Naked Truth (ella & littlerooster)

[ella]

Maureen Anne Costello was sitting at her desk on the firth floor of the Tribunes head office. The blond twenty-three year old was a junior reporter for the newspaper and although this was a big day in her career, Maureen wasn’t looking very happy. Her editor had given the young woman her first own story. However, Maureen wasn’t thrilled about the topic, to be honest.

In the past month there had been some incidents at local strip clubs. Most of them were rather harmless, however some politicians of the conservative wing had jumped on the band wagon and started to campaign against the business in general. They claimed that criminal gangs were running the clubs, forcing women into prostitution and using their establishments for several other illegal activities. Although, nothing of this was based on no facts, the story was starting to grow and the editor wanted to get an inside story on the city’s strip clubs and their business.

Having no clue about strip clubs and anything that was connected to it, Maureen felt very lost. She had been brought up in a conservative and well protected fashion, so she had never felt the need to visit one or get close to one. Personally, she even agreed to some degree with the politicians, however as a young and idealistic journalist, she wanted to do this right and get to the root of the story.

If she wanted to get to know the business, she had to get some inside knowledge. Finally she picked up her phone and dialed with shaking fingers the number that was written on a heart shaped, red card.

 

[littlerooster]

Michael Danzig sits alone in his strip club "The Red Heart", it is still morning and the girls wouldn't be coming in for another few hours yet.

He is casually dressed, jeans and a t shirt, never one for suit and ties. Intelligent and yet unmotivated, lazy, his school reports were the same every year "If Michael would just apply himself". Well he kind of did, he managed to finish college with a business degree, spent some time managing in a multi national corporation but hated the politics.

Sexual psychology fascinated Michael, why people do certain things, what they get from it, so here he was managing a strip club owned by a local gangster errr alternative business man.

He liked interviewing the women who came to work there, he liked hearing their reasons, trying to get inside their head, the ones who were just doing it for money bored him, he wanted more soul than that.

The phone rang "Good Morning Red Heart Striptease, Michael speaking" he listened to a nervous young woman on the other end...

 

[ella]

"Hello, this is Maureen Costello from the Tribune. I am currently working on a story regarding the public discussion on the regulating and controlling of the erotic industry, like strip clubs. I am looking for an interview partner and someone who might be willing to share the view of the industry with our readers." Maureen played nervously with her pen while trying to sound not too scared or disgusted.

"I already have someone of the conservative party to talk about their opinion, but I don’t want this story to be just one sided. So it would be nice to talk to the manager, the owner, and even some of your employees, if that is possible."

 

[littlerooster]

"Oh Maureen, you have a lovely voice... and I used to know a Maureen Costello from school, she was quite the hottie. So yeah writing a story huh, you think we are all crooks in the flesh trade I suppose?" I say rather sarcastically knowing full well that the owner of the club is indeed a crook.

 

[ella]

Shocked by the direct answer, Maureen was feeling lost and tried to regain control of the conversation. "Thanks… err … I mean, no, no, not at all! If I would have my mind made up already I probably wouldn’t ask for an interview and your support on the story, would I? I am offering you the chance to put your own side of the story out there. Show our readers that you have nothing to hide, or do you fear that the accusations are true?"

Slowly, Michael’s comment started to sink in. Did she knew that guy? There had been a few Michaels at her school, however she couldn’t really picture them in a strip club.

 

[littlerooster]

"Oh how nice of you Maureen to offer us merchants of filth a chance to state our case! You know when you got nervous then, the Maureen Costello I knew would make the same noise. Funny huh?" I like that I am putting you off balance.

 

[ella]

Michael’s behavior started to annoy the young reporter. He obviously wasn’t taking her seriously and she was just wasting her time with him. "Ok, listen. I was just offering you a chance, you don’t have to take it. I have no problem with writing my story without your insides, and I guess merchants of filth, flesh traders, and pimps will be fit perfectly into my piece."

"And please stop acting like I know you. Where I grew up we didn’t mix with people who use helpless women for their sick pleasure." Angrily Maureen took the card with the number and threw it into her trash can. This lead was obviously not worth following any further.

