“What about you, Jed, how do you feel about this.”
“Well, I’m not going to turn it down, am I? But race nights, that’s different.”
“Race nights are different,” I agreed.
“Well, if that’s the way you want it,” Mr H said, “then there’s a grand total of five hundred and eighty in tips, minus my twenty five percent is four thirty five, split two ways is two hundred and seventeen pounds and fifty pennies. I’m not mucking around with change. You get two fifteen each and you two can fight over the fiver. Now, can we get on?”
Jed and I pocketed the money and he was gracious enough to let me have the spare fiver.
“As young Ben suggested,” Mr. Mason said once we had settled down again, “I have had one or two enquiries about your little show. It looks like the two of you are going to be pretty busy, what with one thing and another. For the first few we ought to be able to get away with the naughty schoolgirl routine but you can’t carry on with that forever. If we don’t change the show it will get stale. I’ve got a number of ideas.”
All the ideas were fundamentally the same. I, or rather Belinda Bombshell, would be dressed up as the naughty nurse, maid, waitress, secretary or whatever and Jed would be the doctor, butler, diner or boss to match. I would do something naughty; he would punish me and then fuck me.
“How about threesomes?” Mr. H suggested. “We could use Carl. Get that black kid and white kid thing.”
“Could do. One either side as the cane him, sort of thing, and then one fucks him as he blows the other. That’ll work. We could probably charge more too. Yeah, nice one Harold.”
I stood there somewhat aghast. Jed had prophesied this but I hadn’t really believed him, or, rather, I hadn’t appreciated the import of what he had said.
“Do Jed and I get any say in this?” I asked.
“Have you got any better ideas?”
“Not really, it’s just that….”
“In which case your job is to shut up and get on with it. We’ve got a nice little earner here so don’t you go getting all stroppy on me. Now, your next booking is next Saturday so you’ve got a week to get your act together. Do I hear any objections?”
“No, Mr. Mason,” Jed replied immediately. I was less certain.
“Ben?”
“No, Mr. Mason,” I replied reluctantly. I had a whole bundle of objections but Mr. Mason wasn’t in the least bit interested in hearing about them. “One thing though….”
“What now?”
“My shoes. They…”
“What about your shoes?”
“They got ruined with all the kneeling I had to do.”
“Then you had better buy some new ones. That costume you’re wearing came out of my pocket but I’m not going to stump up every time you get careless. If you can’t look after it properly then it’s up to you to replace anything you ruin.”
“It’s just that I’m not sure where to go,” I added hastily. I had hoped that he might pay for them but, instead, he seemed to be getting more and more impatient with me. “I mean, I can’t just walk into Shoemarket and ask to see their latest range.”
“Tracy knows the place,” Mr. H answered for Mr. Mason. “Check with her before you leave.”
“And while we’re on the subject of who pays for what,” Mr. Mason started again. “I also paid for Tracy and Maureen to sort out your makeup. That’s not going to happen again. If you’re not clever enough to do your own then it’s going to be up to you to make your own arrangements.”
“But I don’t know how….”
“Then you’ve got a week to learn, haven’t you. Now, there’s a race meeting on Thursday, and I’ve got some outdoor racing for you on Friday, and then there’s the show on Saturday. You two have got a busy week ahead. I suggest you go and get on with it.”
And, with that, we were dismissed. One in the front office I went to Tracy’s desk, and asked her about the name of the specialist shoe shop.
“Try this place. Give them a ring first and tell them I sent you. While I’ve got you, did Mr. Mason talk to you about makeup? If you want me and my mum to do it then we want a ton a head and we need to know in plenty of time.”
“I want to see what I can do for myself,” I said. Two hundred quid! That came to what I was paid for the show and the thought of handing it all over to Tracy and her mum didn’t appeal.
“If you say so but you had better do a decent job of it.”
“Are you two discussing makeup?” Mr. Mason had appeared at the door and saw me chatting to Tracy.
“Ben seems to think he doesn’t need me,” Tracy replied.
“Really? I’m not paying for clowns here, I want a proper show and, if he’s a fuck up, then I’m holding you responsible.”
“Why me?” Tracy started but then she sighed. “OK, it’s always me. Ben, you don’t go solo without my say so. Drop by the office Thursday and I’ll see how you’re getting on. Five o’clock, say.”
“Make sure he’s ready. Don’t let me down on this. Now, have you got last month’s accounts?”
“Here they are, Mr. Mason,” she said, handing him a file, “and don’t worry about Ben. I’ll make sure he’s ready.”
Mr. Mason disappeared back into the inner sanctum.
“If you think I’m putting my neck on the line for you then you’ve got another think coming. I’ll see you here on Thursday, Ben, and, unless you can convince me that you’re good enough, then, like it or not, you’re hiring mum and me to do it for you. Be here at five o’clock and don’t be late.”
And, with that, Jed and I left.
“OK, OK, don’t get all ‘told you so’,” I joked to Jed as we made our way through the traffic to Hackney.
“And you still think you can walk away when you want to? You belong to Mr. Mason now and he won’t let go as long as he can earn money out of you.”
“I’ve got the Easter holidays coming up soon. My family will be expecting me back home.”
“They can expect all they want. I can’t see Mr. Mason letting you go.”
“But he’ll have to. It’s only for three weeks or so.”
“Have to? I don’t think so. If I were you I’d start thinking up some excuses. Pound to a penny you don’t get to go.”
I dropped Jed off and drove back home, my head spinning with what I had been told. With each revelation I was finding just how naive I had been. Just a few races, just until I had got enough to go to Malaysia, and no sex, well, apart from a little groping. I should have known it would never stop at that. I still wasn’t completely convinced. Next time I saw Mr. Mason I would ask him about Easter, see if I could get the time off. After all, he had seemed quite reasonable, hadn’t he?
But in the meanwhile I had my work cut out. Apart from all my college stuff I had to buy myself some new shoes and I had to learn how to put on make up. The thought of having to shell out two hundred quid to Tracy and her mum every time we went on stage was not an appealing one. Once you factored in the shoes I could end up losing money, not earning it. Maybe my suggestion that we share the tips had been a trifle generous. After all, Jed didn’t have the expenses I had. Not that I’d go back on that anyway. Jed had made it clear that I’d made a friend with that gesture and it was looking like I would need all the friends I could get.
As soon as I got home I fired up my laptop, went on to YouTube and searched for “How To Apply Makeup” and, when I saw the number of hits, I narrowed it down to “How To Apply Makeup For Crossdressers”. For maybe an hour I watched and studied and all the time I was building a shopping list. I looked at the time, the shops were still open; there was still time to go to the chemists and buy the stuff for real.