This was originally considered a folktale, at least that is what my grandfather claimed. After he passed and nearly all his generation had died, the “truth” emerged in a diary including pictures of the family members that were involved in the family’s secret.

The pictures were black and white but clear, making no mistake about the characters that were in the diary. Those involved were Grandma Harriet, her husband Daryl, and their daughters Mabel, Adele, and Blanche.

It was 1934 and prohibition had ended but not the Great Depression. The depression hit them hard. Daryl was out of work with no savings to feed his family of five. Harriet could barely scrape enough food together to feed her three daughters. Harriet and Daryl often went hungry. Harriet was determined to change that.

Harriet was a city girl growing up in a middle-class neighborhood. She had street smarts and developed relationships with all classes of people in her job as the hat girl in a speakeasy. It was prohibition and she was eighteen meeting the rich and famous and a few gangsters.

During the depression, her girls had gone job hunting without success. The family was desperate. Mabel, the oldest at twenty, was offered a menial job cleaning washrooms in city parks. Adele was eighteen and had just graduated from high school. Blanche had just turned seventeen. One thing the three had in common was good looks.

Harriet decided that the connections she had at the speakeasy might be valuable for helping her family.

“Mama,” Mabel asked, “what are we going to do? I only got $3.00 working all week for the sanitary district.”

“I have an idea but need to ask your father first.”

“What’s the idea?”

“After I speak with your dad.”

A week went by, and Harriet was still unsure how to ask her girls to help the family. “So what did Daddy say?” Mabel impatiently demanded.

“He doesn’t like it, but we have no choice.”

“Well, so what is it?”

“You know I was a hat girl in Al’s Speakeasy when I was your age. I met a lot of people there. A very nice man hired girls to date some of his friends. He said I could make a lot more money with his dating service. Well, I was engaged to your dad, so I said no.

“I called my old boss, Al, this week and he said his place is now a legal night club, but our mutual friend still runs the dating service. If you would stop over to his office for an interview, they would be happy to talk with you.”

“What about Adele and Blanche? What about them?”

“Adele will have to wait until after you have worked there for a while. Blanche won’t be eighteen for a year.”

“Does age matter?”

“Yes. Al said his girls must be at least eighteen.”

Mabel’s interview went well. Her first night on the job did not.

“Mom, the man I met at the night club said his name was Frank. Something made me think he wasn’t Frank because when I said his name, he didn’t seem to know who I was talking to. He offered me a drink. I wanted a Coke, but he insisted I try a cocktail. My drink was bitter and tasted awful. It reminded me of cough medicine. To be nice, I sipped it until I felt sick and threw up in the bathroom.

“When I got back to the table, he gave me a kiss and started touching me. I didn’t mind him holding my hand but then he moved his chair close to me, put one arm around my shoulders and had his other hand up my skirt.

“I didn’t know what to do, Mom. There was a dance band playing Smoke Gets In Your Eyes. You remember the song that I like that Daddy plays on the Victrola. So, I told Frank we should dance. He held me so tight I could hardly breathe. After that, he took me outside and began kissing me and rubbing my breasts. He said we should finish what we’d started at the hotel next door.  I said, no, ran to the bus, and went home.”

Harriet didn’t say a word listening to her daughter until at the end she said, “Well Mabel, I guess that’s part of growing up. But to be honest, cocktails are part of being an adult when you are at a night club. Maybe your cousin, Billy Joe, can show you what to order that might not taste so bad. BJ dates girls and knows what they like.”

Here is where the family tale gets mirky. Billy Joe was seven years older than Mabel and she had a crush on him so that wouldn’t be a problem. The uncertainty in this tale was how Mabel lost her virginity. They met several times going to a gin joint that was run by his dad’s friend. Mabel stayed out later each time. Once, she wasn’t home until sunrise. So, of course, people talk, and almost everyone decided she was sleeping with him. That probably happened but what became unclear was whether Harriet encouraged BJ to make love to her.

During Mabel’s time with BJ, she was never called back to the night club. Al said she wasn’t friendly enough. Harriet said she would talk to Mabel about that and asked if she could have a second chance. The second chance was with Stan. Stan was like Frank, kissing and touching and making crude advances. Mabel now understood what night club dating was all about and went to the hotel with him.

Stan wasn’t like Mabel’s cousin BJ. He was overweight, bald, and rude. He treated her roughly and fucked her like a common slut. When he gave Mabel fifteen dollars, she realized she had become a whore.

“Well, how did it go last night?” Harriet asked her daughter.

“Here’s the good news, Mom,” and handed her the money.

“My goodness, dear. You earned that much?” Harriet said as if surprised.

“Stop the charade, Mom. You knew what dating for Al’s friends means. I was hired to have sex with these men.”

“Wait, Mabel. I really didn’t know it involved having sex. I just thought it was companionship and dancing and maybe some hugs and kisses. That’s what I saw at the speakeasy.”

“You were young and naive back then, Mom. You just pretended not to notice what went on after they left the speakeasy.”

“Can you forgive me, Mabel?”

“Of course not, but it doesn’t matter. Now Al wants me twice a week. That’s what you want, isn’t that right Mom, to help the family?”

After hooking up with three more men, Mabel met George who was surprisingly kind and thoughtful. He was also rich. His chauffeur took them to a beautiful apartment where she spent the night. The first time they fucked was in the traditional missionary position. His limo took her home the next morning but not before he had her doggie, then cowgirl. She was learning fast. This time she gave her mom $20.00 and but kept five dollars for herself.

One of her lessons Mabel learned was that rich men were better than the others. Mabel demanded to date only wealthy men, or she would work somewhere else. Al grumbled about it but finally agreed.

Adele had noticed that dinner was more than soup and potatoes, finally asking Mabel where she got the money. Mabel was evasive, then said she was working overtime as a hostess at the night club. Then Blanche wanted to know why she came home so late or not at all. Mabel just said she was staying with friends. But that wasn’t the end of it. Mabel’s sisters kept asking about her job. Finally, Mabel said they had to ask their mom.

So, on a gloomy Sunday afternoon, Harriet sat her three daughters down in the living room telling her version of what Mabel was doing.

“Mabel is a hostess doing a service to a variety of men she dates. Some of them are lonely after losing their wife or girlfriend. Others are new to the city, and some are soldiers away from home. Anyway, they all need someone to comfort them. Occasionally, that means Mabel needs to stay the night with them.”

Adele was not fooled. She knew of girls her age, even their mothers, that got money for getting laid. “You mean she has sex with them. That’s why she gets so much money.”

Harriet looked at Mabel for the answer. Mabel just shrugged and said, “Look, we’re desperate. We need to eat and pay the rent. Someone has to help out. So, if my date wants to make love to me and I like him, sometimes I go to bed with him.”

Blanche blushed when she said in a whisper, “My sister is a prostitute.”

On Monday the clouds had cleared, and it was spring cleanup day in the apartment. While the girls helped with the chores, they took a short break.  Both Blanche and Adele wanted Mabel to tell them what it was like being a whore.

“Please don’t call me that. I’m more like a comfort girl for men that need company.”

“Sure, but you let them use your private parts like a married woman but without being married. It sounds so disgusting,” Blanche said.

“Someday, Blanche, you won’t think it is disgusting. Sometimes it feels wonderful, better than anything you’ve ever felt. There is something I get called an orgasm and when that happens, I’ve gone to heaven.”

Adele retorted, “But my girlfriend, Sue, says it hurts.”

“It can hurt a little the first time but later that isn’t a problem. From what you’re saying, I guess you two haven’t had sex with your boyfriends. Maybe you should.”

Then Blanche spoke up. “My boyfriend, Steven, wants us to do it but I said it wouldn’t be right. Mom says we have to wait until we get married.”

“It’s your choice with Steven but now that you know that Mom got me the hostess job at the club, you can probably guess she knew what I would be doing. That kind of rewrites the rules.”

Adele was by far the most adventurous. She admitted that she let a boy feel her up and once gave him a hand job.  He wanted to go all the way, but she told him maybe on the next date. They didn’t do it on the next date, but she sucked him off. On the third date, she told Mabel what happened.

“You know, Mabel, I wasn’t a bit nervous. After what you told us, I was even looking forward to it. I wanted to get that orgasm feeling. That didn’t happen, but it didn’t hurt. He touched me down there and put his fingers inside me. When he pulled down his pants, I was amazed at how his penis had changed from being small and rubbery to stiff and hard. It felt pretty good when he pushed it inside. After a few minutes of him moving up and down on me, something happened that you didn’t tell us about. He squirted this warm milky stuff all over my tummy. I guess that’s what makes babies.”

“Yes, it makes babies, and you don’t want that inside you. The next time make him wear a rubber.”

“What’s that?”