 

[littlerooster]

I hear the phone crash down in my ear. I laugh a little then remember you said you worked for the Tribune. I give the paper a call and ask to speak to you.

"Hi Maureen, you can ride but you can't hide" I laugh cheekily, then follow it up with a more serious tone.

"How can I help you?"

 

[ella]

Maureen smiled confidently when Michael called her back. She hadn’t expected this, but nevertheless it made her feel good. Maybe her little tantrum had made clear that she was serious about the story and was offering a chance. Happy about her second chance with Michael, she repeated what she was looking for.

"I want to get an inside view on the strip club business. There are many rumors out there at the moment and I would love to see with my own eyes whether they are true or not. So it would be nice, if I would do in interview with you or anyone of the club’s management. And a chance to talk with any of the girls would be very interesting as well. Do you think that might be possible?"

 

[littlerooster]

Michael sat back and listened and took on a more serious demeanour.

"Sure, why don't you come around now, you have the address, the girls will be coming in soon as well, you can talk to them before they start stripping. I will look forward to seeing you."

they ended the call and Michael, tidied his office a little waiting.

 

[ella]

Surprised and happy by Michael’s sudden willingness to cooperate, Maureen felt a wave of satisfaction washing over her. Full of motivation she got up from her desk and grabbed her phone, handbag, and little black notebook. On the way out she stopped at the restroom, checking her appearance in the mirror.

The young reporter was dressed in a dark blue jeans, a light lilac blouse, and comfortable sneakers. Her blond hair was tried together to a ponytail, giving her a professional, but relaxed, look. Maureen wasn’t very much into dolling up every time she went out of the house. Actually, her conservative background was showing in her looks as well. She rarely were wearing high heels or revealing cloth like other women her age. She was more a down to earth kind of person in every way.

This conservative mindset was also making her more and more nervous the closer she got to the strip club. Maureen was sure that she was going to a dirty and filthy place, where the low lives of the city were gathering for their morally wrongful pleasures.

She parked her blue - company owned - Prius outside The Red Heart and walked up to the bouncer. "Hi, I have an appointment with Michael."

 

[littlerooster]

The bouncer lets Maureen in and Michael greets her

"Maureen! How are you", Michael says approaching, then sensing familiarity "M,M,Maureen, is that you from school?"

"oh my god! Come, lets have a drink!" he says amused that this woman he had a crush but could never say it to is now in his strip club.

 

[ella]

Maureen’s jaw dropped when she saw Michael. Numerous questions popped into her head, but she was too shocked to get anything out. She followed her old friend from school to the bar and slowly regained control when a gin tonic was sitting in front of her.

"I can’t believe it. It’s really you? It’s been a while since I saw you, Michael. I though you went to the university and got your business degree. Why are you working in this place? The Michael Danzig I knew didn’t really fit in here."

 

[littlerooster]

We sit down with our drinks at the empty bar.

"Well it's a long story" I start nodding in understanding of why Maureen asked the question.

"I did get my business degree and worked for a major financial firm even at one point, but it was among other things, quite dull, in fact if it were just dull, I could have stuck it out, but the way they run things, the stress, I gave it away, I started doing things I wanted to do. Anyway, one day I saw a job advertised to manage a club, I thought it sounds different give them a call see what happens, well I promise you I didn't know it was a strip club! You have to be part shrink to manage the girls moods in here sometimes Maureen, let me tell ya!" he said and then realizing that perhaps he has said too much or rambled too long he stops.

"So you didn't come here to hear me complain about schizo strippers and boring career paths, tell me more what you have been up to and tell me about this story, corruption in the sex industry huh? You would have thought!" he added with a cheeky grin.

 

[ella]

"Wow, it is still hard to believe that you manage a strip club. Didn’t you have any doubt due to the questionable background of the sex industry? I don’t mean from a moral point of view, but there is a lot of criminal activity that is liked to the proximity of strip clubs and similar businesses." She smiled at him while her head was still buzzing with questions and trying to adjust to her changed view of the world.

In Maureen’s eyes Michael had been a good person, but seeing him in this strip club made her question her mindset. Had she misjudged Michael or where the strip club business just an ordinary industry with normal citizens just trying to earn an honest living?

