The Pale Man Rises

CHAPTER THIRTY EIGHT

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Deborah Schafer was sick of this job. She was sick of the lurid comments, the leering eyes and the off times clumsy attempts to grope her. Being the most attractive woman on the staff she was the one who received the greatest amount of attention from the men who crowded into the "BUST STOP" topless bar. No doubt that George Groves, the humorless owner, thought that he was rather droll in having created that title for his establishment. Being such a beauty Deborah's tips always exceeded that of all the other female employees in the bar who bared themselves and this then was the reason many of them resented her. 

 Each night they all dodged the crowd and hustled beer with equal aplomb and yet she was the one whose tips were always so grand. Compared to her's all the other's tips were laughable. So on the whole the other women abhorred her. In their minds it wasn't fair to them, because she was just very pretty. It wasn't fair for her to make the most when they were more willing to twitch their asses and flirt with the customers. She was in their estimation just some jaded Barbie Doll and was getting over for nothing.

She would smile innocently at the men, converse as little as was possible, and quickly dispense their orders. That's all she'd do and the other women resented her for her aloofness. And yet it seemed that every man who came into this place had the hots for her.

How could that be when she seldom paid them any attention the other women wondered? They didn't see the other incidents or if they did they did not or would not acknowledge them. Of course most of the men would simply try to flirt, but some were endlessly trying to grab her in her private places and their comments were just as degrading and Deborah felt dirty because she would have to put up with it if she was to keep the job.

These men were fools certainly and took her aloofness as a challenge. She was the goddess they all hungered for. Surely if one of them ever managed to scale that wall she shielded them off with they just knew they would have a sexual tigress on their hands and what a treat that would be.

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That was the general unspoken consensus among these men. And so they would naively give her generous tips. And every man who ever came into the place always fantasized that he would be the one that would eventually conquer her. She knew she would never be able to dissuade them of this notion and so she gladly took their tips.

Deborah did understand the other women's jealousy however. She realized that it was indeed unfair that the customers gave her such good tips based solely on something as shallow as her appearance and not for the fact that she was any crackerjack waitress. But then too this was a topless bar and not some factory where perhaps determination and productivity are the criteria for one's wages. Beauty was an asset in a job such as this and they all knew it and came to work each night after having spent a great deal of time hovering over a vanity mirror applying makeup and rehearsing poulty seductive smiles, which might earn them extra tips.

All of them, that is except Deborah herself who used little makeup and never ever flirted with any of the patrons. And though she understood their consternation she was not about to apologize for something she had no control over. If they wanted to get angry then so be it, they might as well have blamed nature for she was born attractive and if she had been psychic she would have known that she would die the same.

As a matter of fact she wished she could quit working here. She planned on just that thing. But it was not a feasible option at the present time. Though she hated it, hated the humiliation of it, she earned much more money doing this than at any other type of employment she had ever managed to get around these parts.

She had no discernible skills and so her looks were the only asset a potential employer might weigh heavily in his evaluation of her as a prospective employee. Oh there was opportunity in this town if a girl was willing to sell her body. The place was full of soldiers because of Fort Tom Dillman and prostitutes made a lot of money plying their trade to them. But that was something Deborah could never do.