“He puts it on his penis to keep his baby juices from getting you pregnant.”

Blanche and Steven made it a trifecta the next week. Blanche was no longer a virgin and told a story similar to Adele’s.

One afternoon, Adele wanted to hear more about having sex. She asked Mabel to tell her about the most exciting evening she had ever had. Mabel told her about Herbert, a tall handsome man, a dashing figure of a man about thirty-five. He took Mabel to dinner, then to a show. After that, they went to a swanky hotel with room service.

“I drank Champagne for the first time, then Herbert turned on the radio with romantic music. While we danced, he whispered in my ear that I was beautiful and sexy and wanted me to do a striptease. I slowly took off my clothes to the music, dancing as erotically as I knew how. It must have worked because when he took off his clothes, he was so hard his dick wagged like a dog’s tail. He wasn’t in a hurry like most men I meet. We drank more Champagne before falling into bed.

“He laid down next to me kissing every part of my body. You might think this is strange, but he put his head between my legs and kissed and licked my pussy. At least that’s what he called my private place. Goodness, Adele, that was an incredible feeling.”

“That’s all? Didn’t he put himself inside you?” Adele asked.

“Not at first. He said we should play a little. I think it’s called foreplay. Herbert asked me to kiss his penis, only he called it his cock. I did it. He wanted me to suck it. I did that too. None of that was really new. I had done it twice before. I licked a small drop of something salty when I sucked him, but he wasn’t finished. Then Herbert gently put my head down so his cock was in my mouth and going in my throat. I hadn’t done that before and gagged a couple of times. After doing that for a while, he opened my legs and pushed inside me. That lasted a long time, and I had those orgasms I told you and Blanche about. It felt so good I never wanted him to stop.

 “The next morning, we did it again in different positions before we had breakfast in bed. He paid me $30.00 but I would have done if for free.”

“Wow, that sounds so exciting. Do you think I could get a hostess job at the night club?”

“I’m sure you can but first you have to interview with Al and the man who runs the dating service.”

Harriet agreed to let Adele interview saying Mabel was helping to pay the bills but needed money to buy a car so Daryl could get a job. Adele could help with that.

Adele looked younger than her age with large breasts and an engaging smile that she wore even while being nailed by a man forty years older than her. She was filled with enthusiasm going to her job at Al’s night club. Her first date was with Benton. He was a farm boy on holiday and looked young like her. Unlike Mabel, Adele knew what was expected. She didn’t enjoy drinking martinis but found his boyish looks charming. He took her around the corner in an alley, pulled up her skirt, and fucked her against a brick wall. Three days later, she was in a hotel with Martin who fucked her until he shot his wad down her throat. It tasted better than the martinis. Martin asked her to marry him. She thought it was a joke. It wasn’t. He had the ring to prove it.

Martin told her, “I bought the ring for my girlfriend, but she married my best friend. I haven’t gotten laid since then. You made me feel good again and are the best thing that has happened to me since my girlfriend left.”

Adele didn’t take the ring but took the $20.00, $19.00 for mom and kept $1.00 for herself.

Over the next few months, the family had two working girls who earned enough money for food, new clothes, and pay the rent.

Blanche was the youngest and wasn’t sure she wanted to be a hostess after graduating from high school. Sure, there were expectations in the family, but she was in love with Steven and wanted to marry him. However, first loves have a way of becoming lost loves. After Steven left her for a floozy named Sally, Blanche heard from her girlfriend, Betty, of modeling opportunities at a photography club. The friend said they paid well. What she didn’t say was they paid well for modeling nude.

Blanche was the tallest and most beautiful of the three girls. She had blond hair, pointy tits, long legs, and curvy hips. Her legs became Blanche’s second greatest asset when she opened them to invite a man into her best asset. The photography club was delighted to have her. She felt awkward taking off her clothes in front of strange men but after several photo sessions, she got accustomed to the strong lights and their demands to continually turn her body for different poses.

Blanche was making money but not as much as her sisters. When an elderly man asked her to pose for a pin-up calendar at his private studio, she said no.  But when he promised her a lot more money than at the club, she accepted.

The private studio was in a large apartment in the middle of the city. One room was like a movie set with two chairs, a couch, and the usual photographic equipment. The first two or three shots were of her fully dressed with her dress hiked up above the knees and blouse showing more than enough cleavage. Then came the nude pin-up pictures.

