EXTRACT FOR
Highway Of Life
(Author Unknown)

Chapter One

    

    Turk's story:

    

    "I do not understand you men!" my longtime friend, Tina Heppner said loudly. Tina and I went to high school together all those many years ago. Since matriculating from that institution, we separated for a while. Me to college and marriage and Tina...well, that's still being discussed. I know she was in the Army for a while and, according to her many wild stories, traveled around the world some.

    We both ended up here at the Hightower manufacturing plant. I came here to find gainful employment after the crash of my fledgling business and subsequent divorce. Other than coming together about the same time one had nothing to do with the other. The divorce was in the works long before my fledgling company went belly-up. My name is Jerry Tarkington and ever since I played on the high school football team, I've been called Turk. I seem to recall my nickname started out as "Tark", but that quickly changed to Turk and it stuck.

    Tina and I didn't date while attending high school. Actually, we were neighbors and were just friends. She ran with a completely different crowd than me. I associated with the jocks and she with the punks, outlaws, and just plain weirdoes.

    Our reunion came as a surprise to both of us one day in the break room. I almost didn't recognize her. Over the ten years since out graduation, she had changed. A lot. Tina had always been pretty in a strange way. In school, she went through a Goth period, a grunge period, and various other off-the-wall periods.  Since then she changed into a very beautiful woman.

    "Well smack me on my ass, and call me Toots," she said that first day after taking one look at me. "If it ain't ol' Turk himself. How they hanging, Turk?" 

    "Hanging might low, Toots," I responded. That was another thing about Tina. She said whatever came to her mind regardless of who may be listening. "I gather you work here?"

    "I do, and apparently so do you. How long have you been here in this sweatshop?"

    "A few weeks," I answered. I invited her to take a seat at my table. It was our lunch break.  I was eating out of the vending machines. Something with the texture and flavor of cardboard. Tina opened a large paper bag and removed a series of plastic bowls, which she put in the microwave.

    "Throw that shit in the trash and have some of this," she said indicating my sandwich. "That crap will kill you, Turk."

    I helped myself to part of her scrumptious lunch and after that day we dined together nearly every day.  That was several months earlier.

    "I'm sorry you don't understand us, Tina," I said helping her unpack our lunch. "Was that a general statement or is there something specific?"

    "What is with this squirting your goop on our face?" she demanded. "Don't you assholes know that shit burns the eyes? There is a place for your cum and it's not in my eyes. And another thing," she ranted while heating our lunch. I didn't bother looking to see who all may be within range of her voice. I was almost used to it by then. "What's this shit about butt-fucking? Don't you guys realize there is some good pussy just an inch away?"

    "You tell him, sister!" a large black woman across the room said. "Tell that sucker we don't like tit-fucking either."

    "That's right," Tina said. "What do you guys think we get out of that? I'm just happy that our ears are too small to fuck. Men! You don't have a clue, do you, Turk?"

    I was pretending she wasn't talking that loudly to me so I didn't answer. Some of the more prudish employees gathered up their food and beat a hasty retreat, but most were used to Tina's loud and usually profane outbursts. I wasn't and didn't think I never would be. I just put up with them because I liked Tina.

    Tina is on the short side. Five-two or three. She always had larger than life boobs, but for most of her high school disguise phases she kept them well hidden with bulky shirts or sweaters. Now she flaunted them. Usually wearing low cut blouses or shirts unbuttoned as reveling as her line supervisor allowed. Apparently her foreman liked boobs so she got by with very revealing attire. 

    "I'm going out on a limb here and guess you had a not too successful date last night," I said.

    "Oh, it was successful," she said spreading the food out on the table. "I got what I wanted and he got most of what he wanted. Luckily for both of us he came up with that cum on my face shit after we had got it on a couple of times. How's your love life, Turk?"

    Since we became reacquainted, Tina and I went right back in to the "just friends" category. We occasionally went out to eat or to a movie, but strictly as friends. I'm not sure why our relationship was just platonic. She certainly was desirable. I guess I was at a point in my life that I would rather have one good friend than a hundred lovers.

    "Tina," I said almost in a whisper. "I'm not about to discuss my love-life where there are twenty people straining to hear what you may say next. Lower your voice, please."

    "Okay," she whispered, leaning close. "You don't have a love-life anyway. You need to get laid, Turk. How long has it been, anyway?" I ignored her question. It was something that bothered me a bit. I hadn't been with a woman since my wife decided she didn't want to be married any longer. At least not married to me. "Oh, by the way. I need to borrow your car tonight."

    "No way, Tina!" I said forcefully. Tina had wrecked at least three vehicles since our reunion. Some of her co-workers called her "Crash" Heppner.

    "Please, Turk," she pleaded. "My car is in the shop and I really need transportation tonight."

    "Call a cab, take the subway, hitchhike, anything, but you're not getting my car. No way, no how."

    "Please, Turk," she said. "I can't afford a cab and where I need to go isn't near a subway." I silently shook my head. "Okay, if that's how you're going to be, you'll just have to drive me."

    "No, I don't," I said as forcefully as I could. I would do it and we both knew I couldn't holdout against her. She always got her way. 

    "I'll walk down to your apartment and we can go from there," she said as if I hadn't replied. Tina lived in an apartment building a block down the street from me. "I'll be there about seven."

    "I can't Tina," I protested feebly. "It's Monday and I always watch Monday night football."

