Trailer Park Noir

Six

Steve Regent, in unit five, heard a car pull up in front of his trailer and idle for a moment. He suspected it was his ten o’clock appointment. Sure enough, the engine was killed. Regent tried to make all his appointments during the daytime – they looked more legitimate that way. But this woman insisted on meeting him at ten at night, it was the only time she was available.

Regent went to his door, opened it, and took a step down. He waved at the small compact car parked across the entrance to his driveway. She got out of the car, and he held the door open for her as she entered the trailer.

“I hope it’s okay, where I parked,” she said.

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it,” he said.

He kept his trailer well-lit inside so he could see them as soon as they entered, get a good look at them. They did the same thing over at Josh Garner’s house. Garner was his partner, and they usually did most of their business at the house he kept in Redding just for this purpose, but this woman had spoken to Regent and he’d been the one to talk her into it, so he’d had her come to his trailer.

She was nineteen, maybe twenty. She wore a tiny yellow shirt that exposed her flat belly, and a short, tight turquoise skirt. Her bare legs were gorgeous, maybe her best feature. Her face was okay – youthful and clean – but her legs were her selling point, her legs and her ass. Not much in the way of breasts, but she would do.

She stepped into the entryway, which opened onto the den where he kept his computer on a large desk, behind which was a long couch, a couple armchairs, a sideboard where he kept some bottles of liquor and some glasses. He led her to the right, into the living room where the couch and recliner and two other chairs faced the big-screen TV. The living room was attached to a small dining area, which was separated from the kitchen by a bar. A hallway led down to the bedrooms and bathroom.

“Have a seat,” he said.

She sat down at one end of the couch.

“Can I get you something to drink?” he said. “I’m having wine. Would you like some?”

“Sure, that would be nice,” she said.

He went to the kitchen and got another wineglass from the cupboard, poured some chilled white wine into it.

“Now remind me,” he said as he came back into the living room with a glass of wine in each hand, “your name is – “

”Heather,” she said. “Heather Winters.”

Regent handed her the drink, then sat down in an armchair, which he turned to face the couch. His drink was on the lamp table beside the chair. He picked it up and took a sip, then another. “So, Heather Winters, what can I do for you?”

“Well, your ad said you were interested in helping out young women who needed money and were willing to be photographed. That you’d pay up to seven hundred dollars.”

“That’s right.”

“Well – “ She swallowed dryly. She was very nervous, and her right leg bounced up and down frantically. “ – I’m curious to, uh, know what, uh, kind of photographs?”

“It’s nude photography. You need some quick money? I hope nothing’s wrong, Heather.”

She released a quick, nervous laugh. “Well, yeah, something’s wrong, you could say that.”

“What’s the problem?”

“I, uh… I’m, uh… my boyfriend doesn’t know yet because I haven’t told him. I know what he’ll say, what he’ll do. So I’m not going to tell him. I need money for an abortion. I’ll pay for it myself and he’ll never know the difference. I’ll tell him I’m going down to Corning to stay with my sister for a few days. And I will. Afterward. He’ll never know the difference.”

“I’m sorry you have to do that, Heather,” he said.

“Do what?”

“I’m sorry you have the kind of relationship that makes it necessary for you to do something like sneak around that way.”

“Oh. Yeah. Well. It wouldn’t go over, believe me. He’d accuse me of trying to trap him. He’d be… oh, he’d be furious. But he’d never allow me to have an abortion. He’s very conservative and he doesn’t believe in it.”

“That’s too bad. It’s something you two should be able to share joyfully.”

“Yeah, you’d think.”

Heather burst into sobs, put her wineglass on the end table, and quickly grabbed for her purse. She took a tissue from it and wiped her eyes. The sobs passed quickly. “I’m sorry, I’m just… I’m not… myself lately, you know?” She snatched up her wineglass and took a couple big gulps. When she saw how little was left, she finished it.

Regent stood and took the glass. “Let me get you a refill. Unless you’d like something stronger. I have some good scotch.”

“No, the wine’s fine.”

He went to the kitchen, poured more, then returned and handed her the glass, sat down in the chair again.

“Let me tell you the pay scale,” he said. “But first, I’ve gotta ask – are you easily offended?”

“What do you mean?”

“I mean, are you going to start slapping me when I give you the pay scale? Because all you have to do is say you’re not interested, you really don’t have to hit me.”

She laughed, a small, soggy sound. “No, I won’t.”

“Have you done any modeling?” he said.

“A little back in high school. My aunt owns a dress shop and I used to do some modeling for her, and I was in some of her newspaper ads.”

“Well, here’s how it works. A hundred dollars for simple nude pictures. If we get more graphic – if you masturbate, for example – then it goes up to two-fifty. Then you have the option of doing video. You can strip on video for three hundred fifty, or you can strip and masturbate for five hundred. And you get seven-fifty if you agree to give me head on camera. That, uh, that would give you the money you need for an abortion.”

