She walked from the terminal building with a purposeful stride that spoke of self-confidence. I was first cab on the rank and because of the system in place at the airport, she had no option but to choose mine, some guys have all the luck. She looked vaguely familiar but I couldn't put my finger on it so, as I got out to load her black wheelie bag into the boot I took a closer look at her. She wore those huge sunglasses that Victoria Beckham made popular and that covered almost half of what appeared to be a face that I was sure that I had seen somewhere before. The collar of her jacket was turned up, I didn't know whether it was as protection from the icy blast that originated in the Antarctic or to hide her features even more.
"Where to Ma'am."
"I need to get to Melrose, is that okay?"
"Do you mean Melrose Park?" I assumed that she was unfamiliar with South Australia and had mistaken the country town for the suburb.
"No, I want to go to Melrose."
"Very Well. Because it's a long way I will have to ask you for the fare up front. It'll cost," I thought for a second or two, how much could I charge her before she thought it was too much and go elsewhere, "six seventy-five dollars."
She let out a frustrated sigh and opened her wallet and extracted seven green hundred dollar bills. "Is that enough?"
"Yeah, sure. Thank you, look I'm sorry I had to do that but I've been stiffed a few times in the past so I make it a pre-requisite before I undertake a long journey."
"That's all right, I would most likely do the same thing if I was you. Don't worry about it, you were protecting yourself."
I opened the back door for her but she declined and instead climbed in the front, wow!
"How long have you been driving cabs?" Through the dark lenses of her sunnies I could see that she had her eyes closed.
"For the last five years or so, I'm in the last year of my part-time degree at university and after I graduate I'll have a job in my chosen field."
"And what is your chosen field?"
"I'm studying to be an Electrical Engineer and I'm working with a group that is funded by a private company researching the next generation photovoltaic technology. After graduation I will be working with their manufacturing company."
"You sound as if you have your future planned, I just wish that I had your opportunities five years ago when I graduated high school."
"You can always apply for mature entry into university."
"I'm not that old."
"What I meant was that if you're over twenty-five, or if your high school grades were good enough, you can apply for courses at University that won't require you to go back to school to matriculate."
"I don't think that will be possible."
"Why not? You look capable of anything if you set your mind to it."
"I can't because I've burnt too many bridges, my looks are the problem."
I looked at her more closely and suddenly I remembered where I had recognized her from and I understood her concern. "Oh my God, you're a porn star aren't you? What was your name, Candy Rappa, that's it. I saw one of your videos, you were great but the story line, what there was of it, sucked."
She took off her sunglasses and looked at me. "You see, that's the problem, I'm scared that people will recognize me and make life intolerable for me."
"If you don't mind me asking, and I have to admit to a lack of extensive experience in the world of porn videos, I only saw the one, why? Why did you get into this industry?"
"As a form of revenge on the high school I went to, stuck-up bitches."
"What happened?"
"I was the victim of tokenism in its worst form, I was from an ethnic minority at a time when schools thought that by allowing students from differing backgrounds in as scholarship students their Alumni could pat themselves on the back and tell themselves that they were liberal people. Then my parents were killed in a motor vehicle accident just before I graduated and the school magnanimously allowed me to complete my course, the fact that my tuition fees had already been paid didn't enter into their thinking."
"So what was the problem? Why were you so angry at them?"
"It was the name that I was called. My real name is Candace Rappaport and this was shortened to 'Candy Wrapper'. I wouldn't have minded if it wasn't for the derision used. I was hurt and determined to rise above it while at school and seek revenge afterwards which is why I chose that name when I went into the porn industry. Would you believe me if I told you that what the stuck up bitches were doing was just as bad as the things I did on video, the stupid part about it was that I got paid for it, they didn't."
"What do you mean?"
"There seemed to be a party every weekend and they all seemed to be some sort of contest to see how many boys they could do over the course of the evening, and what they did, well what I allowed on video seemed tame by comparison. Before I started in the industry I made sure that there was no anal, no DP's and definitely no creampies, but these girls, they had it in every available hole, sometimes two at a time and they allowed vaginal and anal creampies and were happy to swallow any amount of it."
"Why Porn?"
"Money, pure and simple. My grandmother had to look after me until I left school and she has a small property at Melrose that doesn't earn enough to support us both so I looked for an industry where I could earn good money quickly and take care of her."
"Wait a minute, the video I saw, didn't the guy come inside you?"