Mom met me at the airport and this was just the first of several surprises I received during my short visit to the old homestead. I knew that mom neither drove nor did she even have a car so, she must have taken a cab to the airport and cab fare was never cheap. I obliquely raised the subject during the ride back to the city.
"Hey mom, you're living the life of luxury, aren't you?"
"Why do you say that?"
"Well, for one thing, this taxi ride isn't cheap."
"Oh, that. Well I suppose this is as good a time as ever to let you in on your granny's secret. Obviously, you know that you have made a habit of sending us money every month once you got that job. Well, your grandmother absolutely refused to spend any of it. Nothing would do but what we had to put it in the bank. So, when she died, all of that money was just laying there and I decided to use some of it!"
"But, what did the two of you live on?"
"Our earnings naturally. We were doing really well when you left for the West Coast and that continued for quite a while. We really didn't hit a hard patch until the recession hit. But, even then, we were lucky. An awful lot of the men got laid off and, when the rehiring began, the companies all found out that women would work for a lot less than what they had been paying men so naturally, they were hired to fill the vacancies. In a little over a year, our apartment building was almost empty."
"Why didn't you move?"
"Look, honey. We were living in a rent-controlled apartment and you couldn't find anything comparable for two or three times as much as were paying. Besides, your granny absolutely refused to move. She had some crazy idea that we owed something to old man Chenowith -- you remember him?" I nodded. "He died and his son is running the store now. Anyway, she was adamant that she was not leaving The Athena Arms come hell or high water. So we stayed. And, it was lucky that we did. Since the men were going through an exceptionally hard time, there wasn't much opportunity for a lot of them to get girls of their own so they naturally turned to us professionals. Our business really picked up and we were making more money than we had ever done before."
"I sense that something happened that ruined your perfect setup? What was it?"
"Oh, it was too easy for the gals to get high-paying jobs so they stopped whoring and went to work for all the different companies. And, they moved out just as I suggested. For quite some time, the old Athena Arms was damn near empty, but then it started filing up again. Only this time it was the foreigners that moved in. For some reason -- unbeknownst to me -- our building seemed to attract people from the Middle East. An awful lot of Egyptians moved in. After we go to know a lot of them, they weren't all that bad and you'd be surprised at how many of them had been whores back in Egypt. So, it was a lot like the old times. They thought our rates for an evening's fun were really exorbitant, but they accepted the business without any real objections. And, I guess it is time to tell you about another thing that developed with the Egyptians. It seemed that a whole bunch of these women had belonged to a club or something in Egypt. I could never get the hang of their language, but they translated the name of this club for me. They said it was the, 'Club of the Pleasure Grotto'. I had to look up the word, 'grotto' and even then I didn't catch onto what they were talking about. Then, one day, granny came home and she was laughing up a storm. When I asked her what was so funny, she asked me if I was aware that I had a pleasure grotto and when I shook my head, she laughed even harder. Then she let me have it. She said, 'Baby, your pleasure grotto is between your legs! And, you have been using it all of your life!' Then I got the idea just as I expect that you have understood what this meant. This club is for women only and, mostly, for the whores although some, 'regular' women have become members."
By this time, we both were laughing.
"And, naturally, you and granny became members?"
"Not only did we become members, but we were -- are - the head honchos!"
"How on earth did that happen?"
"You will find out this very night. The club is holding a sort of wake for your grandmother tonight and you are not only invited, but you are definitely expected to attend. I will tell you this, you may find a lot of what they do a little weird, but don't be too leery of attending their meeting. They don't mean you any harm."
I wanted to ask her for more information about this club, but the look she gave me shushed me up. When we arrived at the apartment, I was in for another surprise. The place was nearly bare. A lot of the furniture had been removed. Mom saw my look of astonishment and supplied the answer.
"Your grandmother told me years ago that there weren't many of her things that she thought we should keep when and if something, 'happened' to her. She made me promise that I would sell what I could and what I couldn't sell I was to give to the Salvation Army. To be honest with you, since granny died, I have come to the conclusion that the thing for us to do is to move in together. If your current place isn't big enough, I've got enough to help pay for a bigger place."
I didn't hesitate an instant before replying: