"I had no idea how to land my first client. It was a random April Friday, karaoke night at Sheri's Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada. I don't sing. Four of the ladies who worked there were professional singers, so I watched them take turns and picked at food with the other new girl. It was already my second shift. The first had been a bust."
"One of the other ladies, Jules, a statuesque, voluptuous brunette, asked me to sing with her. I told her this would be only the third time I'd ever done karaoke. She didn't care. She wanted to show me that being seen was the first step to attracting a client. We duetted on "Cheri Cheri Lady," by Modern Talking. I was awful, but sure enough, within minutes of my being on display, one of the hostesses pulled me aside."
"It startled me to hear my new name uttered so intentionally. Paloma Karr, a name I'd just chosen for this job, a woman I'd imagined breezy, unbothered, and carefree. It had taken real work to will Paloma into existence. I had thought I'd arrive at Sheri's to martini glasses and Champagne flutes and garter belts and silk bedsheets and wads of cash."
An inexperienced woman adopts the name Paloma Karr and starts working at Sheri's Ranch, a legal brothel in Nevada. She attends a karaoke night and, urged by a coworker, sings to be visible to potential clients. Her visibility quickly attracts a regular who is invited to speak with her. Expectations of glamour collide with administrative reality: forms, contracts, medical exams, and background checks dominate the first day. The ranch's clientele ranges from elderly regulars to younger groups. The narrator reflects on the effort required to construct an onstage persona and the gulf between imagined luxury and practical labor.
Read at Esquire
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