After a mouthful of her drink, Maureen felt a bit better and returned her mind to the conversation and her job. "Oh, there has been a lot going on in my life. After the university I started working at the Tribune and worked my way up to my first story, which brought me here." She smiled at him. "And along the way I got married a year ago." She waved her hand in front of Michael showing him the wedding band on her ring finger.

 

[littlerooster]

Michael sat and listened to Maureen's concerns about the sex industry. When she had finished he thoughtfully answered her.

"Corruption exists in all areas, even religion has corrupt clergy. Of course organised crime can effect some strip clubs, but this one is legit." He started and then paused as the first girl came into get her outfit together for the lunch show, she was older, 40's looking like a soccer mum.

"All types work in this industry, Sally there is a mother of 3 she can work here while the kids are at school. She does a good show and earns well." He explains.

"And I am sure you are making your husband very happy! He's a lucky man" he says looking at Maureen's wedding ring.

 

[ella]

"I agree, corruption and crime exists in all aspects of life. However, there is a strong connection between the sex industry and criminal investors, who like to launder their money through those establishments. How can you be so sure that your club is completely legit? I didn’t sound like you are the owner of this place."

When Sally entered, Maureen looked at her. She looked surprisingly normal. Secretly she had expected to see girls with fake boobs, lots of make up, cheap slutty cloth, and badly bleached hair. "She really looks normal, how long has she been working here? And how much does a stripper earn around here?"

Looking down at her wedding ring, Maureen smiles happily. "Yeah, it’s the best that ever happened to me. James is making me happy and I hope that I am doing so in return as well. So how about you? Are you married or do you have a girlfriend? And if you do, does she know about all this?" She looked around the shady club, thinking that she would break up with any guy working here.

 

[littlerooster]

"Well I am here every day almost, no gangster has ever tried to make any deals, the owner is just a business man with other businesses not tied with the sex industry. I think I would know if we were some kind of front Maureen!" Heath said laughingly, wondering if she was really so naive that she thought he would just spill the beans that easily.

"Yes, the women here are normal, we have a strict no drugs policy, the girls undergo drug testing regularly, it's not worth the bullshit to have drugged strippers, they don't look good for a start. The women range in age and body shapes, men like all types, I'm not a fan of fake tits but some men are so I pick a mix of women. Depending on the shift they can make anything from $500 to $5,000 a shift, Sally usually makes about $600 doing 4 hours during the afternoon." He continued answering.

"Oh, I am sure you will make James very happy, you have always been a looker. Yeah, I'm seeing someone, her names Laura, she gets the strip club thing. Anyway, time to open, will you be sticking around to talk more and watch Sally strip?"

 

[ella]

The young reporter was sure that Michael was hiding something. He tried to act too stupid in order to be believable. A criminal trying to wash money would surely do it secretly and would be hard to spot. Otherwise the cops would easily wait outside and round them up without any difficulty. But for now Maureen didn’t want to push further, she was giving Michael some time to open up. Until then she would try to get an inside on why people would work here and what was motivating them.

"Wow, $500 to $5000 a shift? That is a lot of money, now I can see why someone would be willing to work here." Until now Maureen had seen the strippers as people with no talents and other opportunities, but Sally surely had 600 good reasons to take her cloth of. Shortly the young wife wondered what she would do with that kind of extra money and how it would make some things easier in her life.

Curious about what Sally would have to do to earn her money, Maureen decided to stay around some more. "Sure, that’s what I am here for, I want to know how your club works and what makes people come and work here. What makes the difference between $500 and $5000 a shift? I mean what do you have to do to become such a high earner around here?"

 

[littlerooster]

Michael decided to drop the corruption topic by ignoring it, Maureen seemed fascinated by strippers and stripping right now, it would be better to keep her in that frame of mind, another girl walked in, this time early 20's dyed blue hair, slim and toned, "hi Amanda" Heath said as she walked in.

Patrons were also starting to turn up. Heath told Maureen he would be back in a minute.

