The taxi dropped her off at the front door of a rather plain-looking building in a part of town she didn't go to very often. In fact, she didn't even realize they had "these kinds of places" in town. She paid the cab fare with a few dollars she was able to scrimp from the grocery money. She walked up to the door and sucked in a deep breath.

"Well here goes nothing!" she thought to herself. She pushed the door open and immediately in front of her she saw a big burly guy behind what appeared to be a glass partition like you would see in a movie theater ticket counter.

"We have a five dollar cover charge and a two drink minimum here!" he said monotonously, like he had said it ten thousand times before.

"Oh no, I am here to see Rachael. Are you Mike?" she said.

"Oh, Okay. Yeah she is inside, go on in," he said. Then Donna heard the door buzz and she pulled the door open and stepped inside.

Donna stepped inside the darkened room and had to stand there in the entry for a few moments to let her eyes adjust to the lower light level. Slowly she made out the stage the tables and then the bar. She made her way through the maze of tables to the bar.

"What can I get ya darlin'?" the bartender asked Donna.

"I'm here to see Rachael?" she said.

"I was wondering... we don't get a lot of single women coming in here!" he said with a grin. He waved over one of the two waitresses and said something in her ear. The waitress went off in the general direction of the back of the building.

"Do you want something to drink while you wait?" the bartender asked.

"Oh no thank you. I'm just here to see Rachael," she said. She would have loved something to settle her nerves, but she was too embarrassed to admit she didn't have any money for a drink. The bartender shrugged his shoulders and went off to wipe down the bar. Donna turned around and looked the place over now that her eyes were adjusted.

It wasn't a bad place, she figured. It wasn't real busy at this hour, with only a handful of patrons scattered about the place. There was a DJ up at what she guessed was the music control booth and a long center stage. She looked around and saw two other smaller "satellite" stages. There was probably 30 or 40 small four person tables and there was a bunch of stools lining the edges of the long center stage.

The place was a neon nightmare with different color neon lights everywhere. There was a smokey haze throughout the bar - partly from the smoking patrons but also from the bar's smoke machine. The music was louder than she would have liked, but she figured it was about normal for a place like this. The Dj would announce each girl as she came out and Donna watched a couple girls dance as she waited for Rachael.

"Here you go honey... it's on the house. You look like you could use a little courage," the bartender said, handing her a shot of Peppermint Schnapps.

"Thank you," she said, smiling sheepishly. It must be painfully obvious that she was nervous if the bartender could see it in the darkness with her back turned!

"Don't worry hon... being a bartender for as long as I have been, you get tuned into your customers!" he said.

Donna downed about half the shot in the first swallow and once she got that down, she finished the drink off.

"Don't worry, if you get the job, you'll get better at that!" he said.

"How did you know I was here for a job?" she asked.

"Well like I said, not too many single women come in here. Plus you are nervous as a cat in a dog pen. It's kinda obvious that you aren't here for the entertainment!" he said with a wink.

"Would you quit hitting on her Rick? She hasn't even started here yet!" a woman came up behind Donna. "Hi I'm Rachael - you must be Donna?"

"Yes, that's right. Nice to meet you Rachael," Donna said.

"Well let's start with the grand tour. You've already met Rick, our resident womanizer! Over there we have David our DJ, and then there's Paul and Tom our bouncers. They are a girl's best friends," she said, pointing everyone out. "Follow me and I'll show you behind the scenes."

The girls walked over to the center stage by the sound booth and up the steps onto the center stage. They walked back behind the curtain to the dressing room. "This is the dressing room. Each girl gets a locker where she keeps her outfits and whatever accessories she uses in her acts. She also gets one of these makeup tables. There's a little break area where you can get away from the craziness but while you are back here you aren't making any money in tips so it isn't used much.

The girls here all get along real well and will let you borrow something if you need it - with a few exceptions. Most of us have a signature something that we don't loan out." Rachael explained. "Now I am sure you have a million questions, so let's have a seat and we'll go through them." Rachael took her hand and led her over to the sofa in the break area and they sat down.

"Okay now what questions do you have?" Rachael asked.

Donna drew a deep breath. "Well, first off how do you do this? I mean how do you take your clothes off in front of strange men and let them look at you?" she asked.

"Well, Donna you get used to it. It's not all that hard. You just don't take it personally. To start with, pick one guy out there in the audience and dance for him. Make eye contact with him and hold his gaze. Here like this. Pretend you are a guy in here after a hard days work." Rachael stood up and began dancing. She looked at Donna and once Donna looked at her she held her gaze and she danced for her. She didn't get undressed, but she moved as if she was. "See what I mean. You play to one man just as if you were an actor on stage. Because you are... you are just naked."

I see. Okay, one thing my husband said about me working was that I would have to be home when he got home. So I can work from the time he goes to work at 9:00 to about 4:00 pm. No later than that ever. Is that possible?" Donna asked.

"Sure we can put you on the day shift if that's what you want. It doesn't pay like the evening shifts because not that many people are in here, so tips aren't that great. But it will get your feet wet, at least. Then you may want to move to nights at least a couple nights a week. But that's up to you," Rachael said.

"Well while we are on the subject, how much can I expect to make with my day schedule?" Donna said.

"I would think you could turn at least $1250 to $1500 a month pretty easily. Depending on tips and how good you are at talking our customers into table dances!" she said smiling.

"Okay, all this sounds wonderful, but honestly... do you think I could do this?" Donna asked, showing herself to Rachael.

Rachael looked at Donna and then took her hand. "Honey once you get used to it, you will have these bums eating out of your hands!"

"Thank you Rachael, I would like to give it a try. But there one thing... I... I don't have any money - you know, for clothes or outfits or stuff," she said, dropping her head and looking at her feet.

"Don't worry about that, sweetie. A lot of girls who come to this field do so because they are financially in trouble. The club can give you an advance on your first paycheck so you can buy a couple outfits at least to get you started. Plus you can borrow something from one of the girls once you meet them. We are all happy to see new blood here. As you work more, you can increase your wardrobe a little each paycheck," Rachael said.

"Okay how do I get started. Money is really tight at home and we are in a bind," Donna said.

"Well, first we need to get you something you can wear," Rachael said. She got up and offered Donna her hand. She led Donna into another room where the offices for the club were.

"Donna this is Thomas Hawkins, the owner of the club. Mr. Hawkins, this is Donna... I'm sorry I don't even know your last name!" Rachael said.

"Anderson, Mr. Hawkins, Donna Anderson," Donna said, sticking out her hand.

"It's nice to meet you Ms. Anderson," Mr. Hawkins said.

"Donna here would like to apply for a job here as a dancer. We have been talking about it a bit, and she would like to come work with us here at The Dollhouse," Rachael told Mr. Hawkins.

"Is that so? Well I think we can arrange that. How soon would you like to start Ms. Anderson?" he asked.

"Well as soon as possible... I kinda need the money," Donna said. "And please, call me Donna... Ms. Anderson sounds so formal!"

"Very well, Donna. Have you got a stage name picked out, speaking of names?"

"A stage name?"

"Yeah we don't all use our real names on stage - some just use their first names but most of us have stage names. My stage name for example is Honey," Rachael said.

"Oh, I don't know... I hadn't really thought about it," Donna said.

"Well how about Lexus. I always liked that name. It sounds expensive and exotic and it would work for you with that dark hair!" Rachael said.

"Ooh, I like that. Okay, I'd like to be Lexus," Donna said.

"Okay Lexus it is then. How does Thursday sound? You can come in and Rachael here can give you the low down on how we do things - how to dance, how to treat the guests, the rules of the house, that sort of thing. Then Friday is the end of the pay period, so it will be a good time to start actually working, " Mr Hawkins said.

"That would be fine," Donna said.

"Mr. Hawkins, Donna had a couple concerns she brought up in our talk. First off, she says she needs to work the day shift. She has to be home by 4:00 in the afternoon, was it Donna?" Rachael said.

"Yes, that's right. My husband's condition on getting a job was that I was always home by 4:00 so when he got home I was there for him. I can work the hours between 9:00 am and 4:00 pm. And please, my husband can never know I work here - he would completely flip out if he knew I was stripping!" Donna said.

"Donna, we here at The Dollhouse understand all too well that our line of work isn't acceptable to a lot of people.

Discretion is very important to us. No one here talks about their job outside of work except to others who work here. And if they do, they use fictitious names and things. And when we advertise, we do not show the girls on our advertisements, only the club name. We are all very cautious about things like that. And we can work around your hours easily enough," Mr. Hawkins said.

"The other thing Donna was concerned with is getting her outfits. She's going to need a little help in that department to get set up," Rachael said.

"Of course," Mr. Hawkins said. He reached into his pocket and pulled out a thick wad of bills. "Here's $250.00... this should get you two or three outfits and some makeup. Go see Allison at Candy's Boutique in the 5th Avenue Mall... she will see that you get some good clothes and she will give you a good deal. The girls here give her a lot of business."

"Thank you Mr. Hawkins. Thank you so much," Donna said. Donna signed a hand receipt for the money and her and Rachael left the business office and headed back to the break area.

"So Donna, do you have any other questions about how we do things here?" Rachael asked.

"Yes a ton, but don't you have to get back out there?" she said pointing to the main bar area.

Rachael smiled, "No that's fine. I am like the Madame here... so long as there's no trouble out there, we are okay here."

"Oh okay. Well Mr. Hawkins mentioned 'house rules'?"

"Yes house rules... the first one is the customers aren't allowed to touch. We can touch them, but they can't do more than an 'accidental' brush of us," Rachael said wiggling her fingers in mock quotation marks at the word accidental. "We allow the customer to maybe brush across our nipples or run their hand along the back of our leg or something but not much more. Paul and Tom do a pretty good job of keeping an eye on the customers and they know just how far to let them go. If you get into trouble with someone being a little too grabby though, don't hesitate to call them."

"Okay, I'll remember that," Donna said.

"You probably won't have much trouble with that on the day shift... it's pretty low key and quiet. It's the night time crowds that can get boisterous! But that's where the money is so..." Rachael said. "Actually you are going to be popular around here. A lot of the girls don't like the day shift because it's so quiet. So by you wanting it, that frees them up to work where they can make more money!"

"Well I will just be happy bringing home whatever I can. Anything has got to help!" Donna said.

"Yeah, I've been there a time or two," Rachael said.

"The second rule here is that this is a strip club, not a brothel. You are paid to dance and entertain the customers, not to fuck them. No sex of any kind is allowed here. No fucking, no blowjobs, not even a quick jerk. You can't do it and they can't either - if a customer asks you, politely refuse saying it's against the rules. If he pulls out his joystick, call one of the boys. We have a hard enough time keeping the cops out of here. We don't need vice in here to boot!" Rachael said.

"Got it," Donna said.

"The last house rule is no drugs. Don't come to work stoned, don't get stoned here. And that includes drinking. Now you will be expected to drink with the customer - that's how you will make the majority of your tips - but your drinks will be watered down so you will not get blasted. If you start to get too drunk, one of us will either take you back to the break area and get you some coffee or send you home. Rick knows how to mix us girls' drinks so we can continue working. Do you drink much?" Rachael asked.

"No not much," Donna said.

"Well, you will get used to it. Starting you on the day shift was a good idea, it looks like," Rachael smiled. "That's the big three house rules... the rest are just regular working rules - show up on time and ready to work - treat the customers right, that sort of stuff. You will learn all that starting Thursday. I'll show you the ropes and make sure you are ready to start on Friday."

"Thank you so much Rachael... I really appreciate it," Donna said.

"Glad to help out honey. Now unless you have more questions, I should go see what's happening on the floor," Rachael said. Rachael and Donna left the back room and went out into the main bar. It was still a little early, so Donna decided to sit at one of the tables and watch the girls a bit. Rachael set her up with a Coke from the bar so it would look like she was drinking and she sat and watched a couple of the girls dance.

