I tried a schoolroom cane first, discarding it in favour of a cat o'nine tails when it obviously proved inadequate. Unfortunately Mr B proved to be a tough customer in more ways than one, and at the end of his allotted time I was still no nearer to finding an effective solution to his problem because there were several impatient clients waiting for their turn. 'Look, don't worry about this. Come back next week and I promise you I'll do my utmost to come up with something that will work for you,' ( I called it a research & development project) I promised the crestfallen and "soft centred" Mr B as he departed down the stairs with a disappointed, hangdog expression on his chubby face. And I meant it! After all, my entire career success had been founded on the premise that if a job's worth doing, it's worth doing well. And just because I'd changed my career path, I didn't feel that was any reason to change my business methods. So it was that during the next week I spent all my spare time wrestling with the problem of how to satisfy poor Mr B's particular needs - without causing the man any permanent damage, that is! By the time he arrived for his next appointment, at the same time the following week, I was convinced I had come up with an idea that would produce the desired effect. Once again I shackled and bound him to the couch, this time face upwards. Then I proceeded to apply my brand-new state-of-the-art equipment - a dozen wooden clothes pegs! - which I attached to his ears, nipples and testicles. Now the amazing thing about clothes pegs is that, while they don't actually hurt when you pinch them on to skin, they do effectively cut off the circulation to the parts of the body to which they are applied - and if you leave them on long enough, when they're removed the pain caused by the free flow of blood and return of feeling to the affected parts is excruciating. Poor Mr B's face when he saw that my equipment consisted of nothing more than a set of clothes pegs was the most graphic picture of thwarted hopes I have ever seen. However I had another secret weapon up my sleeve! I lit a candle and dripped molten wax on to Mr B's exposed thighs, trailing a deliberately slow line upwards in the direction of his penis & testicles. 'Ha!' I thought to myself. 'That's certainly ought to do the trick,' as I watched his panic-stricken face when it dawned on him just what I had in mind. The look of terror in his fear maddened eyes grew in direct proportion to the size of the joyful life. Responding to my enquiring look, Mr B signalled that I should go on - at which point I was delighted to oblige, confident that this time I'd cracked what was, for him, a very difficult problem and finally bring him to the peak of fulfilment. Alas, I was wrong again and he remained flaccid. 'Next week, I promise you,' I said consolingly as I shepherded the forlorn man out of the door, though truth to tell I hadn't a clue what I could possibly dream up that might satisfy this one. Once again I spent an entire week's free thinking around and around Mr B's Problem, and it was only when he was finally due to appear again that I had a sudden flash of inspiration. Without any time for lengthy experimentation, I moved the necessary salon equipment upstairs to my lounge. When he arrived, with a pathetically hopeful look on his face, I was able this time to promise an unqualified success. We went through the now familiar ritual of trussing him up like a fowl, but on this occasion I added the further innovation of gagging him in order to heighten his sexual tension. As I uncovered my masterstroke before his disbelieving eyes and plugged the apparatus into the mains, the sheer terror on his face caused me to wonder whether it was possible for a human being to die either from the shock or the ecstasy. Momentarily I wondered whether I was doing the right thing, but fortunately Mr B's fervently nodding head assured me that I was. The equipment I had selected consisted of a sophisticated beauty treatment machine. Two glass rods were connected via thick leads to a unit which produced high-frequency galvanic and faradic impulses. When applied to the face for specific beauty treatments, the glass bulbs conducted and electrical charge into the lower levels of the skin in order to stimulate blood flow to its surface. Although this procedure can prove painful, most women swear the discomfort is worth it for the remarkable effects it has on skin tone. Placing the glass half an inch away from Mr B's nipples, I adjusted the controls to increase the output (and therefore, the amount of pain I would be inflicting) while at the same time keeping a watchful eye on his face in case he should decide that enough was far too much for him! Slowly I moved towards the organ that persistently refused to provide the satisfaction he so obviously craved. As the electrical charge shot through Mr B's nether parts the results were even more spectacular and rewarding