Chapter 10

JAY

As Jay drove home after showering and changing, reality began to set in. Agreeing to become a nude dancer had seemed like a manageable, rational decision as he confronted Char. There was no question that it would solve his major problem; money enough to stay in school. But it created another huge problem; how would he deal with his mother and his sister.

Their little family was very close. His mother had never had to do much mothering, in the sense of discipline or guidance, for either of her children. In fact, because of the way they had cared for her during the worst of her depression, the parenting roles were almost reversed in some ways.

The expected tension between brother and sister simply did not exist, either. Jay was pretty sure that Kelsey, two years younger, had a major crush on him. Although his own feelings for her were not really romantic or sexual, he did love her deeply.

When Sami had been at her worst and the siblings knew that professional therapy was out of the question, they had spent time together on the Internet, trying to find all of the help they could. At the time, Kelsey was only fourteen, and when it became apparent how much the sexual betrayal and deprivation affected their mother, it was embarrassing for both of them. By that time, though, Jay had been sexually active and he decided, for their mother’s sake, to treat Kelsey as an equal and be open and frank with her. Besides, the girl had given up an awful lot to care for their mother.

Thus, brother and sister had some amazingly frank talks about what they could do to help Sami.

Jay was reviewing all of those things as he pulled into one of their designated parking spots in the condo complex. He just sat and breathed deeply for a couple of minutes, trying for control of his emotions for what he feared would be a very draining confrontation with the women. One more time, he had to fight the bitterness and hatred at his father for putting him in this situation. Having to convince the women he loved that he needed to do something so demeaning was not a challenge he should have to face.

Imagine his surprise when Kelsey met him at the door with a hand in his chest and told him “Don’t bother to come in. You’ve got a job interview and we have to hurry.” He could see Sami standing in the background, looking very distraught.

“But ... but I already talked to her,” he objected.

“Not ‘HER’,” Kelsey spat out with maximum distain. “This is a good job, one you deserve.”

“But, Kelsey, I already told her I would show up Friday.”

“Look, I’ve been burning up the phone lines since that bitch left a couple of hours ago. It’s damned near a miracle that I could reach the right people. They are interested in you, and you ARE going to talk to them.”

It was hard to be angry with his sister. She had matched his concern and his efforts in caring for their mother and helping to make ends meet. Like him, she had given up any chance of extracurricular activity to be there for their mother.

“OK. What is this super job, and why didn’t you tell me about it before?” he demanded.

“Well, until you decided to wave your dick in front of a bunch of drunk broads, I didn’t think you would consider this,” she said, not really explaining anything. That exchange told him just how much stress Kelsey was under. She never resorted to coarse language.

“Does that mean you’ve found somewhere better for me to ‘wave my dick’?”

“Um, well, uh...”

“Does it pay as well as the Beef Market?”

“Have you heard of Rejuve?” she asked.

“Sure. That’s Magnuson’s latest venture at Transformations.”

“Well, that’s where you’re going to wave your dick.” At least he finally saw a grin from her.

“What do you mean? It’s the women that are naked, there,” he reminded her.

“The rule is that all staff people spend time in the pool and hot tub with the residents. The pool and tub are completely nude.”

“OK, how did you find out about all this?”

“You’ve heard me talk about my friend Essie, right? Well, she and her twin brother live at Lindsey’s. That’s part of Transformations, too. Well, Essie got permission to tell me about the job.”

“So, let me get this straight,” he said a little harshly, “there has been this job all along, but you never told me because you didn’t want me naked with a bunch of women. Is that about it?”

She could not meet his eyes and he could see her face flush. That gave him an idea of what else was bothering her. “Oh. You didn’t want me around all those naked women, either, did you?”

She managed to look at him and the quiver of her lip told him that it was not a subject for either rebuke or levity. It was something she felt very strongly about. Still, he could not let her off completely.

“So,” he said much more gently. “You never told me about this job because you didn’t want a bunch of women looking at my dick. Also, you didn’t want me seeing all those bare boobs and asses and pussies, either. But when it looks like it is going to be displayed anyway, you want me to have a better class of women checking me out.”

“The ... the job has only been there a little while. Rejuve is just about to open,” she said, trying to excuse herself.

It was time to quit pressuring her, so he put his hand on hers and gave her a squeeze. “You really worked at getting this interview, didn’t you? You don’t like the idea of the nudity, at all, do you? Thank you for doing this. I can’t imagine I can make as much money for the time I spend, though.”

“But wouldn’t you rather feel good about your work when you come home?” Kelsey pled, clearly near tears. “I don’t see how you could feel good about that strip place. Besides, there are some other really good benefits at Rejuve.”

“Such as...”

“Well, my friend told me, but I’m supposed to let them describe the whole package.” When she said that, he had to bite his tongue to keep a straight face. He was sure the double entendre was completely unintentional.

