Day 1. Snow fall.

Two months later

July at night was not the best time to be standing out on the street wearing a mini skirt, flashy bra and a sheer blouse to show off said flashy bra. Sure the knee high black boots with spiked heels were keeping her legs a bit warmer, but her toes were frozen solid. Although it wasn’t raining, Carrie could feel the moisture in the air.

She watched a car drive past without slowing and sighed.

If one of them would just stop she could get out of the cold for twenty minutes or so, maybe even be able to work up a bit of heat, but the men didn’t seem to be in the mood tonight either.

Something cold and wet hit her face and she looked up expecting to see raindrops against the street lamps light, but it was worse than that.

“Snow? Damn it, that’s it, I’m taking a break.”

Folding her arms across her body for warmth she turned and walked down the street and turned the corner heading for a tatty looking café. It had once been a bar, but now it sold bottomless cups of coffee along with burgers and chips. Most people gave it a wide berth because it looked dirty and the burgers were messy, and not in the least like those you could get from the big chain stores, but Carrie and other working girls loved the place. It was warm, the bathrooms were clean and Jeff the owner operator never hit on them. True he wouldn’t let them work out of the place, but he was happy for them to sit at his counter while they took a well-earned break.

Carrie pushed open the door and let it swing closed behind her.

“Holy frigging cow but it is colder than a hookers tit out there. All the sane people are at home huddled under their sodding heat pumps trying to remember what it was like to have an open fire. And none of the men are interested in even a quick blowjob before heading home to the wife, probably too cold for them to get it up anyway. My life sucks shit!”

She parked her scantily clad behind on a stool and pulled the blue wig off her head with one hand and combed the fingers of her other hand through her short dark hair as she shook her head, dropping the wig on the counter beside her.

“Geez Royal, don’t hold back, tell us how you really feel,” Jeff said as he picked up a mug and the cona coffee pot on his way down to the spot she had taken. He put the mug down in front of her and filled it without needing to ask for her order.

Carrie reached for the small chipped bowl that held the sugar sachets and pulled three out, paused then grabbed a forth. Ripping each one open she poured them all into her cup and before taking the teaspoon Jeff placed beside the cup and stirred.

“Think you have enough sugar there?”

“I need the energy, stomachs been too queasy to eat today, and it is cold out there. Did I tell you how cold it was?” Tapping the spoon on the edge of her mug twice, she put it down and picked up the mug with both hands to get the maximum warmth from it as she sipped the hot sweet black brew.

“I think I got the gist of it,” he said.

“If your life’s so bad, why don’t you do something about it, get another job maybe?” he asked.

“Yeah cos it’s just that easy, come on, who’s going to give an ex hooker a job?” she continued to hold her mug up just under her nose breathing in the sweet warmth.

“If you can operate that thing, I’ll give you a job,” He jerked his head toward the large complicated looking barrister machine along near the end of the counter. It had been delivered a couple of months ago, but he had never fired it up, the thing scared him quite frankly.

“Wouldn’t know where to start,” she told him without giving it more than a glance.

Jeff walked down to it reached under the counter and came back to her slapping a large booklet on the counter, the words operating manual on the cover.

“You can read can’t you?”

“Sure, I was heading to graduate with honours before my life up and turned to shit on me and I ended up out on the street.” She pulled the booklet over and turned to the first page. She didn’t really believe there was a job at the end of it for her, but reading it gave her a reason to stay sat where she was. She could almost feel her toes again and was in no hurry to go back outside.

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