Britt arrived home from her initial discussion with the Vicar at the church Rita attended and found Rita asleep on her bed with Marty, also taking a nap, wrapped in a blanket beside her.
She went out quietly and found Rita's smart phone in the kitchen and returned to position herself with the camera to carefully framed the sleepers and took three exposures.
Britt smiled at the composition and quality of those images when she reviewed them on play-back. Pleased with that success she decided as soon as she returned to work she'd invest in a similar phone to keep in contact with Rita in the event of concerns or emergencies when alone and looking after Marty and to record his development photographically.
She went to her bedroom and began writing out a list of people she'd like to invite to the christening.
Later Britt heard Marty cooing and Rita talking to him softly and she went to them.
"Well here's your bonny baby looking a picture and obviously doing coping well in being almost completely weaned. How was the walk?"
"Fine."
"And?"
"I was on a mission... um, to arrange a surprise for you."
"Oh really; what is it."
"A surprise is a surprise and you'll find out soon."
"That's a disappointment, not a surprise."
"Please allow me to manipulate the situation so that you really do regard it as a complete surprise. Now let's put your mind into another direction. I want you to start telling me of your former professional occupation in detail, in fact in great detail."
"But why?"
"Later I'll reveal why when this little man has been put down for bye-byes. It's a discussion not for his young ears."
"Omigod you..."
"Hush about this till later sweetie."
"Britt, I'll just say this; I absolutely forbid you going in that direction."
"Please don't waste your breathe; you'll already know this is one you won't win. I've never been more determined about anything ever since I left my hometown into whatever lay before me."
"God Britt, I need a stiff brandy."
"Rubbish, think back and remember how you jumped the precipice into your chosen vocation and you'll conclude now that really it was no big deal, that it was just a readjustment of your mind into a new life, albeit a profound change for you."
"You are a smart-arse little devil; you have a mind of steel when you need it and somehow you can manage to brow-beat me of all hardened people."
"Well could that be you've become a softie and still don't know it yet"
"Christ, don't be so relentless. I submit and acknowledge you are the one with the balls."
"Naughty, naughty using that phrase Rita; our little man is listening. Undress him and I'll prepare the basin bath and you can watch, sipping your brandy."
For the next three evenings, Rita talked about 'being driven' into prostitution by unfortunate circumstances and the trials and tribulations she when through in the hope of aiming to drag herself 'from the pits of despair' and the disappointments at failure to find the right opportunities to exit from prostitution and into a new life that had sufficient promise of offering her a secure future with the opportunity to build wealth to fund a comfortable and independent retirement.
"Darling, this is interesting but stop overly emphasising the downsides. Nothing adverse you are saying will change my mind about becoming... um... associated with prostitution."
Rita resumed a little sullenly but soon began to relax and the details flowed.
Britt would stop the narration to probe for greater information, asking such things as why was it necessary to engage a procurer, couldn't Rita have worked harder to build greater wealth in order to leave the so-called profession sooner and what was so difficult about stepping up to exclusively service better paying and more respectable clients and what did it matter what other people thought of any prostitute's chosen career.
Britt also confronted the hapless narrator with questions she choked on when answering, such as how many times had she discovered her clients had a penis that was extremely uncomfortable or actually too big for her, what her attitude been to engaging in groupies or even taking on half of a football team unassisted and what were her attitudes to swallowing or taking it up the butt.
Whenever Rita became distressed, Britt would call for a tea break but would then expect Rita to resume where she'd left off, emphasising there was a need to know.
Rita insisted she always had been a middle-of-the-road prostitute and never engaged in foul and dangerous sexual activity and after a shaky introduction worked only in respectable establishments and eventually cut her ties to become self-employed.
"Ah, we have reached the point that interests me most," Britt had said gleefully.
Finally, when Rita felt she'd divulged everything she was asked, "How do you think I should gain experience and then operate on a great business model."
"There is no recommended way. In this country, the law on prostitution is a mess. A woman or man in most circumstances can operate legally as a prostitute but cannot legally employ or simply manage prostitutes and even a woman employed to change the linen on beds used by prostitutes can by prosecuted for being associated for reward in an illegal activity."
"Wow, it is a mess. It appears that one can only offer their pussy or dick for financial reward when under complete self-management to operate lawfully."
"My understanding is that's by and large the situation."
"By and large?"
"There are a few loopholes because of cloudy areas within the coverage of the law. Britt please understand you would be better off driving a train."
