MEMOIRS OF PISCES (episode 9)

ANNIE

Annie felt lucky. Somehow; since she started private stripping, she had only strip danced to two other clients in the past two weeks and it was horrible. Each had stared at her lecherously and one had asked her for a blow job. She had ran out of the room. The other had asked her to get on with a fellow stripper while he watched. She had cringed and had also ran out of the room too. Kayla and Olise had been appalled; they had scolded her thoroughly about bolting from customers and she had complained about their weird preferences. But, what shocked them was that each had left envelopes with a hundred thousand Naira each which was asides the fee they had paid already for the private dance. They had paid that much with the hope that Annie would do as they wished the next time they showed up.

Annie had been more shocked because, she had known she was going to strip dance but she hadn't expected the weird requests she had gotten from those men. But she was still surprised because she couldn't believe that she had made three hundred thousand just like that. She had hurriedly paid her rent which was sixty thousand, stocked up her house with enough food stuff to last her for a month and had deposited some in her account. Thus, as she lay on her bed in her room, she recalled her first night at Silver fox.

She had been scared out of her wit's end but that stranger had made it easy for her. He hadn't tried to touch her like the others; though he had acted really strange by walking out abruptly, he had been decent enough to keeps his hands to himself. She hadn't seen his face but he was at least six foot tall, really dark in complexion and had such an aura of authority that made him walk straight. She wished she could see him again and dance for him. Maybe he'll stay for the full one hour he'll be paying for.

She was lost in her thoughts when she started hearing the annoying noise that always comes from Bros Zik's room. This time, he was the one shouting with reckless abandon.

"Oh yes! Oooooh yes! Ah! you don finish work today! Ah! Baby! Make I come?"
The girl in turn hissed her answer, "No o! Never come abeg. I want fess you come!"

Annie rolled her eyes in exasperation. She felt like screaming. Like why the hell were they arguing about cumming?! Can they just cum already?! Jeez! she thought out loud. She decided to distract herself with her laptop; thankfully, PHCN decided to bless them with light. She checked her mails first and one in particular caught her attention. She couldn't believe it. The mail was from Excel Global, the audit firm she had had an interview with two months back. She hadn't heard from them anymore until now and she was quite surprised. They were inviting her for another interview the next day. She was shaken but happy all the same because she had even forgotten about them; she had lost all hope of them ever calling her back and now they finally did. She prayed she got the job. She would stop stripping if she did, she would move out of this house, she would put her parents on a monthly stipend, she would start saving for her Masters degree, she would start saving for weekend trips to African countries nearby and she would be alright.

.........................


That night, she had a restless sleep.

MEMOIRS OF PISCES (episode 8)

DAREN

Monday had started out brutal for Daren and as he kept staring at the pile of files on his table, he concluded that he would break down if he continued receiving more stress punches. The files were much and each needed the same level of urgency as the other. He had passed them on to his secretary to attend to but she had been too preoccupied with other tasks he had assigned to her that she forgot to attend to them. He had a lot on his plate as well being that it was the season of accounts reconciliation for most of their top clients. He had to do the final vetting according to his company's policy before the final results were delivered to their clients. He checked his watch; it was almost time for lunch with his Mom so he hibernated his computer, took his car keys, his phone and his tablet before leaving. Mom was a time keeper. A minute's delay could tick her off and she would start calling his phone non stop.

..........................

As he drove, he recalled the events of two weeks back. The place, the scene, the sound, the people, the costumes, the ambiance, that girl..., that shy, unsure stripper with skin like caramel and slightly parted lips panting slowly with every move she made. The scent of her skin when she ...  The view of Marcopolo drew him out of his reverie. He drove into the spacious compound and saw Mom's car with the driver napping inside. He smiled at the sight as he walked into the Nigerian version of a Chinese restaurant. When Mom had told him about the place, he had laughed at the thought of what a Chinese restaurant would look like in Lagos but  looking at this one now, he was impressed. Though, very spacious, the Decor of gold mixed with red gave the place that Chinese feel except for the fact that there was no Chinese song playing in the background so he was still conscious of being in Lagos.

He saw Mom sitting pretty and straight like a Queen at their table. She was looking out to the water front through the full length glass windows beside their table. Daren smiled fondly. This woman; this beautiful 60 year old Hausa woman with the body of a 40 year old and the mind of a 25 year old, this strong woman was a rare gem. To people; she was cold and unfriendly but to him she was everything he could ever wish for in a mother. She was warm, strict to a fault but overly caring. Although sometimes, she put up the front of an overbearing slave master to their staff, he knew it was all an act to curtail any form of insubordination. He loved her and respected her decisions especially those she made for their family and even when she was the third out of three wives she had the reigns to her husband's businesses.

Daren laughed this time when she turned and saw him. She stretched out her hand to him and when he took it, she gave him that heart warming smile that always made her look more youthful.

........................

They ordered for long bean noodles, prawns and some side dishes to go with. As they ate, they talked about the business. Then Daren recalled he had asked for an assistant before arriving Nigeria so he reminded her.