than either of us had hoped. Within seconds Mr B's head was nodding and ever-increasing frantic dance of encouragement until finally (and thankfully) he gave a strangled yelp as the desired effect was achieved and at last produced a performance with a satisfying climatic end Mr B was so pathetically grateful that he couldn't thank me enough. He insisted on paying me twice the normal fee, and within a few days I was inundated with deliveries of champagne and chocolates. As for myself? Well, it was most gratifying to learn that at least there was one person in the world who was pleased to meet me. Then there was a strange man who always insisted on leaving his shoes and socks on while I gave him his 'massage'. Now, frankly, like most people I've always thought there is no sight more ludicrous than a man naked but for his socks and shoes. Still, if that was what the customer wanted, who was I to disagree? However, what really surprised me about this gent was that, when I went into the bathroom to chat with him for a while after one appointment, I was him standing in the shower stall beneath a cascade of steaming water still wearing those ubiquitous socks and shoes! When he left the flat and squelched down the stairs I could barely control my shaking shoulders. Another customer became known as 'The Wrestler' did manage to get a good enough grip to throw me around a bit, he never quite managed to do any real damage - because he' always get so excited he'd have to have sex with me on the floor right there and then. One incident taught me that the difference between a hero and a heel is just a matter of perception. A customer came to call, enjoyed both oral and full sex, and then sat chatting to me for the remainder of his allotted time before leaving. Imagine my surprise when the next day I opened up the Manchester Evening News to find this customer being hailed as a hero because, having arrived home the day before to find his wife in the very last stages of labour, he'd single-handedly delivered his own child before the ambulance crew arrived. I wonder what that same wife (or the press, for that matter) would have had to say had they known where he'd spent the afternoon. After some weeks of offering this new service, I was becoming quite blasé about the variety of odd predilections that my customers invariably seemed to favour. However, there were still one or two surprises in store for me. One day a new customer arrived for his appointment with a very strange request. Although I was momentarily nonplussed, I soon recovered my composure enough to rush down the stairs to the salon and say to Raiko, 'Quick, run down to the stationers and bring me back the largest cardboard box you can possibly find, together with lots of brown paper, sellotape and string.' Raiko's face was a picture. 'What on earth do you want a large box, paper, sellotape and string for? This is hardly the time or place to start practising origami!' 'Don't ask questions now - just go and get it!' I hissed in return. Poor Raiko did as he was told, but he could hardly contain his curiosity. The moment the customer had left he ran up the stairs two a time to find me collapsed in fits of laughter on the bed. 'What did he want?' he asked as I lay there giggling and saying, 'That was the easiest fifty pounds I've ever earned.' Eventually I calmed down enough to tell him what had transpired. When a more than bemused Raiko had returned with the 'equipment', my customer stripped his clothes off, climbed into the box and then bade me seal it up with sellotape, then wrap the brown paper around it, secure it with more sellotape and finally tie it up with string. After that was done I had to go through the whole process in reverse, with the strict instruction to jump back in feigned surprise as soon as my 'jack in the box' was revealed. This, apparently, was all it took to stimulate the poor man to climax. Then there was the man we christened 'Humpty Dumpty' because of his obsession with eggs. When he first appeared for his appointment you could have knocked me down with a feather when in reply to my usual question: 'Is there any other service you require, Sir?' he said, 'Yes, do you have a dozen eggs?' Surely he can't want me to cook an omelette? I thought to myself. I went into the kitchen, looked in the fridge and saw that we were right out of eggs. So, quick as a flash, I raced downstairs and hissed at Raiko: 'Nip round the corner and bring back a dozen eggs.' Fortunately, by that time Raiko was more than used to me running downstairs with all kinds of strange requests, and had long since learned to restrain himself from asking awkward questions until after the customers had all gone, when we would relax and have a little laugh about the day's odd events. Anyhow, Raiko returned with two cartons of eggs which he slapped into my hands with a smile, and back upstairs I went. 'I've got eggs,' I said to the customer. 