This photo session turned out to be a lot more than she expected. He asked for her to pose with her legs apart, then with her legs spread, pinching her nipples. Blanche thought he was going to fuck her; maybe not, she reasoned. He was too old.

About then, a man much younger walked into the room completely naked with an incredible erection. He was shorter than her boyfriend, Steven, but more muscular. His cock was twice Steven’s.

She let out a screech, covering her pussy and one tit. “Why is he here?” Blanche whined.

The photographer said, “Felix is a model I hired to be with you. I can pay more for photos of you together.” The man called Felix put his arms around Blanche, giving her a kiss. It helped relax her as she realized what this meant.

“How much more?”

At least he didn’t beat around the bush. He came straight out and said, “Five for a blowjob and twenty-five for a fuck.”

Felix had his hands on her breasts kissing her neck. She pretended to be indecisive but knew she would do it thinking, Why not me? My sisters fuck strange men.

Anyway, the attention Felix gave her felt good, not exactly romantic, but warm and snuggly. The idea of fucking him became a desire that was new, especially between her legs.

They moved to the couch. Blanche was on her knees with her head between Felix’s thighs sucking his hard dick. A few pictures later she was lying on her back with Felix only partway inside her cunt, posing for the penetration shot.

The photographer changed film while Felix banged into her preparing for the last photos showing him cumming on her boobs. This was the moment Blanche realized what Mabel meant by going to heaven. She had her first orgasm. The feeling was sensational. She couldn’t stop shaking from the pleasure she felt.

That ended the photo session for the day, but she did another with Walt the next week. The money was better than from having a fuck date without pictures. There were no more photos for almost a month but now she was the photographer’s full-time employee, screwing men that had been invited to the apartment. The photographer had become her pimp. Blanche was now earning money for the family just like her sisters.

Blanche had several memorable afternoons. The circus was in town, and she was in bed with the clown who gagged her with his fake red nose. He painted her face in red, blue and black putting clothes pins on her nipples and a penis-shaped balloon that he squeezed in her pussy. Then he fucked her in the ass.

That might have been the strangest date, but Blanche soon learned that the unusual was profitable. She also found that there was good money in doing anal. Blanche had her first threesome with two men for a photo shoot. They finished in her two holes after a long demanding session. It wasn’t as pleasurable as she expected but profitable.

Blanche never became a hostess, just a whore in demand. She soon discovered that her friend Betty was also working at the apartment. There was a third girl, Margret, who posed for lesbian photographs. Blanche was surprised when she found out that Margret had female clients as well as men.

There were other surprises, like men with perverse sexual desires and bondage that was almost always photographed. Blanche had become a full-service whore.

Over the years, a blow job and a fuck paid more, and the girls kept doing what they were doing right up to the war. The only time they performed together was at a New Year’s Eve sex party at the photographer’s apartment. There was a half dozen men using their services, plenty of Champagne and a lot of money to be made. That was the night they drank nearly as much cum as Champagne.

The Great Depression had ended but there were fewer johns available as men were shipped overseas to face the Germans and seek English and French whores. Grandpa Daryl took a job as a shipping clerk sending supplies to Europe. The girls worked in factories as Rosie the Riveters during the war effort. Prostitution was a side job moonlighting at night. Soldiers got free ones whenever they were on leave. That included Taylor, Steven’s younger brother, who was eighteen and had just enlisted. He took advantage of their patriotism before he left for Europe.

When the war ended, they had saved enough to buy a small house in the suburbs along with a used car. When asked what they did for a living, the family said they were entertainers.

Generations later, many in the family did not believe the sordid story of the three daughters that had been handed down by word of mouth. They said that Aunt Blanche, Aunt Adele, and Aunt Mabel worked as waitresses during the depression. It was a version from Daryl’s diary that most people believed but they liked the seamy story better that may have been embellished over the years.

Grandpa Daryl told a different story:

During prohibition, I worked as a warehouse manager that stored and distributed illegal gin and whisky. They paid me well and I invested in the stock market like everyone else. During the Crash of 1929 most people sold their shares, but I held on. Almost all my savings were lost but I saw no reason to sell and get pennies on the dollar. They were only paper losses anyway. I kept good quality stocks in oil and steel.

During the war and soon after, things got better. Some turned a profit.  With the war over and GI’s returning home, I invested in cement and construction because housing and highways were being built all over the country. Those investments paid off. We could finally afford a beautiful home, new furniture, and a nice car.

                *****

We might never know the truth about his girls.