Excerpt From Line 21: The Prologue

Sunday

“I need an extension.”
“I’ve already given you two.”
“Please, I’m asking you as a close family member. You know what I’ve been going through in the past couple of months.”

He thought about for a few seconds, gave an audible sigh, and said, “Okay. Because you’ve been the only one in the family who still speaks to me on a regular basis in spite of what I do for a living, I will give you until Friday evening to get me the money. That’s five days from now. Otherwise, I take what they want. Understand?”
“Perfectly. Thanks a lot, Uncle Rudy. This really means a lot to me. I won’t let you down.”
“You better not, because I would really hate to do to you what I do to everyone else.”
She gulped hard, and said, “I promise.”
“That’s my niece. I’ll talk you on Friday at my usual place. Take care.”
“You too.”

Jeannie hung up the phone and thought about what a mess her life had become. Her company had downsized her about a year ago, and between the unemployment and the severance pay, she was just barely making ends meet. With no permanent job prospects on the horizon, her lazy boyfriend decided to break up with her, after she told him that he had to start paying his own way. Money had gotten so scarce that she was forced to take out a loan on her motorcycle. Since her credit wasn’t what you call stellar, she was forced to use an acquaintance of her uncle’s to secure the monies.

He really didn’t want to do it, because he had a lot of respect for her and Rudy, but she was able to wear down his resistance enough (by using the assets that God naturally graced her with) to the point of not only getting the loan, but getting it on her terms. Initially, she was able to make the payments in a timely manner, as she was able to supplement her dwindling monies with the occasional bone thrown to her by a temp agency, but soon she was becoming tardy with her payments.

Finally, it got bad enough to where her Uncle Rudy had to step in and make his personal pitch to her. She shuddered at the prospect of what would happen if he was force to do to her what he did to others who were late. Still, she was appreciative of the fact that he thought enough of her to give her five days to get current with her payments. What bothered her now was how she was going to go about getting the two thousand dollars needed to make things kosher by Friday.

Sighing, she pulled out the afternoon paper and stretched out on the park bench. As she was perusing the want ads, taking notes and circling prospective job openings, somebody sat down next to her and began whistling a lively tune. Intrigued, she looked up to see who was doing the whistling, and was surprised to see a rather doughy looking young man tipping his baseball cap to her.

“Hi there.”
“Hi yourself.”
“Great day to be out at the park isn’t it?”
“Not if you got problems like I do.”
“Oh? Sorry to hear that. Anything I can do to help?”
“Not unless you know where I can come up with two thousand dollars by Friday.”
“Ouch, two k is a serious chunk of change. However, I may be able to help.”
“Really?”
“Really. By the way, my name is Ken.”
“Jeannie. So what kind of help could you possibly give me?”
“Well, for starters, here’s my card.” Ken pulled out a small blue and yellow business card and handed it to Jeannie.
Jeannie took it and read the contents. “Ken Epee, Line 21 Productions. So Ken Epee of Line 21 Productions, what is it that you do?”
“I help good looking men and women use the vast potential of their beings to earn the maximum amount of money that they’re entitled to.”
“Come again?”
“Exactly.”

Jeannie thought about Ken’s last comment for a moment, then went wide eyed. “Not on your life. I’m not that desperate. I have morals you know,” and went to hand the card back to Ken.
Ken held up his hand and said, “I know you do. But sometimes, we can reach a point in our lives where we ask ourselves, ‘Am I doing the very best for myself and my family? What can I do to stave off the bill collectors, foreclosure, bankruptcy, welfare?’ If you got the attributes, why not use them to your advantage?”

Jeannie scrunched her face up and said, “I don’t know, this just doesn’t sound right. It sounds…”
“Dirty? Of course it is. But, if you approach it like a business, then you can rise above the dirtiness and make a good living at it. Look, there are plenty of good looking women like yourself who are doing it in other parts of the entertainment industry. Pole dancing, stripping, and lap dancing, are just a few segments of the industry that people are making a good living at. The movie industry is another segment that can specialize in whatever turns people on. You be amazed at what people get their rocks off at. So why not take advantage of it? Besides, you said it yourself, you need to come up with two k by Friday, and I’m assuming that if you don’t, something bad will happen, right?”

Jeannie shuddered again, and said, “Something very bad.”
“Well alright then. Look,” Ken took the card and scribbled an address on the back of it. “Be at this addy tomorrow by nine sharp, and I promise, we’ll find something for you that will maximize what you got, and from the looks of it, you got a lot to maximize. Besides, what have you got to lose?”
“My self respect.”
“No, you’ll always have that. Remember what I said, if you treat it like a business, then you can rise above the dirtiness. Don’t let it own you, you own it, and by owning it, you’ll always have that self respect. Nobody can take that from you. Nobody.”

Jeannie watched as Ken pulled out his cell phone to take a phone call. Giving her a quick four finger wave, he got up and walked towards the park entrance and, in a matter of minutes, disappeared from sight. Sighing, she took the card, read the addy on the back, before sticking it in her jeans and turning her attention back to the help wanted ads.

Jeannie spent the next couple hours reading, but not comprehending, the help wanted ads. Every time she tried to take notes or make phone calls, her mind kept going back to the business card that Ken had left with her. Every time she got distracted by the card, she would take it out, study it for a couple minutes, before returning it to her pocket. The distraction soon got to be so bad that she finally packed up her newspaper and went home.

Even at home though, the card still was a distraction, because every time she got to thinking about her current situation, her mind kept wandering back to the business card. Finally, about six hours after Ken had left the card with her, Jeannie decided to have a long talk with her symbiont.

Grabbing a chair, she went into her bedroom and placed it in front of the full-length wall mirror. Next, she walked over to the windows and closed the curtains, before making sure that the front door was locked. Walking back into the bedroom, she was about to make herself comfortable on the chair, when her symbiont started giving her what for about the possibility of doing adult movies.

So, you think you got what it takes to do adult movies?
"Yes. I believe I do have what it takes to do adult movies. After all I got the looks and..."
Doesn't mean a thing sweetie, because you can’t even wear something like a tight T-shirt, because heaven forbid, people might complement you on a part of your natural assets.
"Excuse me? I'll have you know that I've worn tight T-shirts before."
In your apartment doesn't count. It's out there that counts and if you gonna do adult movies, you'll really have to flaunt it.
"So how hard can that be? I can flaunt them with the best of them."
How hard can that be? Good Lord woman, listen to yourself. You can't even get nude in the daytime unless you're getting ready to take a shower. As for sex, pfft.
"That's a lie and you know it."
Okay. Prove me wrong by taking off your shirt and bra.
"What?"
You heard me, take off your shirt and bra. Better yet, take off all your clothes, so we can get a good look at you.
Jeannie hesitated for a moment, but that moment was all that her symbiont needed to prove her point. She heard her symbiont say bahhh! before disappearing for the rest of the night.
"What does she know anyways? She's not facing the fact that I have to pay two thousand dollars by Friday, and that this is the only way I know of to get that much money in such a short time frame."

She then picked up the chair and brought it back into the kitchen, before going back into her bedroom and changing into something more comfortable. Comfortable was wearing a pair of panties, a pair of knee-high socks, and nothing else, since she decided to spend the rest of the night topless so as to get used to the idea of wearing no clothes.