'Well, then, perhaps we ought to go into the bathroom.' I was dying to discover what exactly he wanted to do with the eggs but managed to control my curiosity and wait until he was ready to show me. Once we were in the bathroom he asked me to dress him in a pair of my knickers and then carefully place the dozen eggs inside the knickers. Then I had to slap my hands against the eggs so that the shells would break and the gooey mixture would run down his thighs and legs - and that was it! When the recent eggs and salmonella scare was filling the newspapers, I did wonder whether Humpty Dumpty might have given up his little hobby for fear of catching the disease! One other inexplicable oddity was the man who liked to have gooey cream cakes thrown at him so that the light sponge and cream would stick to his body. He used to remind me of a dartboard. The only problem was that, as I've never had a particularly good aim, the cakes and cream would end up all over the place. Heaven knows what Karen used to think when I calmly went downstairs and asked her to clean up the bathroom as there were 'a load of cream cakes all over the floor'. Most men can get "normal" missionary sex at home so whilst there were a few for which that was sufficient most wanted something "kinky" One such young man was a very famous singer and actor, and no one was more surprised than me when he showed up for his appointment. To my relief, he didn't require anything extraordinary (which I'm sure would have shattered mine and a million other women's illusions about this gorgeous hunk of masculinity if he had), and throughout the session neither of us made any reference to his celebrity identity. Thus I was able to treat him just the same as any other customer. Sad to say, his 'performance' off stage and in my bed was pretty ordinary, too, despite the fact that I made one small concession and gave him an extra five minutes for his money. Still, he did move me to do one out-of-the-ordinary thing: I went out and bought his record, which was in the top ten at the time. He was just one of famous celebrities, politicians and other well known personalities to enjoy our "massage" service which by the way they did get before any "extras". Some fetishes that most people find hard to understand are, in reality, fairly common. For example, there are many men with shoe or feet fetishes, and I'm sure every prostitute has come across at least one of these in her time. I had one customer who was a 'shoe' man, and all he required was that I make an extremely slow and sensuous display of smoothing on a pair of stockings, raising my skirt and fastening them to my suspenders, and then sliding my feet into a pair of preposterously high stiletto heels. I merely had to walk around for a few minutes before, equally slowly, reversing the process. I didn't need to undress or remove any other article of clothing, nor did I have to touch him or perform any other service, for throughout the whole performance my client would sit across the other side of the room and masturbate himself to orgasm. That was enough for him - and, of course, it was more than all right with me. Famous personalities appearing in a Manchester shows turned up on my doorstep, followed by several judges, policemen and VIPs as the news my "unique" services had spread fast. The story went around that not only was I unique, but I was committed to providing total satisfaction and I was also remarkably discreet. Following sensational stories in the national press (I was a client of Max Clifford) some of which were "massaged" by him I had become notorious, Inevitably this led the tabloid press to reveal all the private details of my long list of clients. In fact, one national editor, Stuart Kuttner of The News of the World once remarked: 'If Christine Keeler could bring Profumo down and Sara Keays could do the same for Cecil Parkinson, with what you know, Stephanie, you could probably single-handedly bring the entire government to its knees!' My response then was the same as it is now: I just give an enigmatic smile and shrug my shoulders. Transformation and myself have prospered because of our guarantee of total confidentiality and despite their status or fame, we have never ever revealed a single name. Only Raiko and myself know what dynamite my unexpurgated memoirs would really be - but I've taken a vow of confidentiality towards all my past personal clients, to every customer who uses my mail order service or ventures into any of my shops. Should my vow of confidentiality need any explanation, it becomes obvious when I tell you that a large proportion of my more famous clients were (and probably still are) into kinky sex. One VIP whom I shall refer to as Frank spent his entire hour with me as happy as a sand boy because I allowed him to clean my oven and toilet clad only in stockings, suspenders and a little maid's cap, with me scolding and berating him for being a naughty boy. That hour always culminated in the