“What?”
>
“You curse too much,” I said.
“What about it?”
“It’s not very ladylike,” I said.
Diane looked at the expression on my face. Then she looked me up and down. “Look, Jada, don’t think I ain’t been checkin’ you out. You changed.”
“I have changed, Diane. But that’s how-” I started, but Diane stopped me.
“Like I said, the way you talk and shit. You even walk different; don’t be lookin’ like you ’bout to fall all the damn time.” Diane smiled and I did too. “You know, I been seein’-you know, how you dressin’ these days and how you carry it and shit, and I’m like yeah, Jada, you doin’ it. So, if that’s what it takes, then you gotta teach me to be like you.”
“We’ll give it a shot and see how it goes,” I said quietly.
Diane gave me a hug. “You watch, Jada, I’ll be the best ho-I mean escort-you ever seen.”
The ringing phone broke up our moment. It was the doorman. “You have visitors. A Ms. Bella and Ms. Simone,” he announced.
The minute I first laid eyes on Bella and Simone, I began thinking about all the money I could make by investing in these two beauties. “Yes, Alfred. Please send them both right up,” I quickly gathered the pictures and placed them in the folder I had nearby.
When I opened the door, Bella strolled in. She was a caramel-skinned beauty with long curly hair, wicked curves, full breasts, and a smile that lit up the room. We met one morning when I was coming in from an appointment. “Excuse me,” Bella had said that morning.
I turned to verify she was talking to me. “I think you dropped this,” she said, holding up a tube of MAC lip gloss.
“Damn!” I squealed. “Thanks, honey. I lose these things like they’re free,” I said.
When she smiled I was like, whoa! “You live around here?” I asked.
She shrugged. “I wish. I was actually trying to meet a friend, but I got lost,” she said.
We grabbed some coffee at a nearby Starbucks where she poured out her life story. Bella told me told me how miserable her life was. She was on the outs with her very repressive parents and had been going from one bad job to no job at all, and was desperately in need of money.
But what I saw in her was spirit. I found her to be a quiet and easygoing young woman with an almost childlike enthusiasm for life. Bella was the kind of person who sought variety in what she did. Bella also told me she had tried to be a dancer, but didn’t go back after she slipped and fell from the stage. “I figured that was a sign that I needed to find a new way to make some extra cash.” She had giggled.
My other selection was Simone. She too had a sad tale to tell about how she desperately needed money. Simone was tall and thin. She was flat-chested, but looked like she was gliding instead of walking. Simone had a short, Halle Berry-type haircut, light eyes and smooth skin. Simone was a stunner who had raw sex appeal and determination. I met her working in one of the boutiques I had frequented with Sasha. She was frustrated after a rude customer had ripped her a new one over not being able to return a gown that had been visibly worn. When the customer stormed out of the shop, I heard her sigh. “I don’t know how much longer I can take this shit,” she had hissed.
I walked over and looked around to make sure her manager was nowhere in sight.
“You could probably make a substantial amount of money if you just used some of your other assets,” I said.
Her eyebrow crept upward, but she didn’t dismiss me right away.
“You a headhunter or something?” she wanted to know.
“I’m not. I’m what you can call an entrepreneur. You’re not afraid to make a little cash and have some fun while you’re at it, are you?”
“I don’t sell or do drugs,” she said.
“I understand.” I slipped her my business card; then slid the stack of crisp one-hundred-dollar bills toward her.
She looked at the money then up at me. “When can we get together?” she asked.
Once everybody had a drink and made themselves comfortable, I explained what we were going to do and how we were going to do it. “The most important thing that I’m going to teach you is how to conduct yourselves in a ladylike manner in every situation. Elegant and classy, ladies, that is who you are at all times.” I stood up and moved to the middle of the living room. “I’m going to teach you how to walk, how to talk”-I looked at Diane and she rolled her eyes-“and how to dress, and how to conduct yourself at any occasion. Knowing what to say and what not to say, will make your company more desirable and therefore, requested on a regular basic.
“Now, I’ve been thinking a lot about this and I realized that Sasha will be working all the CEOs, CFOs, and other suits: wealthy people that are discrete with their money. They don’t have anything to prove to anybody.”