Like Warm Sun on Nekkid Bottoms - Charles Austen [66]
“Oh! Before you even start!”
“Yeah. Maybe a tip after. Can’t do it any other way.”
“Aaaah. That makes sense. Then isn’t the pay from the movies themselves any good?”
“It’s all right. Some girls become stars and make a lot more, obviously.”
“Well, obviously. But in the meantime…”
Was Mindie considering this? I couldn’t imagine. Then why was she asking so many questions?
“…dancing rounds out the income,” Ms, Waboombas finished for her. “Yeah.”
“Interesting,” Mindie said, contemplating. “I’d never heard of this ‘dancing’ thing. I suppose they think it makes the industry look bad.”
“Some girls pretend they never have to do it, yeah. But it’s the main part of the business. It’s been around longer than the movies. Though the movies are what bring more guys to see you. Like advertising.”
“Oh, of course.”
“And myself? I like the one-on-one of a live performance.”
“Oh, you perform at these as well?”
“I consider dancing a performance.”
“Ah! Of course. You treat it all as a performance then.”
“Even the sex sometimes, yeah.”
“Ha, ha! Of course! So you don’t mind that then?” Mindie said, obviously surprised. “The, em…sex…part of it, I mean?”
“Nah. That’s fun. I like sucking and fucking, and…”
“Soooo—Mister Wopplesdown,” Pastor Winterly interjected— loudly—to eradicate whatever else Ms. Waboombas enjoyed in the back rooms of strip clubs. Apparently he could no longer be satisfied with pretending not to hear. Now he had to actually not hear. “Haven’t seen you in church since you were a little boy. We’ve missed you.”
“You have?” I asked, genuinely stunned.
“Of course we have. Church is our communal family. God brings us each together because—combined—the parts of us form a whole that is greater than any individual. The family is the most important unit in civilization. When one of us isn’t there, it diminishes the rest.”
I had a hard time believing my absence diminished anyone, but I supposed anything was possible. “I’ve meant to come, really, but…”
“Mindie is there every week, and often during Wednesday evening sermons. Right in front. Singing loudly.” He paused, as if remembering a bunion. “So, I suppose you’ll be accompanying her regularly from now on.”
“I suppose,” I said, assuming he knew I was lying.
Ms. Waboombas voice cut in. “If I didn’t like to fuck so much, I’d never do the movies.”
“HAVE YOU HAD ANY THOUGHTS ON CHILDREN, MISTER WOPPLESDOWN?” the pastor said, entirely too loudly, as if he wanted to make certain God could hear that he was talking about something not sexual in this blasphemous car.
“Eventually,” I said, only half-listening and trying to hear the conversation he was talking over in the back seat as I feared it was beginning to unravel, and wanted sufficient warning so I could leap to safety.
“So there are nude scenes then, in these movies,” Mindie concluded, annoyed, but amazingly still apparently willing to make the sacrifice for stardom. “I suppose that’s to be expected for a newer actress.”
“Well, duh,” Ms. Waboombas sneered. “That’s kind of the point. You can’t fuck anybody if you’re not…” she held up her hands, and made quotation marks in the air with her fingers, “‘…nude.’”
“DO YOU LIKE CHILDREN, MISTER WOPPLESDOWN?” The pastor screamed, his voice cracking. He was making it more and more difficult for anyone to hear. We had to hear! Didn’t he realize the imminent danger we were all in?
“So it’s not just…nudity?” Mindie asked. “You also have to pretend to engage in, you know—intercourse—as well?”
“What do you mean, pretend? There’s no pretend. They roll the film. You fuck.”
“I THINK CHILDREN ARE TRULY A GIFT!” Pastor Winterly said, apparently deciding he could no longer afford to allow the silence of waiting for me to answer. “A GIFT FROM GOD! GOD THE ALMIGHTY!”
“You mean to say,” Mindie said, her tone darkening, “they expect me to have actual sex—on camera?”
“ONE CAN SEE THE DIVINE IN THEIR INNOCENT FACES, WHEN THEY PLAY AND…EM…PLAY…AND…EM…WHEN THEY…YOU KNOW…PLAY…”
”That’s what they’re paying you for, lady, to have actual sex…”
“CHILDREN ARE GOOD! THE WAY THEY LOOK UP TO