When they reached the Transformations grounds, Kelsey’s friend Essie met them, and she was almost giddy. “They said because I was the first contact, I get to be your escort tonight. I’m so glad to meet you, Jay. The only problem is you’re just walking like a normal person. Will you show me how you can walk across the pool?”

“Huh?”

“Well, from the way Kelsey talks about you, you must be able to walk on water,” Essie held a straight face for almost five seconds, until Kelsey started pummeling her.

Jay put an arm around each of the girls, saying “I can see you two are more than just casual friends. Lead on, my impudent escort.”

Faking open-mouthed shock, Essie told Kelsey “You didn’t warn me about the big words. Let me run and get my Webster’s.”

The girls giggled a moment and Jay chuckled. Then, Essie turned serious and kissed Jay’s cheek. “Please, Jay. Take this job. This is absolutely the most wonderful place. I don’t have time, now, but Kelsey can tell you my story later. I think Paul is waiting for you. Frank may be there, too. They had to hurry and find people for you to talk to before those drunken bitches got ahold of your cock.”

“Essie!” Kelsey almost screamed.

“Well, isn’t that a direct quote from you?”

“Girls! Girls! Let’s go.”

Two men and a very impressive, tall woman were waiting in an office when the girls showed him in. Very smoothly, Essie said “Jay Cantrell, meet Barbara Ventri, the manager of Rejuve. This is Frank Waxman, CEO of Transformations and Paul Ventri, CFO. Barbara and Paul are sister and brother. There a number of families with multiple employees here. Oh. Paul is Lindsey Hall’s father-in-law-to-be.”

Shaking hands with the three people, Jay observed “If this was a hurried interview, you certainly brought out the big guns.”

It was Frank who answered him. “Staffing is something we take very seriously. It has been said that every staff member here is like a professional psychologist. We are very proud of that opinion. I’m only sorry that my wife, Julia, could not be here. She is a psychiatrist, and the Director of Transformations. I understand that we are trying to keep you from taking a job that has your mother and sister in tears. Let’s address the compensation side of things right up front. Then, you can judge if this job could meet your needs.”

“Aren’t you even going to ask me any questions, first?”

Barbara interjected “We certainly won’t be asking the kind of questions Char Kelly asked. That should give you an idea how much we have been able to find out about you in a few hours. Of course, your sister has not exactly been closed mouthed.”

“As a part-timer, your salary will be hourly,” Paul said and quoted a number that Jay found quite attractive. “In addition, because of Gerald Magnuson’s connections at Addison, we have negotiated an employee discount that brings Addison tuition down to a little more than the local extension.”

Jay could not hold back a ‘Wow!’.

Frank told him “You may not realize it, but Transformations has developed a reputation for fanatical defense and protection of both employees and residents. It appears that your family was grossly mistreated in the divorce, possibly criminally mistreated. We will have Magnuson’s top-notch legal team immediately file for complete coverage of education costs for both you and your sister. They will win.”

No amount of martial arts training, or any other kind, would allow Jay to keep completely cool after hearing that. “But ... but how can you justify that kind of legal cost for one employee?”

“It is a bedrock philosophical position. We believe it is an investment, not a cost,” Frank answered. “We already have a legal team working on behalf of several women at Jennie’s. They will absolutely love your suit. Remember, they get a percentage of the award, so in your case it will be profitable for them.”

Then, it was Barbara’s turn. “From what little time we have had to check up on your mother, it is clear that she is still suffering badly from the divorce. She might be a candidate for Transformations, but at a minimum, she should spend some time at Rejuve.”

“Down the road,” Paul added, “there is a good chance there will be a teaching job here at the complex for your mother.”

All three executives stopped talking, then, waiting for a response from Jay. Kelsey had been holding his hand the whole time, and he could feel her tense up. Trying to sound composed he observed “All the way through, you all said ‘will’, not ‘would’.”

“Jay,” Barbara responded, “we think you are a perfect fit. I know this is all happening very quickly, but we have gotten very, very good at sizing up people. With our various divisions, we are growing constantly, and it is not easy to find people who meet our standards. We believe you do. We cannot believe you would choose nude dancing over a job that helps people. Actually, because of how it would hurt the women you love, we do not believe you would have gone through with the dancing job, at all.”

Jay could only shake his head and chuckle. “Are sure you aren’t all psychiatrists?”

“For sure I’m not,” Paul laughed. “I’m just an accountant. It might interest you that two employees working toward accounting degrees are already working for me when they can fit it in with their jobs here. It has even allowed them to waive some credits.”

“As if you had any doubts, there is no way I can pass this up, actually, it...” Kelsey cut him off with a very unsisterly kiss. When he came up for air, he pulled her onto his lap and continued. “I know everything around here involves nudity. Given the job I was about to take, I guess I shouldn’t worry about it. Is there some kind of preparation, or some way to ease into it?”

“We need to talk about that,” Barbara said, “but Frank and Paul don’t need to be here for this part. Thanks, Guys.”

