“I wear a suit every day.” He said, “Me? Wear what I want. Days I get dressed up, days I go about like this.” I was curious, “What kind of work do you do?”
“Work that frees a man. Work that frees a woman. Work that’s always there no matter how bad the economy is.” “What work is that?” He said, “White girl like you wouldn’t understand.” I said, “That’s not fair. I’m very understanding and I have people of color in my company.”
“Your company?” With maybe a touch of too much pride I said, “Yes, my company. I own it.” He said, “I own mine.” I asked him again, “What kind of company do you have?” Again he said, “You might not understand. I come from a harder life. The things I needed to get ahead were few and far away. But I managed anyway. I’m in the big leagues now. I’m doin’ just fine.”
I felt like he had told me even though he hadn’t, but it seemed sincere. I was the one who certainly had all the opportunities, but I had to let him know that I was cool. I said, “I know people who do all sorts of things, not just executive types. I mean, I’ve been around, traveled. I like to meet with all sorts of people.”
He laughed, “Then maybe we did meet sometime and I do apologize if I’ve forgotten you.” I said, “I mean, I grew up here and I know all sorts of people. I don’t think we’ve met, anyway I don’t hold things against people. I mean you have to do what you have to do to get on in life and that’s cool with me.”
I was sure I had his approval. He said, “You’re a Liberal?” I said, “Yeah.
“Then we can talk freely like human people not like people livin’ on opposite sides of the track.” I said, “Sure, that’s cool with me.” He said, “I’m in procurement.” I tried not to show any surprise so I said, “Okay. That’s cool.”
He pointed to my head and said, “You’re sweating.” I was. He said, “You put your jacket on when I first said hello. You can take if off now. No need to sweat like that. That is not cool.” I felt sort of stupid. I took it off.
He said, “It’s real dumb prostitution is illegal. It’s like illegalizing air. People gonna breathe it even if you tell them they can’t.” He said, “They make it sound so dirty, selling your body. Sure it’s dirty if you don’t wanna do it. But then so is anything dirty you forced to do it. Am I wrong?”
I said, “No, of course not.” He looked at my pearls and said, “They so pretty on you.” I said, “Thank you.” Then he asked me, “I mean if you wanted to do it you would do it. You wouldn’t be uncool about it, would you?” I said, “Not if I wanted to.” Then he looked at me long and hard and said, “It must be nice to be you. So pretty. Your legs are incredibly nice and your hair and your eyes. You’re very lucky. You should be a model. They got it easy. Not like me.”
Diary of A Rich Girl – Chapter 129, by Carrie
Diary of a Rich Girl to be continued…
