The last thing Lindsey Carlson pictured in her mind when she found out her Mom and Dad had planned a family vacation to Las Vegas was that, two days into it, she would find herself sitting in the passenger seat of the family's pale blue mini-van, riding south through the ungodly desolate Nevada desert. Having turned 18 a few weeks before her high school graduation in the Spring, Lindsey had looked forward to a week's worth of slot machines, Vegas shows and celebrity spotting, all on her parent's bill, before starting college in the Fall.
Why on Earth her Mother had dragged her out of bed, to be on the road by 9 am that morning, her Mother had kept a secret. Just like with most girl's her age, idle chatter was something that could often be pained between Lindsey and her Mom. But with nothing but the hum on the vehicle's tires droning continuously on the dusty expanse of asphalt to fill the silence, eventually the two were forced to make small talk.
"I could be at the poker tables right now," Lindsey groaned.
"Yeah...blowing your entire allowance for your first year at school," Joyce Carlson sarcastically snapped back to her Daughter.
Still, Lindsey detected an underlying unease in her Mother's demeanor, despite Joyce's usual snide snippiness. Lindsey could also see the way her Mother's knuckles whitened around the steering wheel as she gripped it, and that only heightened Lindsey's unease as they traveled on.
"You're not going to sell me to some underground black market bride service are you?" Lindsey joked, hoping to illicit any new hint of detail.
"I wish me and your Dad had thought of that," Joyce cracked. "Would have certainly benefited our retirement fund more than having to pay for your tuition for the next four years."
Finally, Joyce exhaled about an hour into their trek when she noticed the exit sign she'd been looking for. Making the right off the highway, Joyce glanced over and saw a ranch house off in the distance, the only thing in fact along the late morning, rural Nevada skyline.
Sensing her Daughter's curiosity and dread when Lindsey too noticed the only thing in the area really to be seen, Joyce slowed the van and said, "We're almost there."
"If I was a few years younger, I'd think you're either sending me to some out of the way boarding school...or your simply bringing me out here to kill me and hope those people from CSI might find me one of these days after the vultures have picked my bones," Lindsey croaked, her eyes focusing on the approaching driveway to the ranch house's property.
"You might want to do the latter to me after we're done out here," Joyce cryptically replied.
The steady and predictable hum of the tires on the hard pavement gave way to the grinding sound gravel being crunched below when Joyce turned off the main road, into the driveway. Scanning her eyes for any sign of life around the house off in the distance, Lindsey tried to make out the inscription on the sign near the front porch.
"Juanita's Stud Farm," she swore it read.
"It says it's a stud farm Mom... what...are you buying me a horse...that's not exactly gonna fly with the home owner's association," Lindsey chided. "Besides...you're a little late...I think I asked for one back when I was 5 didn't I?"
A steady silence descended upon the two women as they approached the modest wooden structure. From the front it appeared the place was abandoned, but it wasn't until they continued down the driveway and disappeared behind the house that they saw approximately two dozen other cars, many with out of state license plates, and not a horse or anything that would make the desolate patch of land a farm, anywhere to be seen.
"Well...we're here," Joyce said after putting the van's gear in park and switching off the ignition.
"We're where?" Lindsey again groused, noticing her Mom checking her face and hair in the rear view as if appearances somehow mattered where they were.
"I'll tell you once we're inside," Joyce offered after a long drink from her bottle of water.
"I just hope you wore clean underwear," she added wryly.
"RRGGHH," Lindsey muttered, pushing her passenger side door open and stepping from the cool comfort of the air conditioned van out into the unbearable midday Nevada heat.
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Now came the moment of truth that Joyce Carlson had dreaded since hatching the plan several weeks earlier. Being a few sheets into the wind earlier that Summer, checking out sites to see on the web for the family's upcoming trip to Vegas, Joyce had stumbled upon a website for a place that sparked her interest, initially in a rather selfish way. After surveying the site for the better part of a half hour, a slightly more altruistic idea entered Joyce's mind.
In the sober light of day, walking side by side with her Daughter up a dusty gravel driveway under the baking desert sun however, Joyce's plan didn't seem quite so simple. In lieu of anymore adequate BS responses for her Daughter's understandable trepidation, she finally realized the truth would have to do.
Keeping her voice lowered to a hush as they walked towards the big house, Joyce explained to her Daughter what she'd set up.
"Remember about 4 years ago when we came to Las Vegas last time, right before your brother Mark started college?" Joyce began.
"Yeah," Lindsey nodded.
"Well...your Father...unrenowned to me until well after the fact... stole away with Mark one afternoon and took him out to some place outside of the city...and bought a hooker for him...some kind of stupid family tradition he said," Joyce rambled, praying Lindsey would see the logic of what she was trying to hint at without her actually having to say it.
"Well...part of me was horrified he'd do something like...much less without talking to me first...and part of me was mad he went through the trouble of telling me...that could have been much better just left unsaid and I could have gone on completely unaware. Well I guess I didn't think it was fair only the Carlson men got to live out that type of tradition...so I...kind of...well...thought...I...," Joyce's voice trailed off.
"...So you brought me out to a brothel...to a male brothel?" Lindsey mouthed incredulously. "And Dad knew about this?"
"NO...NO...I...just...there was no way I could tell him...this is just our secret?" Joyce quickly replied.
"And here I am thinking the whole time you were dragging me down to the Hoover Dam or something," Lindsey quipped.
"So Lindsey honey...now that we're here and you know...well know why...do you want to go through with it...I mean we could just turn around...and...and...go...back?" Joyce stammered.
The two women continued standing there looking at the front door as Joyce's final query hung in the stagnant, dry air.
