The streets she frequented were the seedy side of Castro, not that there was a not-so-seedy side of Castro, but San Francisco never the less held it’s charm. She was a charmer. Rhiannon was her street name. She had lifted the name from that Stevie Nicks song and promised long ago that he would use it if he ever became a she. Well, he was as close to being a she as it could get without really having a pussy. Such a crude word! Rhiannon could hear the voice of her mother now, hushing the small child, the boy that always snuck into her room to wear her oversized stockings, no matter how ridiculous triple Queen sized panty hose in dark nude color looked on an eight year old boy.
The flickering neon light on the side of Molly’s Bar on Polk Street had finally burnt out. “Live Nude Gurls”, cleverly spelled wrong to charm the tourists and the pleasure seekers who came through here to catch a glimpse of the Polk Street drag queens and trannies that walked the streets calling out like ballyhoo at a sideshow circus. Rhiannon chose to stay sweet about it. Picking up Johns was an easy sport, if you wanted to call it that. She tossed her carefully curled dark brown hair over her left shoulder and adjusted her new black skirt and stockings. Rhiannon was lucky in being a small enough man to fit regular sized women’s clothing. The hassle of finding oversized high heels or specialty dresses was not one that she had to deal with. Rhiannon was petite, slender and looked like a lady...well, a slightly trashy one.
She was adjusting the zipper on her knee high Vercace knock off boots (Payless Shoe Source- $22) when she heard whistles and catcalls. Looking up with large blue eyes, Rhiannon beheld in front of her, a long black limousine with smoked windows. The other kids on the street were making whooping noises and lewd gestures. The inhabitant of the limousine had obviously been interested in Rhiannon. She straightened up and automatically took a feline, graceful pose next to the street lamp, feeling like a 19th century whore in an old fashioned movie.
A window rolled slowly down and in the shadow of the car, all Rhiannon could see was a black gloved hand, and the crisp, clean fold of a $100 bill. The hand extended the bill to her and as she reached to take it, the door opened. She did not hesitate, but got in quickly and took the money from the hand. As she looked at the face of the man who picked her up, the limousine sped away. Rhiannon’s eyes widened. The face was beautiful...androgynous and beautiful. The palest of skin, rose colored lips, full and sensuous, dark blue eyes like sea foam and high cheekbones. The hair was the most platinum blonde Rhiannon had ever seen. The man was tall, and somehow Rhiannon could tell this even as he sat down. The body slender and athletic covered by a gray cashmere sweater and black jacket. Before Rhiannon could say anything, the man lit up a cigar and gracefully puffed in the sweet smelling smoke,
“I’m Rhiannon.” She said lamely, regretting speaking at all. The beautiful man simply reached into a small cabinet of the car and extracted a Cognac glass, pouring fine liquor into the strangely shaped glass. He gave the glass to Rhiannon and she sipped the fiery liquid, saying thank you.
“What’s your name?” Rhiannon asked.
There was no answer. Only a smile, a beautiful, devastatingly gorgeous smile and a slight tilt of the head, blond locks falling into dark blue pools of eyes.
“I see. Okay, no names then...well, where are we going?”