Trailer Park Noir

glass.

As Regent sipped his wine, Kendra sniffed hers. Then she sipped it. Her nose wrinkled and she smacked her lips a few times. She frowned up at him.

“Tastes funny,” she said.

“It’s an acquired taste, I guess,” he said.

“A what?”

“It’s a taste you’ve got to get used to.”

“Oh.” She sipped it again. Then she drank it down in a few gulps. “Can I have some more?” she said.

“Uh, well, you know, Kendra, wine is best sipped instead of gulped. If you gulp it, you’ll get drunk, and your mommy will know when she gets home. If you just sip it, you’ll get a little tipsy, and it’ll wear off by the time she gets back.”

“Really? That’s what happens when you sip it?”

“Yes, that’s right. I’ll get you some more, but you have to sip it, all right?”

She nodded. “All right, I will. I-I’m sorry for – “

”Oh, don’t apologize, sweetheart. You didn’t know. It was your first time. I’ll get you some more.”

* * * *

Kendra felt much more relaxed than when she’d first walked into the big, beautiful trailer. The wine felt warm in her belly, and she felt a little woozy in the head.

What would Mommy think? She would be so angry. Kendra just had to make sure she knew nothing about it.

Mr. Regent seemed like a nice enough man. He called her “sweetheart,” which was what Mommy called her sometimes, so how could he be bad? Maybe he’d even take a really good picture she could give to Mommy.

The wine loosened her up a lot. He told her to pose the way she saw models pose in magazines. So she did. She thought of advertisements she’d seen in Mommy’s copies of Cosmopolitan and Vanity Fair and others. She kept moving her arms and legs into different positions. Then she sat up and removed the plaid shirt and tossed it aside, leaving only the dark bikini top.

“Very good,” Regent said. “Excellent.”

After awhile, Regent stopped taking pictures and turned and put the camera on the desk behind him. He went to the side of the bed and sat down, turned to face Kendra.

“Now, Kendra,” he said. “I need to know if you’re comfortable with what I do. If you’re not, just say so, and there won’t be a problem. I never force anyone. But you have to tell me, okay?”

He poured more wine into her glass, and she took it right away and sipped once, twice, a third time.

“You want to go easy with that stuff,” he said. “You’ll have to eat some peanut butter before you leave.”

“Peanut butter?”

“It conceals the smell of alcohol on the breath.”

“Oh,” she said, her eyes almost as round as her mouth. “Okay.”

“Look, Kendra – here, let me take that.” He took her drink and set it aside on the night stand. “Like I said before, my website’s naughty. It’s a nudie website.”

“A what?”

“A website in which women appear naked.”

“Oh, yeah, that’s right. That’s naughty, all right,” she said, smiling again.

“Well, how naughty are you willing to be this afternoon, Kendra?”

“Whatta you mean?”

“Will you take off your top?”

She gasped. “Oh, yeah, you want me to take off – oh, yeah, I see. Well.” She sucked her lips between her teeth and thought about it. She smiled and muttered, “Being on the Internet,” then thought about it awhile.

“You won’t use your real name,” Regent said. “You can make one up.”

“I can make one up?” she said with a giggle.

“That’s right, anything you want to be called.”

“But I have to take off my top.”

“Yes.”

“And show my titties.”

“That’s right. And Kendra, I assure you, the men who look at them will never be able to get enough of them. And they’ll never forget them. They’ll want more of you and more of you – you’ll be a sensation, Kendra, a sensation. I’ll get tons of e-mail about you from guys who’ll want to see more of you.”

“A sensation?”

“You’ll become legendary online. A star.”

“Really? A star?”

“Yes.”

“But… I gotta show my titties.”

“That’s right.”

“Well, that’s okay. I don’t mind, it’s just that I… I don’t know… well, see, I don’t know if they’re… good enough for – “

”Oh, don’t be ridiculous. You don’t really think that, do you?”

“Well, I… I don’t know. Really. I don’t have any idea.”

“Listen, Kendra, I haven’t even seen them yet, and already I know they’re spectacular.”

“You think so?”

“You really don’t know, do you?”

Kendra said, “Really don’t know what?”

“You have a boyfriend, Kendra?”

“Oh, no, Mommy’d never let me have a boyfriend. Well, not yet, anyway.”

“Well, is there a boy you like?”

She got that look again, that delightfully menacing look, then it softened and she smiled. “Yeah, there is.”

“How do you expect to get his attention?”

“His attention?”

“And once you’ve got it, how do you hold onto it, Kendra?”

“Hold onto it?”

“Yeah. Think about it. You ever had a boyfriend before?”

Her eyebrows pulled down at the outer ends and her eyes filled with sadness. “Nuh-no. I haven’t.” She bowed her head.

“Lucky you met me, Kendra,” Regent said.

“How come?”

“Because I’m going to teach you what men want so you can go get this boy you like. You’ll be able to get any guy you like.”

The sadness seeped out of her eyes like invisible tears. “Will you, really?”

“Yep. And the first thing you need to know is that men are going to love your breasts.”

“They will?”

“They’ll want to look at them,” he said. “They’ll want to touch them, and put their mouths on them.”

“Really?” Butterflies fluttered in Kendra’s stomach and she felt wonderfully naughty as she smiled at Regent.

“That’s right. That’s why, for starters, I’d like to get some pictures of you without the bra, but with the shirt on. How’s that sound. Will you do that?”

“Sure,” she said. She took the shirt off and tossed it onto the bed, and reached back to unfasten the bra. She stopped and looked at him. “Um, could you… turn around?”