1.The Late Night

At ten o’clock in the evening of the day, a faint blue light covered the whole stage, and rhythm and blue music kissed the atmosphere. There were over twenty drunken men grooving to the music with glasses of wine in their hands and only one stripper at the pole who continued to dance naked. 

Alda peeked at the man seated at the bar. It was Micheal, the only child of the popular Draper family. Even though she had never seen him in person before, his pictures were on every wall on Farland street, and his face showing too much on the news as the only heir of his father’s company would not make him stay or drink overlooked. 

Everybody knew he was the heir that never took the family business seriously. Or rather to say that it is mostly how he represented himself in each interview he had with different journalists. 

And that he had been mostly filmed without his consent, being with different girls in private rooms and published on YouTube and I*******m countless times.

And now that his father who managed the business is dead, everybody wondered what was going to happen to the Walt Draper group as the most successful company in the united state of America. 

Alda could tell that the only heir of Walt Draper’s group was drinking too much shot of whisky at a gulp and was looking so unkempt and angry instead of how handsome and well neat he had always appeared on television. She could not help but wonder if something was wrong with him. 

Though Alda lived in a trailer home with her two siblings and they had no television, they have always loved to see Micheal talking on the big screen on the street and waited until he was done talking before proceeding with their chores.  

No matter how much Alda seemed to care about what happened with Micheal, she must keep dancing as the nature of her job. And at this moment, she sent her legs into the air and held the dancing pole tightly as she performed an acrobatic move which called the attention of more men in the strip club to her.  

She wondered why no one was surprised or astonished that someone of this high prestige was there in that strip club with them, as all the men only stared at her bare butt with their silly grins. 

“This new girl dances so sexier than those piggy heads who dance here every night. Haha,” One of the drunken men slurred. 

“They could not even make my d**k stand.” He stumbled as the rest of the men expressed themselves into a mocking laughter which revealed their brown set of teeth. 

It did not matter if Alda loved what she heard or not. The nature of her job did not allow her to frown at their silly jokes or react to any silly behaviour coming from the clients. She must only do as they want. 

With this, one of the men slapped her butt with a bundle of dollars as he dragged her nearer to himself in an attempt to lick her neck with his pungent mouth, which irritated Alda.

But the only thing Alda could do was to sit at the mouth of the stage and beam back at the sot. She then again crawled to her knees in the rhythm of the music and shook her bum slowly to please him while her boss watched her from the glass room upstairs. 

However, immediately as her boss looked elsewhere, she dragged the drunkard by the tie, closer to her lips, pretending to want to kiss his neck while he opened his malodorous mouth in an attempt to receive the kiss but only received a head-butting that caused him pain. 

“Idiot,” Alda muttered as she pushed him away and he became a subject of laughter from other men. 

Abruptly, Alda's thought travelled back to how she lost her two jobs earlier today. And again and again, she blamed the old witchy hunch woman who used her mobs to chase her out of the moving train, all because the woman’s phone was stolen by a pickpocket whom the woman thought was her.

And becoming a stripper was the next available option since no one wanted to employ her, and for the sake that her little siblings will not go hungry, and that they could return to school as their fees were unpaid, coupled with other bills such as rent that have not been paid, even if they lived in a spoilt trailer on Farland street.

Even when Alda was filled with thoughts, it did not mean she stopped dancing as she now held the dancing pole and performed another acrobatic move, which aroused comments about Alda’s beauty. 

If that was all, it was a lie, because they were also throwing money at Alda to show their appreciation. Also, the men raised a toast of wine to Alda’s performance. And with this, Micheal began to stare desirably at her.  

Not only that Micheal’s eyes were filled with reddish veins, but he also seemed to have drunk more than he can withstand and he continued to throw-up. Nevertheless, he did not seem to want to stop drinking. 

“I want this one,” Alda heard one of the drunken men poking at her. 

“Get me and her a room,” he said again before he vomited all that was in his stomach. 

Even though he became a subject of mockery at this instance, another man who stood nearest to the man poked again at Alda and declared his desire to get a private room with her, which soon led to a scramble for Alda.

“I will pay seven hundred dollars to sleep with her,” one man said before he stumbled from his feet to the floor. And again, he became a subject of laughter. 

“I will pay one thousand.” Another man declared as he gulped down his glass of wine completely before he hiccoughed without control.   

With this, Alda was scared. She never witnessed many people desire her beauty before. It never even crossed her mind that she was beautiful. All that she ever believed in was to go to work, get paid per hour, and cater to her little siblings.  

But there in the strip club, things suddenly became different. And almost immediately, other strippers came out of the back door to dance to please all the men so that they could all go into private rooms with them. 

This was a way for every man to sleep with his own stripper and a plan to stop the scramble for Alda, as the club owner had thought. 

However, if this indeed stopped the rush for Alda, it was a lie. Instead, the scramble increased as the men began to declare higher prices to get a private room with Alda. 

“I will sleep with her for two thousand. All the others are old cargo. I want the new bit*h.” Another man shouted, causing saliva to fly out of his mouth.