The DJ announced the first girl as Trixie and she came out from behind the curtain dressed in a shiny gold bikini top and some very tight, very short shorts. She had on what appeared to be six inch heels as well and Donna watched as she pranced around on them, wondering how in the hell she was going to do that! The stage top looked shiny and slick and those heels looked unstable just sitting there! Yet Trixie made it look easy as she gyrated and ground her hips against the stripper pole.

She wagged her ass and her tits in front of one of the customers and he gratefully slipped a bill in her top as she leaned over. After the first song, the second came on and this time Trixie shed her short shorts revealing the tiniest g-string Donna had ever seen! It was barely big enough in the front to hide her pussy behind and the back was nothing but a string. The whole thing could hide under the cardboard coaster her drink sat on!

Trixie's second song finished and Donna watched as she moved to one of the satellite stages.

Then the DJ called out the second girl - Amber. She was a fiery redhead and she came out in a leather romper with a plunge in front clear down past her bellybutton. You could see her nice tits bulging out trying to force their way to freedom and the glint of a navel piercing. The romper looked as though it was painted on and Donna wondered how long it took the girl to squeeze and coax her way into it! She too, had tall heels, but the straps on hers climbed up her calves almost to her knees.

Amber's signature trick apparently was to thrash her long red mane around, whipping it back and forth to the music and when a lucky customer got near, to flail him with it as he put a bill in her outfit. Amber was a little more violent and dominatrix than Donna preferred so she turned and started watching how the girls worked the floor. She listened (as best she could over the loud music) to how the girls talked to the customers and flirted with them. She listened to one girl who's customer needed to be coaxed into a table dance and then she watched how the girl danced for him.

Donna took in as much as she could during her short visit. She was eager to learn how to do this and wanted to be good at it. The faster she learned and better she got, the more money she could bring home to help out her hard-working husband.

Finally Donna needed to be heading home. She still had some housework to do and she needed to get dinner going for when James got home. So after saying good bye to Rick and to Rachael, she headed out the door, stopping for a little bit to let her eyes get adjusted again to the bright sunlight.

"Boy this is something I'm going to have to get used to!" she thought to herself as she squinted in the bright light. But her eyes quickly adjusted and the cab arrived to take her home.

Back home from the club, she got right to work. She didn't have that much to do, but she wanted it all done before James got home. She got dinner going and then threw a load of clothes in the washer. While they were going she vacuumed the living room and made the bed from the night before. She had just put the second load of clothes in the dryer and was in the kitchen tending to dinner when James came in through the door.

He came up behind her without saying a word. He grabbed her and spun her around quickly, catching her surprised gasp in his mouth and he crushed a kiss to her lips.

"My goodness... did someone have a good day today?" she gasped when he finally broke their kiss.

"Not especially, I just really needed a kiss!" he said.

"Well I'm happy to be of assistance, kind sir!" she said, curtsying with a cute little grin on her face.

"How long before dinner?" he asked.

"It will be about 20 minutes, why?" she asked.

"Just wondering if I have time for a beer," he said. She went to the fridge and got him a cold beer and a chilled glass from the freezer. She opened it and poured the golden liquid into the frosty glass.

"Here you go sweetheart. A kiss like that deserves a nice cold beer. Now go sit in the living room and I will call you when dinner is ready," she said, kissing him on the cheek.

As they ate dinner, James asked her how her day went. "Well, I think I got a job today," she said, cautiously.

"Really where at?" he asked, pleasantly surprised and excited for her.

"Oh, it's a downtown office building. I am going to work in a secretarial pool with some other girls. It's only a temp thing, but who knows," she said. She hated lying to James, but if he knew the truth he would be livid and put a stop to it before it ever got started. And he would be mad at Lisa for suggesting such a fool idea!

"What are the hours?" he asked.

"Oh don't worry, I told them I could not work past 4:00 p.m. under any circumstances. And they were real good about it. They said that was fine," Donna said, reassuring him.

"Well I am glad you got a job. It will help out with the money situation. Did they give you some idea of what you might be making?" he asked.

"No not yet. I think it will depend on how good I am and how many hours I can get in," she said. At least that part of it was no lie. Donna hoped she would be able to bring in some good money... she still was a bit unsure if she could do this, but she would give it a try.