same scenario, in which I'd have to spank him for not doing his jobs properly. Then there was the politician who liked me to dress him up in outsize baby clothes, spoon-feed him with tinned baby food and then allow him to lie curled up in the foetal position suckling a full bottle of milk! Yet another politician wanted to be suspended by a chain wrapped around his testicles so that he was forced to stand on extreme tippy-toe, while all I had to do was return to him every fifteen minutes and whip his buttocks. There were, of course, many others who adored being chained, spanked or dressed in one humiliating fashion or another - and all of these were overjoyed if I allowed them to paint my flat, dig my garden, act as my footstool or be my slave and lick my feet and shoes. In fact, the more important they were, the more desperately they seemed to crave domination and humiliation. Before too long most of our regular customers had nicknames like those I've mentioned. One rule we made was that we never asked a customer to supply his real name, and I never asked any leading questions that might possibly identify who they were and what they did. Sometimes I would have been hard pushed even to recognise them if I was them out in the street. Yet on more than one occasion after business, when Raiko and I popped out for a meal at a local restaurant, we couldn't help but become aware of a table full of men (or a man who might be out for a meal with his wife or girlfriend) suddenly start shifting uncomfortably in their seats, or even change seats so their backs were to me. One highly embarrassed customer even went so far as to dive beneath the table to avoid being recognised by me! He really shouldn't have bothered, because invariably Raiko would turn to me and say: 'Do you recognise that man who's trying to pretend not to see you?' And I'd reply: 'No. Should I?' 'You ought to,' Raiko would say, 'he was in last night...and him in that corner...and those guys over there have been in on several occasions. Unlike Raiko I was able to blank out names and faces. Without doubt, the most bizarre encounter of my career occurred when Raiko ushered in a new customer one day. I took one look at the man's eminently recognisable face and nearly fainted in shock. What compounded my surprise was the fact that, apart from being a very important cabinet minister, he and I had actually met before! Years before, when Marilyn and I were still living together, she had been working part-time for the local Tory Party agent. One night we attended a function in honour of a well-known politician who had recently been embroiled in a scandal. We'd shook hands and then spent several minutes exchanging small talk. Now here he was in my flat, eager to part with £50 for my services - and, by all accounts, totally unaware of the fact that we had already met when I had been a man! Needless to say, like the consummate professional I prided myself on being, I swiftly managed to overcome my surprise and get on with the business at hand. But I must confess to having to stifle a secret chuckle at the thought of his reaction were I to remind him of the circumstances in which we had met before - somehow I don't think he would have been too pleased! Every prostitute who has ever gone on record about her profession has likened herself to being a combination of whore, sister, mother, agony aunt and social worker - and I guess I felt just the same, for it gave me great pleasure to be able to solve people's problems for them. One young man in particular I remember well because he was so desperately shy and so badly wanted to lose his virginity. He was just nineteen and a poor foreign student, and though in an attempt to solve his problem we went beyond the hour he had paid for, it gave me immense satisfaction finally to bring this lad to fulfilment and to know that because of me he will never again be terrified of having sex with a woman. I lost track of the sheer numbers of men who wanted to don female underwear or baby wear, or to be tied up and spanked, and over the months I began to understand why prostitutes are so much in demand when regular girlfriends and wives are so reluctant to do anything outside the 'norm'. Certainly the majority of my customers were outwardly happily married men, but the very fact that they needed to indulge their more secret fantasies only with me often made me wonder how happily married they might really be were it their wives who were catering for their special needs out of love rather than a hooker who did it for cash. My only rules were no sex without a condom and no kissing or touching my face Without doubt prostitution is a very difficult profession, and to all those who think it consists of nothing more than lying there examining cracks in the ceiling or mentally compiling shopping lists while a series of men hand over lots of money in return for little effort, all I can say is: you couldn't be more misinformed. We