“Yes, it would,” she said, but she barely got the words out before sobbing again. She sobbed quietly, her head down, and her shoulders jerked as she got another tissue from her purse. “I’m sorry,” she whispered.

“Don’t be. I only wish I could do something more for you.”

“I’d need more to travel down to my sister’s,” she said as she wiped her eyes. She blew her nose, then stuffed all the tissues into her purse. “I don’t even have enough money for gas to Corning, I have nothing once I pay all my bills, and there’s no one I can go to for help, and I… I… “ She sniffled and shed a few more tears. Suddenly, she shook her head sharply. She stood and said, “Maybe I should go.”

“No, wait. Maybe we can work something out. Maybe a package deal.”

“What do you mean?”

“How about doing all of it for twelve hundred dollars?”

“All of it?”

“The nudie photos, the explicit photos, the video, the whole thing. You do that, and I’ll pay you twelve hundred dollars.”

She stood there and thought about it for a long time. Slowly, Heather lowered herself back onto the couch.

“Your boyfriend will never know the difference,” Regent said.

“What are they for?”

“I’m sorry?”

“The pictures and videos – what are they for, what do you do with them?”

“They go on my websites.”

Her eyes widened a little. “For how long?”

“What do you mean?”

“How long do you leave the pictures and videos on your website?”

He shrugged. “As long as the sites are up. You have a problem with that?”

“Well… what if he sees me?”

Another shrug. “Some men, they really get off on it. It turns them on, seeing their girlfriends or wives on a website, knowing other people are looking at them. Some men love it.”

“I don’t think Nate would.”

“Does he join paysites?”

“What do you mean?”

“He would have to pay to see you. Does he pay to join websites?”

She released a small sigh of relief. “No, he doesn’t.”

“Then you’ve got nothing to worry about.”

She stood and thought some more. “You get a lot of people coming to your site?”

“In the millions. I have a few different sites. They’re all very successful.”

“I see. Well.” For a moment, she looked like she was about to turn and leave. Then she put the purse on the couch. Her voice trembled as she said, “Okay, the whole thing for twelve hundred.”

“Wonderful,” he said, “just wonderful.” He stood and went to the end table by the couch and picked up the cordless phone on its base. “I’m going to have to call a friend over to help. I’m going to need a hand.” He punched in the number, waited a moment. “Hey, it’s Steve. You got some time? I’ve got a session set up, and I need a hand.” He listened a moment, then said, “Great, see you in a few.” He turned the phone off and put it back on its base. “He’ll be here in awhile. He lives just north of Redding. In the meantime, why don’t we get some pictures. C’mon in the studio.”

Heather followed him down the hall to a bedroom with a king-size bed on one side, and lights for the photo shoots on the other. He turned a couple of the lights on, then went to a small desk behind the lights. “I need you to sign a couple forms before we do anything. How old are you, Heather?”

“Twenty.”

He took a couple sheets of paper from a desk drawer, put them on the desk, and handed her a pen. “Just sign here,” he said, pointing to a line at the bottom of the page. She signed it, and he pulled the first page aside. “And here.”

As she signed the second sheet, she said, “What are these for?”

“One swears you’re of age, and the other is so you won’t sue me when your pictures and videos show up on the Internet, and gives me permission to use the photos and videos on my websites.”

“Oh, I see.”

Regent took a digital camera from the desktop. “Now, we’ll start with your clothes on. Just lie back on the bed and pose for me. Give me your sexiest looks.”

Heather slipped her flats off and got on the bed, stretched out on her back, propped up by her elbows. She went through a series of poses for him – bend the knee, raise this arm, lift that hip. Her movements were stiff, her poses rigid.

“You need some more wine,” Regent said. “You’re very stiff, Heather. We need to loosen you up.”

“How about some of that scotch?” she said.

Regent smiled and said, “Attagirl.”

Regent had discovered the greatest job in the world, and he was a huge success at it. He and his buddy Josh Garner – they’d known each other since college – had joked for years about starting an adult website. Then one day they decided to put their money where their mouth was. They got a loan from the bank for “online entertainment sites,” and assembled a website made up of pictures they’d found on the Internet. But they knew they couldn’t charge for membership unless the pictures were originals. They purchased the equipment they would need, then decided to try the local community college. They put notices up on bulletin boards:

WANTED: ATTRACTIVE FEMALES

Are you an attractive young woman

in need of some quick money? Earn

up to $750 posing for photographs

and video. Tasteful.

They included Regent’s cell phone number as a contact.

Regent and Garner were stunned by the response. They were astonished that so many attractive young women were willing – even eager – to take their clothes off for total strangers.

Regent and Garner had been living together at the time in an apartment in Redding. They’d held auditions there – every girl passed. They’d set up lights and a camera in the spare bedroom. At first, most of the girls just went for the topless photos for a hundred. A few opted to pose for more explicit photos. Only one girl that first week agreed to give Regent head on camera. But she was insatiable. She didn’t want to stop with that – she wanted to fuck. She invited Garner to service her while Regent recharged. She took on both of them, and they recorded every minute of it. It remained the hottest video in their collection.

