Laura glanced at her watch as she dropped the kids off at the school gates; she had fifteen minutes before her interview with her bank manager. She kissed Karen and got a peck on the cheek from Bart. "See you both at three thirty, and don't forget you've got swimming lessons."
Her interview with the bank manager did not go well, and he refused her request to increase her overdraft. "As far as I can see you have no way of paying any more than you're paying back at the moment. You yourself don't have a job and your husband's salary is not enough to pay off any increased overdraft."
She felt defeated. "I'm sorry, Laura," he said, "but there's no way unless you increase your family income. You'll have to get a job."
She glared at him. "How can I, with two kids to look after? Employers don't want to know you when you tell them you've got two kids."
She made her way home and as she pulled into the drive, Mandy, her next door neighbor, was putting out some garbage. Mandy had only arrived in the area about a month ago and since then, they had only spoken casually. "You look a bit down," Mandy said.
Laura nodded. "Just had some problems with my bank manager," she said.
Mandy shrugged. "They can be bastards," she said. "Want to come in for a coffee and a talk?"
Laura shrugged. "Yes, I think I could do with that," she said.
Laura found Mandy easy to talk to and she was soon telling her all her troubles. Mandy was a good listener and Laura was feeling a lot better having poured her heart out to a sympathetic ear.
"So all I need now is a job that fits in with the kids and pays a lot of money," she said finally.
Mandy grinned. "Well, that shouldn't be too difficult." She looked at Laura. "How desperate are you?"
Laura shrugged. "Very! We're two months behind with the mortgage and we haven't got enough pay this month, and we have red reminders for everything."
Mandy looked at her thoughtfully. "I can give you a way out of your problems," she said, "but it's whether you want to take that route."
Laura looked at her. "At the moment, I'd be willing to take any route that's legal."
Mandy got up from the sofa and walked across to a video cabinet. She opened it and selected a couple of films, turned and handed them to Laura. Laura looked at them puzzled. She'd seen porno movies before. Tom, her husband, had brought them home occasionally. "How do I make money with these?" she asked. "Selling them?"
Mandy grinned. "No, making them."
Laura looked at her incredulously. "You're joking! I couldn't do anything like that even if I knew where to go."
Mandy looked at her. "Well, I can tell you where to go and it's not that far; right here!"
Laura gasped. "Do you mean you make these?" she asked
Mandy nodded. "With the help of Geoff, my partner, and a few others."
Then she went on to tell her the story. A year or so ago she had been in the same position as Laura, strapped for cash, and she had seen this advert in a men's magazine for couples to send in videos of their wives, mainly soft porn stripping and that sort of thing. She had discussed it with Geoff and they had decided to try it and were very surprised when after the first one, the magazine contacted them and wanted more, which they supplied as they were being paid Β£100 for every one they used.
It was then that someone from the magazine rang them and said they were very pleased with the videos they had already sent, but their readers were now demanding something stronger. Mandy said that at first she wasn't too sure about this. She had not minded the stripping and the exhibitionism, but at that stage, she did not feel happy about taking it any further. It was then that the guy on the phone said that they would be willing to pay Β£500 for the right kind of video. This changed things and they decide to give it a try.
Well, after the first one was a success, things had gone on from there. With the money they were making, Geoff had decided to invest in his own equipment and produce the videos himself. With the success of their earlier films, when they advertised they were immediately overwhelmed with orders. "We soon paid off all our debts and moved out of our small rented house into our own property."
Laura looked at her. "I know it sounds good, but I don't think I could do anything like that, and I know Tom, my husband, would never allow it."
Mandy shrugged. "Well, the opportunity's there. You are extremely attractive and I know if you came aboard with us, we could guarantee you some good money."
"There's no way," Laura said. "Thanks for the offer, Mandy, but no, I just couldn't."
Sometimes things seem to conspire against you and this is what happened to Laura. That evening when she arrived back from the swimming pool, Tom was sitting in front of the television with a bottle of beer in his hand, looking glum. He greeted the kids and then smiled at Laura.
"What's up?" Laura asked.
"More bad news; we are going on short time next week."
She looked at him. "I can't believe it. Can't we ever get an even break? How the hell are we going to manage now?"
Tom shrugged. "I'll have to try to get some extra part time work."