were open seven days a week from nine in the morning till ten at night, and I was on the go the entire time. Regular meals were strangers to me, and with a continuous stream of clients arriving and leaving there was little time even for the fastest of 'fast-food'. I rarely left the flat apart from our once-a-week early shopping trip at Sainsbury's. Now I dread to think of what people must have thought as Raiko and I rushed around the aisles throwing food into our trolley, with me dressed in the highest of heels, the tiniest of mini-skirts (time as in such short supply that I had to dress for 'work' before we went to the supermarket) and the flimsiest of tops, with a coat hastily thrown on over this bizarre ensemble. Business was booming, and to help cope with the increasing number of telephone calls we received we hired a nice young Jewish girl to handle the calls and book appointments. Despite the odd nature of our business she applied herself as assiduously to her duties as if she were working for the local dentist, and was soon providing verbal details of the services on offer over the phone and assisting transvestites in the shop without so much as batting an eyelid. Raiko, being a natural-born wheeler-dealer, soon became adept at bartering my services and obtaining many bargains too. Many was the time he'd show a new client up the stairs and slip me a note saying something like 'This one's a freebie - we're getting a new carpet for the salon', and I'd just as often pass back a note which said something incredibly boring and normal like 'Don't forget to defrost the prawns for supper!' before disappearing into my lounge or bedroom to perform my latest exotic party trick. Ultimately, of course, things couldn't possibly go on as they were; through outside interference, the Happy Hooker episode in my life came to an abrupt end. But before I relate how that came about, let me forestall the inevitable question: 'How on earth could you bring yourself to do all those degrading things?' with this explanation. The answer is, under normal circumstances I wouldn't have had to. Unfortunately, necessity is a very powerful motivator indeed. If you doubt that, just think about the survivors of plane crashes who have had to resort to cannibalism in order to stay alive. In my case, if I had been the only person involved in the Transformation business, nothing would have induced me to go to such lengths to save it. But as it was, to lose the money of the only two people in the world who had shown such personal faith and trust in me was, to my mind, a far worse alternative than prostitution. (Besides, let's not forget that I had been assured on very good authority that what I was doing was legal.) I owed everything to David and Raiko, and given the same circumstances I would do it all over again. The second thing I have to say about what I did may surprise some people. I didn't find it at all difficult to cater to those unfortunate men's needs, because I never allowed what was happening physically to affect me emotionally or mentally. Kissing (which I believe is far more intimate and personal than anything I might ever have done with other parts of my body) was strictly taboo, as was touching my hair, fondling my face or any other kind of contact above the neck. I could use my mouth and lips to perform oral sex on my clients (never without a condom) only because that was a necessary part of the service and because I remained in control - not them. By remaining in control mentally, I was able to train myself to live outside my body during moments of physical intimacy. Every prostitute will tell you that every client wants to believe he is the very best - which is why prostitutes are experts when it comes to faking orgasms. Even when I appeared to be in the throes of the noisiest and most earth-shattering orgasm any man could ever dram of giving a woman, my brain was always totally disconnected. But mentally distanced or not, this part of my career soon came to an end. Early one afternoon I was in the early stages of massaging a client who had already paid me for full sex. My client was lying face down on his stomach while I was standing beside him, stark naked, massaging his back and shoulders. Suddenly we were interrupted by three men who crashed through the door. My first thought was to wonder what on earth Raiko must be thinking of to send three men up at once. 'Is your name Stephanie Anne Lloyd?' one of the men asked as he flashed his warrant card. Dumbly I nodded. 'You are not obliged to say anything, but anything you do say will be taken down and may be given in evidence.' All I could see was this poor man, who had just parted with his money for a little bit of heaven, now clinging ashen-faced to both his dignity and the couch and feeling like hell. 