    "Not tonight, chum," she said with a grin. "Tonight you'll take me to Mason's studio."

    "What the hell is at Mason's studio?"

    "I'm doing some modeling and I'm on for tonight. Don't give me any shit, Turk. I need the money to get my car out of the shop. My appointment is for eight so be ready to move your ass at seven o'clock sharp. I got to get back to work. I'm not like you management pukes. I'm on the clock. See you at seven."

    She left on the same whirlwind that she arrived on.  Tina's revelation that she was modeling was news to me. Not that she wasn't pretty enough to be a model, but she was kind of short.

    Tina was wrong about me being in management. I was the company's IT specialist. Their computer geek who kept their computers up and running. That was what my failed business had been. I was lucky to land the job, even if it didn't pay all that well. Tina was right in that I was salary and not hourly. That had some benefits, but it also had some drawbacks. They felt free to call me all during the night, weekends, and holidays. That was when the computers malfunctioned most of the time. 

    

***

    

    "I didn't know you were doing modeling," I said. Tina was beside me giving me unnecessary progressive driving instructions.

    "Just started a few weeks ago," she said. "Turn right up at the next light. I accidentally discovered that they would pay big bucks to see my tits. Next left, Turk. Slow down, damn it! You drive like there was no one out here except you. Pisses me off that I let guys take my picture all those years for free. Red light! Red Light!"

    "I see the damned light, Tina," I said, coming to a stop. "So you're doing nudes, huh? It's funny, but I've never seem your boobs."

    "Yeah, well, you're a bit slow, Turk. I'm not doing full nudes, just topless so far. The fucking light is green. You could have seen them anytime you wanted to. All you had to do was ask. It's in the next block on the right so slow this thing down. Parking in front. You want to come in or wait in the car?"

    "In this neighborhood, I don't want to be even close to my car while they strip it. I'll come in and wait while my car is stolen or whatever they'll do to it. They don't mind if I come in and watch?"

    "Hell no, he don't care. I'll only be here for an hour or less. Mason is pretty quick. Snap, snap, snap and we're out of here and I'm five hundred dollars richer. Stop worrying about this ten-year-old piece of shit car. Nobody would even think of stealing it."

    "It's a classic," I said, parking the car at the curb. "Are you all right with me being in there?"

    "I could care less," she said laughing and jumping out of the car. "You'll get to see what you've been missing all this time. Come on, slowpoke. Get a move on."

    Mason, the photographer, was a large evil looking black man. Okay, maybe not evil looking, but tough looking. He was at least half a foot taller than my own six feet and almost twice as wide. He was bald with a goatee and his face was scared. He looked nothing like a photographer is supposed to look. Yeah, I don't know either.

    "You're late, sunshine," he said to Tina by way of greeting. He ignored me except to tell me to stay the fuck out of his way. He pointed me to a stool at the edge of the lighted set. "Get your ass changed, Sweetie, and get back out here and let's get busy." 

    "I'm not late, Mase," Tina said. "I'm early by a full five minutes. What do you want me to wear to start?"

    "I have some stuff picked out for you. There a black bikini in the dressing room that should fit you. Put it on and get your skanky ass back out here. Time is money, dammit."

    Tina disappeared into a room and emerged a few minutes later wearing a tiny black bikini that barely covered her. She posed and Mason took a few shots of her, rearranged the lighting and snapped some more. The camera looked like a toy in his big hands. I could see it was a top-of-the-line digital camera. One I would give a slice out of my ass for.

    "Okay, slip the top down and barely show some nip," Mason directed Tina. She did and he snapped some more. "More nip, Sunshine," he said. "That's it," snap, snap. "Now show me all of one tit, babe."

    I'll have to admit that I had no idea Tina had such wonderful breasts. She processed a pair of perfect globes as perfectly round as two identical grapefruit. Mason shot her topless in the black outfit then sent her to change into another outfit. That one was a fire engine red panty and bra set.

    After a few shots of her more or less dressed he got her topless and shot a lot more. Then there was a hot pink set and then a white set. The outfits were hot, but my friend Tina was even hotter.

    "Okay Sunshine, lose the panties," Mason said.

    "Uh huh," Tina said grinning at the photographer. "Not until you raise the ante, Mase. Five hundred for topless. How much for full nudes?" 

    "I might be able to go up to six..." Tina was shaking her head. "Okay, dammit, seven-fifty, but that's as high as I go."

    "High enough for now," Tina said slipping the panties down and tossing them in my direction. 

    Most women, in my limited experience, look better with at least something on. Not so with Tina. She was smoking hot bare-assed naked. I had to note that she had no pubic hair. Not a single hair. While Tina turned, twisted, and posed for the camera, Mason snapped like crazy.  He had her laying back on a lounge with one foot resting on the end and the other foot on the floor.

    "Okay, babe, open that gash up and let me see some pink," Mason ordered. "Use your fingers to spread your pussy lips." Tina smiled and shook her head.

    "Wide open spreads will cost you extra, Mase," she said. "An even grand, pal."

    "Fuck that," Mason snapped. "You already got me up over what you should be making. Eight hundred, but that's it. Now open that pussy and smile."

    Tina smiled and winked at me. She slowly let her hand fall to her crotch and ever so slowly opened the petals of her flower.  I read that somewhere in a book. I thought it sounded better that saying she opened her pussy, but I guess not.

    Apparently Mason wanted his full eight hundred dollars worth so it was closer to an hour and a half before we left the studio.