DOCTOR WILLESDEN'S HAREM

EXCERPT #1

After the third customer of the evening stepped away, the woman threw down her skirts. In the winter of 1885, Mary Hearn was poor, unskilled, and making a living the only way she knew how.

     "Here, John, that'll be tuppence," Mary said, fidgeting while glancing up and down the alleyway.

     "Two pence?" the bloke repeated, fastening the front of his pants. "Why in the world do you think I come to this part of London? Whitechapel's the only place I can get it for a penny."

     She jammed an index finger up and down in the palm of her other hand. "Tuppence, and hand it over, you blackguard."

     He grabbed his pant legs and leaned forward. "Blimey you say. You may have got tuppence once … like ten years ago, maybe. You're lucky I don't make you settle for a stale loaf of bread." He reached into his pocket and removed a single coin. "Here's a penny. Take it or leave it."

     "You bastard." Mary kicked at him lightly. "You promised tuppence."

     After dodging her poorly aimed blow, the customer laughed. "I promised no such thing. Here, now, let's call a policeman and get to the bottom of this." He waved a hand down the alley. Mary turned around expecting a London Bobby, but received a good swat on the buttocks instead. "Just like I got to the bottom of that."

     Mary turned back in time to see the customer pitch the coin at her. It bounced off her forehead and rolled down the alley.

     "Get the rest from some other John what ain't got the sense to unbutton his own breeches. So long, toll-hole." With that, he sprinted in the opposite direction.

     After chasing down her third penny of the evening, Mary trudged down the alley toward Fieldgate Street in search of her fourth.

     Dr. Willesden's coach turned off Whitechapel Road. Looking out the window as it rolled down Fieldgate Street, he watched Mary Hearn dart out of an alley adjusting her skirts. As soon as the carriage drew nearer, Mary raised them above her knees to flash her still shapely thirty-two-year-old legs. Dr. Willesden leaned out the window and looked to the front of the carriage. "Driver, stop." Expressionless, he stared at Mary and tipped his tall hat. "Good evening, madam."

     "Good evening, sir," she replied, lowering her skirts and pulling herself up to the coach window. "You looking for a good time?"

     Dr. Willesden turned his head slightly away from Mary, but kept his focus on her. "I am off duty, and I am pursuing my favorite hobby."

     Mary laughed. "Well, I'm on duty and also pursuing my favorite hobby."

     "How much?"

     "Thruppence."

     He jerked his head back. "How much?"

     "Believe me, sir, I am worth all three pennies." Mary smiled and nodded.

     Dr. Willesden narrowed his eyes and snorted. "Appalling."

     Mary smiled wider and held up two fingers. "Two then?"

     The doctor unlocked the carriage door and pushed it open with his cane. "Get in."

     Mary climbed in, and as soon as she sat opposite the doctor, she pulled up her skirts and revealed a naked pelvis. "What do you think, John? Nice?"

     Dr. Willesden smelled the prostitute's rancid body odor. "You must understand, madam, that I am a doctor by profession. My duties are to examine the private parts of women, and I can tell you I have never seen anything more putrefactive than what lies beneath your skirts. Please cover yourself."

     Mary giggled and threw down her skirts. "You think it's worth tuppence?"

     "If it is filthy, it is worth nothing. However, it can be worth a sovereign."

     Mary's smile exploded beneath her wide-open eyes. "A whole pound? Gorblimey. Imagine getting a whole pound in one lay?"

     Dr. Willesden nodded. "Yes, just imagine making a decent wage."

     "You'd pay a pound for it?"

     "No."

     "Ten shillings?"

     "No."

     Mary sucked in her lips. "Sounds like you really ain't interested at any price." She reached for the coach door as Dr. Willesden slapped his cane down on the open window stopping her.

     "How many men have you served so far this evening?"

     "You would be the first," Mary said, making her smile appear as innocent as possible.

     "Liar. I saw you coming out of the alley shaking your skirts."

     Mary removed her hand from the window and sat back. "All right, I've had one other."

     Dr. Willesden jabbed his cane on the floor and rested his hands on top of it. "How much do you earn in a week?"

     "What's it to you?"

     Dr. Willesden raised his eyebrows. "Would you like to earn a whole sovereign?"

     "Ahhhhowwwww," she blurted, throwing one hand to her chest. "Some nights I get up to four men. Sometimes I get two pennies, but mostly I get only one. There was a time when I could get three, but my best looks have done up and left me." She adjusted her hair that was beginning to burst out of its bun. "I'd say that I make two shillings in a good week, one and six pence in the bad times."

     "You appear to be about thirty-five."

     She tilted her head and raised her eyebrows. "I beg your pardon," she said. "I'll have you know I'm hardly a day over thirty-two."

     Dr. Willesden reached into his inside jacket pocket, removed a shilling, a florin, a business card, and thrust them toward Mary. "Here are three shillings along with my card. I want my women clean and examined to prove that they are. Do not service any men for a week. Keep yourself as clean as you can. Then come and see me at that address. What is your name?"

     Mary couldn't take her eyes off the two coins. She only saw a two-shilling florin one other time in her life. After pulling her eyebrows down from her hairline, she stared at him with a big grin. "Mary. Mary Hearn, sir. Sure, gov'nor, anything you say. It will be a pleasure not to have to put out for a whole week."

     Dr. Willesden poked the door open with his cane, and Mary hopped out. Before ambling off toward her dingy flat, she turned with a bubbling face. "And you don't worry none, 'cause next week I'm going to give you the lay of your life. You won't regret it, nor forget it, sir."

EXCERPT #2

After Mary's final examination, Doctor Willesden set his instruments aside and sat on the examination table next to her.

     "By abstaining for two weeks, you at last have a very healthy-looking vagina. Do you feel any better?"

     She leaned from side to side inching her bottom farther back on the table. "I feel cleaner, and there ain't any more soreness nor itching."

     "Overuse will cause that." He eased a hand on her shoulder. "Yes, Mary Hearn, I think I am ready now."

     "All right, doctor," she said as she lay back on the examination table and pulled her skirts up to her bosom. "You want it like this, or do you prefer I take off all my clothes?"

     The doctor stood up. "I prefer that we do the next phase in another room."

     Mary climbed off the examination table and stood up allowing her skirts to cover up his reward. "And you won't have to pay me any more money. You've paid quite enough. In fact, I was going to ask if I could be your regular. It would improve my life a great deal."

     He gently bounced a finger off her nose "I like that idea, Mary. Why not be a regular? Let's discuss it before getting down to the payoff."

     She giggled. "This is one payoff I won't mind."

     Dr. Willesden strode to a counter across the small room, picked up a scalpel, and walked back to her.

     Mary's eyes grew bigger with each step the doctor took.

     "Oh, yes, Mary, there is going to be quite a payoff. Believe me when I tell you that it will be far more than you ever imagined." He glanced at the scalpel and then back to her. A grin broke across his face. Mary's eyebrows flew to meet her hairline. He set the scalpel among the other instruments, folded the towel over, and marched to the door. "Come with me, Mary."