'Do you think I could be allowed to get dressed?' I enquired politely. One of the detectives nodded and so I went into the bedroom - closely followed, I might add, by the other two, who stood and watched me with undisguised interest while I put on my underwear and a dress before they escorted me out of the shop and into a waiting unmarked police car. I later learned that the raid had been sparked off by a complaint from a neighbour who, it transpired, had been busily employed in spying on me for several months. Apparently, by having stupidly placed a large mirror on the wall directly opposite the upstairs window, I had unwittingly nullified the effect of the net curtain at the windows and offered this fortunate man a totally uninterrupted view of everything that was going on in my living room. Why this outraged member of the local community didn't simply come across and complain to us personally I shall never understand - or why it had taken him so long to report us, either! Suffice it to say that, whatever his motives, he did finally make a complaint and the police, bless them, responded in a style that would have justified the kind of operation put into effect following the Great Train Robbery. Rooms in the house opposite had been commandeered to allow visual observation; plain clothes officers were sent in with radio receivers and microphones wired up for sound; and the same exercise was conducted with all the fanfare - and the same amount of comical bungling - as a Keystone Kops film. For, as I later found out, by sheer coincidence a young rep on her first working day for L'Amor cosmetics had arrived just before the police with her area manager. The rep and her manager were apparently speaking to Raiko when two men came in and asked whether he was the owner of a green Renault car parked round the corner. When Raiko confirmed that the car belonged to him, the men said they were terribly sorry but they'd accidentally bumped into the car while parking. If he'd like to step outside now, they could assess the likely damage immediately. Having nor reason to suspect that the gentlemen were lying, naturally Raiko did as they suggested - only to find himself handcuffed, under arrest and on his way to Bury Police Station the moment he stepped outside the door. Now the two representatives were left alone in the shop with just Tracy, our Jewish assistant, for company. A few moments later, however, Tracy was approached by two young ladies who asked to see the white Basque displayed in the window. 'Come outside and we'll show you which one it is,' they said. Once she was outside, they had arrested her too. Just imagine the scene! These two poor reps had just seen Raiko disappear without explanation, then Tracy. Now they watched spellbound as three burly men burst into the shop, bounded up the stairs and then came marching down with a bemused me and a shame-faced, cringing man in tow. Several minutes passed. No one appeared. The ringing phones went unanswered. They stood there, alone, unsure of what to do and gradually convincing themselves that they were the unwitting victims of a candid camera stunt. For half an hour they tentatively answered what were undoubtedly some of the strangest telephone calls they had ever received, and then, unable to fathom out what was going on, the departed too, leaving an empty, unlocked shop with nobody to guard either the premises or the full till other than my beloved Sheba. When I arrived at Bury Police Station I was put into an interview room and subjected to the indignities of having all the personal belongings in my handbag checked through, my jewellery removed and my body searched before being put into a filthy, rank cell which contained only a hard, concrete bunk with an inch-thin plastic-covered mattress and a stinking old army blanket. Mercifully there was at least a toilet, though it lacked all accompanying refinements such as a seat, toilet paper and any handle by which it could be flushed. However, when I discovered that there was a spy hole strategically placed in the door through which I could be observed, I rather lost the urge for relief! It was four hours before anyone came along to take a statement, and during that time I'd been given nothing to eat or drink. Eventually I was taken outside to make a statement. I asked if I could at least call a member of staff to lock up the shop and ensure Sheba was fed for the night, and grudgingly this was agreed. The police officers who took down my statement were amazed at my frankness. Without prompting I told them everything I had been doing for the past year and why, because I didn't see any reason why I shouldn't be honest with them. The only information I flatly refused to supply was the names of my clients. 'We have a tape recording of you offering sexual services to a police officer', one of them accused. 'I didn't just offer them to police officers,' I said, seeing no reason to lie. 