While most little girls dreamed of becoming teachers, actresses, or nurses, Marisol Rivera dreamt of one day becoming a whore. Like a boy who looked in awe at a soldier or police officer, Marisol would fixate on prostitutes. They looked like every other woman, but not to Marisol. An off-duty working girl could be walking down the street carrying groceries, and the little girl would stop in her tracks and curiously stare at the woman as if she were looking at two stray dogs humping.
Marisol would often get snatched out of her daze by her mother pulling on her hand. She knew who she was. She knew who they all were.
Everyone knew. Just once she would have liked to have caught her daughter staring at a beggar or a drunk. The question caused Elena to drop her crocheting needles and bring her fingers to her temple. The end of the conversation brought relief to Elena but not to Marisol for she did not want to be a doctor.
She wanted to be a whore. As time went on Marisol learned to appease her parents by doing well in school and saying that she wanted to become a doctor all the while taking every opportunity she could to learn about the trade that really interested her.
Pedro, a childhood friend who used to play in the dirt with Marisol, was her first customer. What does a boy so young know of pleasure? Marisol knew he was not ready. One day, Marisol noticed Pedro ogling at a pair of bouncing breasts as a woman in high-heeled shoes walked down the street. Ah ha, Marisol thought. As her body developed and the curiosity of her customers grew, Marisol learned much about being in the business of pleasing men for money. One of the things she learned was that members of the opposite sex would pay nearly anything to live out their deepest desires, but that they would only tell her those desires if they trusted her.
