Saleena ran a brush through her rich black hair and looked at herself in the mirror of her dressing table. She was about to go to El Ricky's to audition for a job as a nude dancer. She loved to dance and Miguel loved to see her naked, so she figured it was a natural. She looked at the picture of Miguel she had taped to the mirror. He was small, only 5'6" and 125 lbs. and he looked so young, except for the tattoos you might think he was twelve.
But she knew he wasn't twelve. She laughed to herself..."Twelve inches, maybe..."
She needed money and her friend Maira had told her that she could make a lot dancing.
She sprayed some perfume Miguel had brought from TJ for her directly on to her skin. Then she grabbed a very short jeans skirt and slipped it over her slender waist. At last she decided to wear a black half cup push up bra Maira had lent to her. She liked the way her bare nipples peeked over the edge of the cups. She covered it with a burgundy colored tank top and slipped her toes into a pair of high heel sandals. She kissed her finger and tapped it to the little gold M that was part of the anklet she always wore. She hoped that the pearlescent pink enamel she had just painted on to her toe nails wouldn't be damaged. Then she realized she didn't have on panties.
"Shit, bitch!" She said, out loud. "What are you fucking thinking?" She slipped on a lacy black g-string and made sure it covered her freshly shaved gash. She slipped her fingers between the tender lips and realized she was already damp. She looked at herself in the mirror and raised her eyebrows. "You're one hot little bitch...just like Miguel says."
Maira honked the horn impatiently at the curb. "Fuck...I hope you know what you're doing." Saleena said to the image in the mirror. Then she headed to her date with El Ricky himself.
"You look hot, bitch!" Maira said as she saw Saleena. "El Ricky's going to looove you!"
Salena broke a nervous smile and stared straight out the front window. She saw Javier looking at her but she didn't want to get into it with her older brother.
They had 45 minutes to talk before her appointment. Maira drove to an old vacant professional building and parked under some trees.
"So what's Miguel going to say?"
"I don't know, he's always talking about me being a stripper and doing bachelor parties and shit, I think he'll be okay with it." Saleena watched a stray dog sleeping by a fire hydrant. The paint on the hydrant was faded and stained with the urine of a thousand dogs and drunks. Flies circled around the dog and his tail was in constant motion.
"Three years is a long time mija, he could get his ass killed in the joint, you know. And all 'cus he and Quiqui had to steal that Camero. Shit! What a couple of pendejos! It would serve him right if he got his ass kicked a few times, maybe it would kick some senses into him." Maira was always so optimistic about things, Saleena thought.
"And what about Javier? He's going to be so pissed off when he hears."
"Yeah, padre Javier...while he's out saving the youth his little sister's out corrupting it." Saleena sneered at the irony. "Fuck him! He went to college, he got his degree and now he's working in this fucking barrio on some shitty internshit, for nothing. We're just about fucking starving and I'm working for minimum wage at Rueben's market to keep the fucking power on so he can use his computer...fuck him!"
Maira lit yet another cigarette. The acrid smoke stung Saleena's eyes as the cloud was drawn out her side of the car.
"Did I tell you the other night when I was dancing Mr. Juevas came in the club?"
"No...he did?"
"Yeah, I was on deck and when I saw him I was so shocked I almost peed myself. He didn't see me and he took a private dance with that new girl, Blanca. I was dancing on stage when they came back from the back room and he sat down right in front of me. He had a wet spot on this pants from where Blance rubbed herself off on his cock...she is such a whore...when he recognized me he like got up so fast you think he saw a ghost. He almost knocked a guy down he was trying so hard to get out of there. Fuck, that was funny shit."
Saleena hadn't thought about seeing people she knew. She had always thougth the audience would be just a sea of strangers. She wondered if she could handle it if a teacher or someone who knew her or her brother or her parents came in while she ws naked on stage. What would she do if Mr. Becker, her senior math teacher came in and wanted a private VIP dance? Fuck! What if her own father ever came in, or an uncle? She closed her eyes and tried to put those unpleasant thoughts out of her mind. A few minutes later she heard Maira start the car.
Minutes later she nervously reached for the handle of the front door at El Ricky's. The exterior of the club was sort of seedy looking. There was some trash in the parking lot, cigarette butts and a couple of condom wrappers. The paint was peeling off the building in some places and there was the inevitable "tagging" on the flat surfaces. "Los Vatadores" seemed to have a monopoly on metallic silver and Chinese red spray paint. She carefully stepped over what looked like a puddle of dried barf or spilled Lucky Charms. She heard the low rumble of Maira's old Chevy as it drove away.
It was as dark as a moonless night inside, only a few lights marked the aisle down to the platform that served as a stage. A magenta gelled flood light illuminated the area. A 40 year old man wearing a scarlet silk shirt, gray slacks and Italian shoes and smoking a cigar was sitting on the edge of the stage. His black hair was shiny and spiked in the current style. She could see a thin gold chain around his neck.
"Mira, mira, mira." He murmured as she swayed her hips down the aisle. "Que queres?" he asked. Knowing full well what she wanted. She wanted a job, just like all the other 18 year old hotties that came in that door in the afternoon.
"Mr. Ricky, please?" She answered in English.
"Hablas espanol, chica?"
"Sorry, no." She almost whispered. Her voice was low and husky. Ricky liked that.
"Mr. Ricky don't like no uppity coconuts that don't espeeka da spinish" he mocked.
"Oh, okay." She felt her confidence more than shaken, actually crumbling like the giant stones of some ancient Aztec temple. "Sorry." She hesitated, not knowing what to do, then she turned to leave.
"But that's okay, Fuck Mr. Ricky! I like you." He laughed.
"Biale!" Suddenly the lights on the stage came up and Aerosmith's "Walk This Way" came on the sound system. He guided her to the steps leading to the dance surface.