“Easiest sell yet,” Frank joked as they all shook hands.

“I want you to know,” Barbara said as the men left, “that when we have staff retreats, EVERYONE, from CEO to kitchen workers, is nude. We practice what we preach.”

After standing to thank the men, Kelsey sat right back down in Jay’s lap. Barbara looked at the pair tenderly, then asked “Do you have to be home any particular time? Do you have time for dinner? I’m sure they can still come up with something and bring it in here, even if it’s getting late. We need to talk about the nudity, then I want to tell you my story, because you two seem a lot like Paul and me. Do you think it would be good to have your mother picked up and brought here?” Barbara asked them.

Because of the way Kelsey had met him at the door, Jay had not even seen his mother. He nodded at Kelsey for her opinion. “I don’t think she can handle this,” Kelsey declared. “When I left, she was pretty distraught. First there was that awful Kelly b ... uh, woman. Even when I arranged for this, Mom was upset about the nudity.”

“It sounds like she needs to be eased into it,” Barbara agreed. “Jay, are you in? One of our women is near your home, ready to tell your mother. I need to call her if this is for sure.”

“I’m in,” Jay said, then chuckled. “I hate to think what Kelsey would do to me if I said ‘no’.” Barbara smiled and made another call.

“I assume Kelsey told you when you would have to be nude,” Barbara said to Jay. “We insist on employees mingling nude with residents. We hope it prevents any hint of the residents being inmates or even prisoners. We believe it reinforces the therapeutic value of nudity and removes any thought that it is punishment.”

“Therapeutic value?”

Barbara explained the theories of different behavior and improved focus.

“We believe that an employee cannot effectively deal with nude residents until comfortable with their own nudity. That means that your preparation involves spending a lot of time nude. We also worry about the stress on families if one member experiences something like nudity, but the others do not. That is going to be particularly important in your case, Kelsey. Jay will be working around nude women and will sometimes join them. One of those women may be your mother. You, however, will spend your time dressed. See why that could become a psychological barrier in your family?

“We have developed a step by step orientation process that has worked well for us. Unless there is some special urgency to get an employee on staff immediately, we try to follow the plan.

“There have been a few cases where the employee is already comfortable with nudity from other experiences. Then, obviously, we don’t need the same orientation. Jay, if you had already danced for a few weeks, you would be ready, as far as your own nudity.”

“Thank you for saving me from that,” he said sincerely, hugging Kelsey.

“Here is what I want you to do, Jay. When you get home tonight, undress. Stay that way until you are ready to leave the house for school in the morning. And do not hide in your room. Mingle with your mother and sister as you ordinarily would. Stay nude at home until we move you to the next step.

“The next step is for your mother and you, Kelsey, to be the ones nude. Part of the reason for that is to get Jay comfortable around nude women. The other reason is for you and your mother to share at least some of Jay’s experience of being nude. All of this nudity MUST be started with the women closest to Jay. That is for the protection of the family.

“Are there any other women that Jay is close to?”

“Well, Mom’s sister and our cousin,” Kelsey answered. “We’re together a lot. Aunt Shelley and Bree have been great through all of Mom’s depression. Shelley’s son Brad has been a big help, too. He’s, uh, fourteen, I think.”

“Good. I’ll talk to your aunt and make sure that she participates in the project. Hopefully, she will help with both parts.”

It was Jay’s turn to gasp. “Jay, you’re just going to have to believe me. First of all, afterwards, you will feel a closeness to the women in your life that you never realized. By the time you start here, you will be able to be nude in almost any group of women with little danger of an erection.”

When Kelsey gasped again, Barbara said “I guess we need to address the big fear for men head on. I know something about martial arts, Jay, and I suspect you feel you have very good self-control. Otherwise, you would not have considered the dancing job. No matter how good that control is, you are still technically a teenaged guy, and erections are not completely controllable. For the dancing job, erections are a requirement, I assume. Did Char have you make yourself hard?” He nodded, wishing that Kelsey would not notice. She did, and her displeasure was not disguised.

“Kelsey, believe it or not, nudity will be much easier for you than for your brother, largely because of fear of erections. There are other psychological reasons, but I won’t go into them right now. Jay, you WILL get erections. No nineteen-year-old is that good. I want to make sure the first few are with family. They WILL treat you gently and respectfully. All of you have to understand that erections are just a normal part of being a virile male. They are not a sign of perversion or overactive sex urges.”

If Kelsey had quivered before, she was vibrating then. Barbara saw it, came and knelt in front of the teens, and took one of Kelsey’s hands in hers. “Kelsey, I’m guessing that you have always been pretty modest, right?” At Kelsey’s nod, Barbara continued. “That’s a good thing, believe me. We don’t want to make you lose all modesty. We just want you to become comfortable with bare bodies, including your own, in situations where it is necessary and appropriate.”