"Don't tell me that Lagos's short of hard working youths who aren't competent enough to be my assistant Mom"
She took her time to chew before responding. "Well, you never can tell unless you test them. We actually had quite a number of interviews the month before you arrived but we weren't satisfied with the candidates"
"How many were they?" Daren asked
"About a hundred or more"
Daren sighed. Dear mother, always hard to please. He shook his head in amusement before saying;
"Okay, ask the HR manager to send me the CVs of the top twenty. I'll look through myself and call for another interview."
"Don't worry son, we'll handle it" she said in her conclusive tone before sipping some water but Daren wouldn't let it slip so he insisted.
"No Mom. I'm being swallowed by work and I need an assistant ASAP"
She sighed in defeat cos she knew her son. He could go ahead and call for the interviews without her anyways. He was just as stubborn as she was so she decided on compromise.
"Alright. We'll do it this way. We'll call the top twenty this Friday and then you'll be a part of the selection committee so that you can decide for yourself. But I must warn you, you won't be so much impressed."

Daren rolled his eyes and said; "At this point, I'll take that chance. Tomorrow it will be. John should send me the CVs at the close of work today, I'll look at them overnight, the candidates will be notified tomorrow and the interview will take place on Wednesday. By Friday I want an assistant so I can live long. That's final Mom. Now let's talk about something else"

She looked at him narrow eyed and they both burst into laughter at the same time. She threw the napkin at him before saying, "If you aren't so strong headed then I'll conclude that you aren't my son"

Daren winked at her.

MEMOIRS OF PISCES (episode 7)

ANNIE

Annie didn't really know what to do next that was why she had sat down on the lone chair in the room. She was in a Strip Club; a live one. This was the place Terry had told her that his friend managed and though, everyone looked naked, it all looked magical; like a sort of fantasy island where your erotic wishes are granted. Terry's friend; Olise had taken one look at her and had concluded that she would do well entertaining guests privately than on the pole and she had been grateful for his decision cos she was going to ask for that exactly. Olise had handed her over to Kayla who was in charge of the girls as well as their costumes. Kayla had looked at her like a foreign dish to be devoured and had said;

"Hmm, if I had that body, I'll have every man that comes into this place at my beck and call. Use it wisely. Don't get all cocky about it but always remember that your body is your weapon. Draw strength from that thought. Your patron might want you to do some extras while you dance, do it without hesitation. Maintain eye contact and make him feel like in his being is your existence. Touch yourself while you dance. It'll turn him on. Lastly, serenade him with your body like your life depends on it."

Annie's throat went dry and she stuttered; "This is my first time doing this Kayla"
Kayla looked at her with her usual poker face and said in a not so assuring way, "Just think about the money you'll make and you'll be fine"

Annie smiled and nodded with gratitude after receiving her costume. She suspected that that was a perfectly rehearsed line Kayla used for all the girls especially the new ones. It sounded good but she felt it sounded too easy. For one, she had never seen herself as "sexy" and when people ogled at her body, she wondered what they saw.

So she had worn the lingerie, the comfortable heels she came with and had tied her hair in a ponytail. She hadn't worn makeup cos she needed her face to breathe out the pent up tension she was feeling but she had used her gloss and lastly, a face mask that covered just her eyes. She wouldn't want anyone to recognize her outside this place.

She had taken a deep breath, exhaled, checked herself once more in the huge wall mirror and then left the changing room to start this phase in her life.

......................

Deep, dark searching eyes welcomed her as she walked in through the door. She felt exposed like an article on display at an exhibition and as she walked she felt those eyes following her. When she sat, she didn't know what to do next and to worsen the situation, her patron in question said nothing. Instead, he had an amused but sort of daring expression on his face. What was he expecting she wondered? They were both quiet for some minutes then she heard Future's "Mask Off" and she began to move sinuously on the chair. She moved sideways; twisting her hips slowly. Then she put her hands to her neck, caressing slowly, gently moving them down to her chest and as she got closer to her breasts, she stopped and gracefully stood up. With her left hand holding the chair, she moved her right hand down her stomach, slowly deliberately allowing his eyes to linger on her hand as it trailed an invisible path on her stomach, down to the space between her legs. Then she trailed her thighs downwards and then up again, this time, putting her fingers on her lips. She threw her head backwards, revealing the smooth skin on her neck and then with her left hand, she caressed her neck down to her breasts. Then she stood up and took a few steps towards him.  When she was standing right in front of him, she raised a leg and placed it on the bed he was seated. Then just like she had seen Christiana Aguilera do in the movie "Burlesque", she bent down slowly and started rolling down her sheer tights to reveal some skin. She noticed that he had narrowed his eyes as if in concentration so she took that as a sign that she was doing great and moving to Dj Khaled's "Be with You", she stood straight and was slowly winding her waist but just as she was about sitting on his thighs, he stood up and left the room.

His sudden movement had taken her unawares and she almost fell to the ground. She looked at the shut door but couldn't move. What had she done wrong? Had she made the wrong move by attempting to sit on his thighs? This is crazy Annie thought as she sat on the sofa shaking.

..................

She had packed up her little bag and was about leaving when Olise called her and handed her an envelop with a smile on his face. He said;
"Your Patron was very generous. Well done."
Annie didn't understand what that meant so she opened the envelop and found a bunch of one thousand naira notes and on the wrap up paper, she saw "one hundred thousand naira" written on it. She was shocked. She looked at Olise and as if understanding what she wanted to ask, he said quickly before leaving to go back inside.

"About our percentage, he paid for that separately already. By the way, I'll advise you lodge into an hotel for tonight instead of going back to Ajegunle. Lagos isn't that friendly"

Annie couldn't comprehend the weird but fruitful turn of events of the night but one thing she could understand is. that man, whoever he is, is a weird one.