Then an announcement is heard, it's michael's voice "gentleman please welcebtpnthr stage the lovely Danni" and with that music starts, loud rock music, and Sally who obviously uses a fake name comes on and starts her dance, she is quite athletic and works the pole well, she undresses bit by bit taking tips and soon is totally naked, she goes out to the audience and starts doing lap dances, then Amanda who uses the name "Blue" starts stripping.

Michael returns to Maureen "yeah well it's like any business really you have peak times and some products are more popular than others. This is off peak, the girls do well but we won't get too much busier than this, Friday and Saturday nights are booming and that is when you have the college girls and porn star wanna be's with plastic tits dancing those girls make the big bucks" he explains and lets it all settle in Maureen's head.

 

[ella]

Maureen was completely surprised by Sally’s or Danni’s performance. The mother of three had an outstanding body and was putting a really artistic and aesthetic performance on the stage. Wouldn’t it have been for the lap dances and the close contacts with some of the customers, Maureen would have considered the stripper’s job as art from, but so it still turned out to be raunchy. However, the whole performance wasn’t as bad as Maureen had imagined it. What still surprised her the most was the amount of money a stripper could earn with very little work. Sure the girls had to have a great body and would have to stay in shape, but Maureen tried to do that herself and wasn’t payed for it.

The strip club isn’t too full, however the crowed isn’t too bad taking into account that it is still daytime and in the middle of the week. "I guess it’s much wilder on the weekends. Do the girls earn fix wages or are they just payed with the tips they earn? And how do you find girls that are willing to work here? I know that are a lot of questions, but seeing a woman like Sally working here, might be a very interesting inside for our readers."

 

[littlerooster]

Michael watches Maureen as she views the women undressing for the entertainment of the audience. He sees that she is fascinated and repulsed as well. He can tell that the physical aspect is putting her off wanting to try it herself, it happens with a lot of the women, they like being looked at, being touched, not so much.

"The ladies earn from tips, that is why they get so physical and put on better shows, if they were paid a wage you would find they would earn less and not put on a hot show. Some women call up and ask if I need dancers, sometimes I advertise, many women dream about stripping, it seems all the rage now days" he said smiling answering her questions.

"Anything else you are curious about Maureen?"

 

[ella]

"I see, so you really have to do a good job, to earn so much money with tips. But they must get tipped very good when they earn up to five grand. Or you have to cover many customers… or do they even more than dance?" Maureen was still shocked by the amount of money these girls earned. It wasn’t surprising that Michael had not problems finding strippers when you could earn on a day what others made in a week or month.

"And how much does the club make on a good night? I mean you surely don’t just run this place for a bunch of young girls and hot moms to make money." She smiled at him, hoping to get some more information on the way the business worked.

"What are you looking for when you employ a girl? What do they have to bring to the table for being interesting for you and your clients? Do they have to be of some certain looks or age?"

 

[littlerooster]

Michael smiled at Maureen as she asked more questions, some a little too inquisitive, some of the dancers did give blow jobs in private rooms, this of course being illegal, he couldn't tell her that.

"In the club the women just give private dances and the men can touch if they pay for it, the club makes very good trade on Friday and Saturday nights like any nightclub, we make money from the drink sales and charge an entrance fee on those nights as well." he answered with a smile before starting to answer the next round of questions.

"I look for a woman who is attractive, body type can vary, it doesn't matter, she has to look warm, friendly, obviously comfortable stripping, she has to audition for the job as well, first by undressing in the interview and if she looks right and comfortable with that, then I get her to dance and strip on stage as well" he said to her.

"Would you like to arrange an interview with one of the dancers?" he asked.

 

[ella]

Maureen had her doubts that Michael was telling her the full truth. She was sure that the club wasn’t just making money from the entrance fees and drinks, because that didn’t seem overly attractive. Furthermore, she also assumed that the girls were doing more than stripping, but of cause Michael wouldn’t be able to admit that. Although her old friend was pretty open, he wasn’t really clearing up the reservations that Maureen had about the business.

"Ok, sounds like you are looking for a broad range of girls. So I guess even someone normal like me would have a little chance." She giggled a little about her joke and smiled at Michael. "It would be nice to talk to some of the dancers. Maybe one who knows the business for a while and one who is new. I would be interesting to see how their views might change over time."