The feelings of attraction and repulsion swirled through me. Hate, too. Hating her for abandoning me and hating myself for being there.
But, there I was, in a seedy East California topless bar in the middle of a weekday, just me, the bartender, and this washed-up, saggy-breasted, overly-made-up, thickly-eyelashed, half-stoned dancer. Her name was Mona, and she was my mother.
I found out about her existence upon my father's death a year ago. I had always been told she died in child-birth, but in settled his affairs, I found pictures, cancelled checks, and an address.
Now, at 24, full of self-loathing and self-pity, I had journeyed here, and seeing her for the first time, I wondered why I had come.
Soon after Dad died, I began having dreams about her. Not pleasant dreams, sexual ones. In them, she came on to me, seduced me, and at the end I was frustrated for not being able to come, and she had mocked me, saying I wasn't a man.
I would awaken angry and scared in a pool of sweat, still aroused. My real sexual relationships began to suffer. I couldn't focus on my partner, always envisioning Mona. I would wind up alone, in the bathroom, bringing myself to completion.
So, I decided to confront my fears and anger, and took the trip. And I was both sorry and excited that I had.
"What's your name, Honey," Mona asked as she slid around the pole, trying so hard to look sexy at 42 when most dancers are half her age.
"Paul" I replied raspily, through dry lips as I gulped my beer.
"I'm Mona. They say I moan a lot! I don't know, do you think I'm a Moaner, Baby?" She slinked her way off the small platform when she saw me peel a bill off my wad, and moved her body close to me, and her eyes flashed when she saw it was a five. Singles were probably more common and she knew she had a mark.
I tried to be cool, and replied, "I bet you can moan real fine," as I held the bill up and she smiled and worked her body to within inches of mine, giving me her scent and allowing me to slip the bill in her g-string.
My fingers seemed to burn as they brushed her flesh, sliding the bill in snugly, and she looked down at me through sleepy eyes. "I bet you can make a woman moan real good, right, Baby?"
Acting the stud she expected, I said, "I don't get any complaints, Mona."
She bent, her big breasts dangling before me, and whispered, "Maybe, you'd like a private dance?"
"I don't know, what does that get me?"
"Hmmm, you and me, in a special room. Manager gets $50, and the rest is between us, Sexy"
I looked around, the place was empty. "They don't mind that there's no dancer?"
She swirled above me, moving her tits into my face, teasing me, brushing her nipple across my lips but pulling away before I could get to it. "My alternate just came in. She comes on in five, baby. I'll take real good care of you, I promise."
Her pefume was overwhelming, and my erection was painful. But, I had come all this distance. She backed off, spinning around, trying to make me think she could withhold her charms, but it was obvious, she wasn't making any money in this dive, and probably hadn't done a private dance for big bucks in a while.
When I held another five, she came slinking back. "Any decision, Honey?" she asked, as I slid the bill next to my last.
"How do we do this?"
"Fifty for Billy, then when I get off, go to the men's room..."
"The men's room?"