Trailer Park Noir by Ray Garton Read Free Book Online Page A

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