'I offered them to everybody'. I was then taken to another room, photographed with a number across my chest, fingerprinted for posterity and then returned to my cheerless cell where I was served with a soggy offering of corned beef accompanied by a few chips. The conditions, the filth and the extreme cold and loneliness were indescribable. Several times I asked for another blanket before I was eventually given one every bit as filthy as the first. Later on there was a scuffing noise and a great deal of bad language as another victim was bundled into a cell. Banging loudly on the wall, I said to the officer, 'I don't wish to be awkward, but I find your swearing highly offensive.' The poor man was so taken aback that he blushed and apologised. As the night wore on, I began to despair. Where were Raiko and Tracy? Would Sheba be all right on her own? And then, Oh my God! What on earth would David say when he found out! It was time to take one of my daily hormone pills, but even this simple request was denied. Now I was becoming angry & frustrated 'Right, then,' I said to the sergeant. 'Are you prepared to sign a declaration stating that you accept full responsibility for withholding prescribed medical treatment for me?' Confronted with such determination, the sergeant retreated for a hasty conference with his superiors, who decided that he had better let me take my pill. Considering that Britain is a country where the law presumes a person's innocence until he or she is found guilty, such behaviour was shocking. Finally a call was put through on my behalf to my solicitor, who made sufficient fuss to ensure that I at least received the items of make-up that Karen had brought in so that I could make myself presentable before the following morning's appearance in court. I spent a fitful night, dozing and worrying about Raiko, Tracy, Sheba, David and the shop, huddled in my thin summer dress beneath the two disgusting blankets. In the morning, I was shepherded out to a waiting van where I found Raiko, wearing handcuffs and minus his shoes. I was outraged - I just couldn't believe that they would have the nerve to force such an inoffensive person as Raiko to wear handcuffs and that they had even had the gall to remove his shoes in case he should try to hang himself with his shoelaces. The whole affair was beginning to seem quite ludicrous. Four hours later we were formally charged with keeping a bawdy house. I was an ancient piece of legislation, so rarely invoked that my solicitor could hardly be blamed for having advised me in the first place that I wasn't breaking the law. Ian Burton, who had given me the misguided advice that I wasn't breaking the law, represented us in court and immediately managed to get us out on unconditional bail with a hearing set for the following month. It was with great relief that we stumbled out into the sunshine and were taken to our respective homes by Ian. The first thing I needed was a bath. I felt so filthy that I didn't think I would ever feel clean again. I hugged Sheba, who accompanied me upstairs and stayed with me as if to protect me while I stripped off and scrubbed myself clean. Now I had to face the worst ordeal of all: I had to telephone David and confess what had happened - and I had to do it fast because the local radio station were broadcasting half-hourly bulletins recounting the story of my arrest. Trembling, I picked up the telephone and dialled David's number. I was so nervous that I have absolutely no recollection of what I said or even how I said it. All I know is that I stumbled over my words, sobbing and begging David to believe that I had only done it in order to save the business. David listened patiently while I rambled on, and when I eventually ran out of words he cleared his throat and said in measured tones: 'Stephanie, I believe you did the wrong thing...but for the right reason.' If he had shouted at me, told me off, called me a silly bitch or any other kind of name I could have taken it, but to hear those kind, understanding words reduced me to tears all over again. 'Stephanie, I'll call round later and we'll discuss it then,' David said. Of course the media had a field day - every paper carried the story of my disgrace and it even made the evening TV news. When David called round that evening I cried copiously, convinced I had made a mess of everything. I felt sure that we would now be boycotted by all our legitimate cross-dressing customers, hounded by the media, reviled by the neighbours and forced to allow our little business to shrivel up and die. I was absolutely mortified to see the results of my actions, and I blamed myself totally for dragging my two best and dearest friends down with me into the mire. But David and Raiko were wonderful, refusing to allow me to take the blame or to martyr myself. But though I was grateful for their unswerving devotion and their loyalty and support. I could only dread what the future now held in store. Once again, I was in a situation where my future looked bleak.

Stephanie - A Girl In A Million - Chapter 10

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