Usually, Regent had to listen to them whine a lot longer than he’d had to with Heather. That was the hook – he and Garner wanted to help them out, so what was the problem? And they spilled their guts. They were just looking for someone to listen to them for a while. They didn’t get it from their boyfriends, or their husbands. Really listen to a woman, acknowledge what she had to say about things, and she’d be eating out of your hand – that’s what Regent had learned. So he listened to their problems, and eventually it got around to some kind of financial needs. And then he presented them with the opportunity to make some quick cash. But by then, they trusted him, and that was the key. He’d listened to them, he had validated their problems, their opinions, and he had expressed sympathy and understanding. To be listening to, taken seriously – Regent was surprised by how little of that women got in their everyday lives. He and Garner gave them that. And after an hour, maybe two hours, maybe a drink or two or three or more, they felt so grateful that they were much more inclined to take off their clothes for them.

Regent and Garner had four websites – Young and Lovely, which featured college-age girls; MILF Parade, featuring mostly women in their thirties and early forties; Lusty Lesbians was self-explanatory, and was made up of pictures and videos of those women they encountered who were bisexual, women to whom more money was offered for lesbian action photos and videos; and Carnal Couples, where they posted pictures and videos of Regent and Garner having sex with women in couples only, no three-ways. But now, Regent was working on something new.

Trailer Park Girls would be a website featuring only women who lived in trailer parks from all over the country. He’d purchased a mobile home and an SUV that could pull it, and his plan was to drive around the country and move into trailer parks. He’d stay at each park for a few months – long enough to get to know some of the women there, to get them to pose for him – then he’d move on to another and do it all over again. He’d keep an online log for members and write about the trailer parks he stayed in, the people he met. He’d do video updates from the road in which he appeared with nude women. The whole thing was planned out in his head.

But he’d just started. Actually, he hadn’t started yet. Riverside Mobile Home Park was his first shot at this. His plan was to move east in his tour of trailer parks, but he’d decided to start right there at home. That way, if there were any problems, or if it somehow just didn’t fly, he’d know without having traveled across the country – he’d know right away. He always knew right away if something was going to work or not, he felt it in his gut. Riverside would be his testing ground to see if it worked. For all he knew, there were no attractive women in trailer parks and they all really did look like Jerry Springer’s guests.

Heather was not a trailer park girl. At the age of twenty, she would be featured on the Young and Lovely site. He had not yet had a chance to meet any of his fellow residents at Riverside. But he would.

With some scotch in her, Heather loosened up, relaxed. She posed with ease on the bed, and she looked great.

“Now, take off your shirt,” Regent said.

“My shirt?” she said. “Couldn’t I take off my skirt?”

“We’ll get to your skirt, but I’d like to start with your top.”

“But I… I don’t… my breasts… “

”Honey, your breasts are just fine. And believe me, the guys who visit my site will want to see them. Trust me. They’ll want to see them, and they’ll love them. Really. Whatever you may think of your breasts, these guys are going to adore them.”

She laughed a little and said, “Really?”

“Yes, really. And where’d you get the idea there’s something wrong with your breasts, anyway?”

“Nate says they’re too small. He wants me to get implants.”

“Well, if your boyfriend hadn’t already given me enough reason to think he’s an asshole, that would clinch it. You hear me? Your boyfriend’s an asshole.”

She laughed again. “Thanks for saying that, but… well, I love him.”

“He doesn’t deserve you.”

“That’s sweet of you to say, but… like I said… “

”You love him, yeah. Well, that sucks, it truly does. Whattaya say you take that top off and we get some great pictures of your gorgeous breasts.”

She took the shirt off and tossed it aside.

“Yeah, screw your boyfriend!” he said as he took pictures.

Regent took a few topless pictures, then had her take her skirt off and got some panty shots.

“Now, what-say you take off those panties?” he said.

She hesitated for a long time, then removed her panties. She knelt on the bed facing him.

“What do you want me to do now?”

Regent said, “Get on your hands and knees with your back to me and let’s get some shots of that incredible ass.”

Heather turned and got on hands and knees. Then the sobs started again, quietly though. She tried to fight them back, but could not. When her shoulders quaked, Regent said, “What’s wrong? Are you crying?”

She said nothing, just kept crying.

“Oh, well, that’s okay. I’ll just get some more pictures of your ass while you get it out of your system.”

She tried to pull herself together. She reached up and wiped her eyes. She rolled over and said, “Is this gonna show?”

“Yeah, it looks like you’ve been crying. You want to go wash your face?”

“Yeah, I’ll be right back.”

“Second door on your left.”

While she was in the bathroom, Regent heard the front door open. Garner had arrived.

“Now we can get down to the fun stuff,” he said to himself with a smile.