"But that requires education, training and progress through experience that I simply don't have and that's my problem. I've had a reason level of education at a lower level and a miniscule of business experience from working in a coffee shop. I'm in a bog and the only way out I can see for making good money is through prostitution. But to please you I intend to consult to find possible loopholes that I can exploit."
"I said there were few but realistically there are none otherwise we'd know about them."
"That's true but have the searchers resorted to alternative thinking to discover loopholes that until now have remained undiscovered?"
"That sounds like attempting to climb a slippery tree, Miss Egghead."
"Well for the moment it's all I have. Guys reckon I'm a good fuck and at present that's all I have."
Rita sighed and with authority said, "Guys will tell a girl anything they think she'd like to hear with the aim of getting what they want."
"Thanks for that disclosure Rita, but I've long been aware of that."
Later, sitting in front of TV but scarcely aware of the action on screen and what was being said, Britt felt disheartened. She hadn't expected life as a prostitute to be all beer and skittles, whatever that meant. She'd become aware that Rita the narrator had not been deliriously happy throughout her working life earning money on her back... um... or whatever. Rita had been frank relating the downsides and gave examples of some awful experiences but Britt believed she'd not been entirely upfront and avoided relating her worst experiences of being caught up in unfortunate happenings that had occurred away from the action in bed.
Even so, she'd warned, quite graphically, about drunken or drugged clients or mentally afflicted clients who for no apparent reason suddenly began to behave in a threatening manner and there were some who screamed violently and their eyes bulged. And there were the disease scares, revolting humiliation and...
Britt sighed knowing the decision was hers alone.
She decided to look for loopholes but had no idea where to start and who to consult. She settled down for a nap, and drifting off thought she should back off for a few days to try to think everything through with clarity, if that were possible. Her last thought was she should call on Leonie late next afternoon.
* * *
Britt arrived at the Hopkins' residence to find Mr Hopkins home alone. She'd only met him a couple of times and he smiled and said, "Hello Britt, I do believe you are getting that gorgeous body back already. How is that baby of yours?"
"He's doing fine thanks Mr Hopkins."
"Call me Ian and come in for coffee if you wish. My wife is out with a group of friends for an early evening concert and then dinner and Leonie is out with her boyfriend and won't return till late. If you don't wish to stay for a while, I'll understand."
"I'd love coffee thanks," she said, brushing past him to enter the house.
"Kitchen or living room Ian?"
"Living room, the coffee if already made. I'll fetch it in."
Ian arrived with two mugs of coffee and sat beside Britt. She'd expected him to sit opposite her but didn't mind; after all, it was his house.
"Are you still making milk Britt?"
She only just avoided spluttering coffee instead of taking the first sip.
"Wow you don't hold back."
He said no, it was not in his nature.
Britt diverted and asked, "What do you do for work, something pretty important I guess, judging by this home and your near new Jaguar?"
"I'm an investigating solicitor for a large law firm, which means I investigate our VIP clients and the circumstances surrounding the trouble they're in before one of our defence teams represents them in court."
He appeared to be waiting for Britt to say wow but she surprised him by saying, "Now I feel I know you a mite better I'll answer your leading question that possibly could be called your outrageous question. Strangely I'm rather taken by your naked impertinence because that suggests that you are anything but boring. Yes. I haven't quite ended lactating. Why do you ask?"
"Wow, talk about me being straight to the point, but you answered me frankly and I shall reply in kind. One night sometime after the birth of Leonie, I dropped in and found Thelma frustrated because the baby was off her feed. I boggled because both of Thelma's tits, oh pardon me, both of her nipples were dripping milk. At the time, I reckoned that was the sexiest sights I'd ever seem and Thelma scoffed and said obviously, I'd been without sex for too long."
In a flash, Britt realized Ian could be the break-through she needed; she had to encourage him otherwise her chance could be lost.
"Are you attempting to encourage me to show you my tits?"
He shot her a careful look and appeared satisfied Britt was serious and said, "Well a quick eye-full would be great. You appear to possess a great pair."
Britt slipped off her loose top and pulled up her soft bra and her still abnormally large breasts flopped forward.
"Oh, my goodness," he wheezed and as he dribbled slightly and wiped his mouth with the back of his hand.
Britt had read about men and their kinky ways sexually but had read nothing about guys almost getting themselves off at the sight of leaky nipples. She decided to string him along was the best tactic.
She ran her tongue over her top lip and was thrilled to see his eyes almost glaze.
She pulled off the nipple pads and showed him the underside.
"Christ, they're damp. You are still leaking."
"Yes, in the final stages hopefully."
"I guess that means you are ready to resume sexual relations?"
