Copenhagen Noir - Bo Tao Michaelis [55]
Bonnie looked serious, thought for a moment, and then said: “They need to, like, know what they’re buying. Couldn’t we show your body without your head?”
“No,” Claire answered.
“Okay, we’ll make an exception and put a different body out. You’re so beautiful, nobody will be disappointed if they even notice they’ve been tricked.”
The website popped up.
Bonnie pointed: “Here’s our Thais, Cindy and Lara. That’s what we call all of them. We bring new ones in about every three months. They don’t show their heads here, either. It’s more because of the authorities. They’re only here on a tourist visa … And here’s Alette. We haven’t taken her off the site yet. Isn’t she sweet?” A tear ran down Bonnie’s cheek and was slowly absorbed by her open pores.
Claire stared at the picture of a skinny young girl with empty eyes, a half-open mouth, and disproportionately large silicone breasts, “playing with herself,” as the text claimed. She was in the process of inserting a black dildo.
“Apparently she didn’t have any family. We were the only ones at her funeral, anyway,” Bonnie sighed. “What would you like to be called?” she then asked.
“I’m Michelle,” Claire answered.
“But do you want to use your real name?”
“Just call me Michelle,” Claire said. “And I’ll give you my cell number, but not my ID number or my address.”
“That’s fair enough,” Bonnie answered, looking as if she was thinking like crazy about the story behind this elegant woman’s decision to debut as a whore.
Bonnie started gathering up DVDs so Claire could study the servicing of customers, and she handed her a sheet of paper filled with writing.
“This is the list of our services and prices. We call it the menu,” she explained.
Claire ran her eyes over the text. Danish, Swedish, French, Greek … female sex, bathtub sex, S&M, escort and out-calls, one girl and two girls. The typical price was thirteen hundred kroner an hour at the brothel, but it was noted that the fees were only guidelines, and that customers could have individual programs made up and prices calculated.
“Actually, we’re in a situation right now where we need someone to replace Alette. When can you start?”
“Tomorrow,” Claire answered. “I need to take a look at all this.” She nodded at the DVDs.
Just as she was leaving, Cindy and Lara walked in with Lasse, a friendly, smiling, solarium-tanned bodybuilder with a ponytail. They had been at a customer’s place on an out-call.
Lasse tossed four thousand kroner on Bonnie’s desk.
“This is Michelle, she’s starting with us tomorrow,” Bonnie said as an introduction.
“Michelle, you’re totally gorgeous!” Lasse said, and groped her breasts appreciatively, winking flirtatiously at her.
The two Thai girls held limp hands out to her and smiled shyly, their eyes on the floor, then they walked into the dressing room together to get ready for the evening customers.
Claire Winther stopped by the fitness center on the way home and spoke loudly and amiably with the receptionist and the man beside her on the treadmill, making sure that she was noticed.
At home, she poured a double gin-and-tonic, which she drank while taking a long and luxurious bubble bath. Just as she had settled in her adjustable bed with her laptop and Bonnie’s DVDs, John’s goodnight text came in: Dear, what do you think about spending Christmas and New Years here in Brazil, I’ve found a wonderful beach hotel and the weather is great?
She answered: Wonderful. Just what I need--to get away from this wet and cold darkness.
I’ll reserve the luxury suite and arrange the trip. Okay with you if we leave around December 20?
That’s great for me. Kiss hug and goodnight.
Then she put the first DVD in to study the whores and their customers in action.
By midnight she knew she could do this. She had a plan. Abandon her body mentally during the act, but leave her brain in charge. Most of it was banal and cliché-ish—as Bonnie had said it would be.
“They want to believe that they’re fantastic, that they have an enormous cock and make you really horny. If you play that role you almost can’t