Array Seka - Inside Seka

“Oh, man, don’t do that in the middle of the store. Buy the magazine or take it in the booth. You know I have to touch that stuff….”

Some would drop the magazine, turn beet red, lose their hard-on, and put it back in their pants — the hard-on, not the magazine. Some would go in the back and some would leave. The ones who would leave you wouldn’t see for a week or so and then they’d come in, buy their quarters, and go straight to the back. I thought, “I turned that guy into a paying customer.”

I tried to find an amusing take on everything that happened in the store. Women masturbate, but by and large they do it at home. I adore men, I really do, but they are such strange beasts.

Ken paid me in rolls of quarters and I paid for a car in cash with all that change. I told the salesman to bring a wheelbarrow to the trunk of what I was driving because it was filled with silver. He looked at me and said, “You must be in the dirty book business.”

“As a matter of fact, I am.”

All in all, this was a happy period in my life. Ken told me he was going to take me on some of his buying trips. We’d start in Baltimore, where I’d never been before. I’d hardly ever been out of the state of Virginia, so it sounded like Paris to me. I was excited about the travel, but also because I was getting established at a job. Maybe it didn’t sound like much of a career to most people, but to me, it felt like I was going places. At least I wasn’t the guy with the cummy mop.

Ken looked like Elvis Presley. Especially his hair. And he had the attitude that he was a real cool cat to go with it. With stores in Newport News, Norfolk, Petersburg, and pretty much wherever there were Army bases or naval bases, I thought he was rich. Although he spent his money pretty well, anybody who made more than $10,000 a year seemed rich to me.

As time went on, I became very attracted to him. Maybe it was because he was my boss, an authority figure, combined with all the other things he seemed to have going for him. I was so excited to go with him to Baltimore. I had never seen a distributorship for adult material before. It was a gigantic warehouse — just enormous. They had 8mm movies, magazines, bondage material, all kinds of rubber goods; anything that you could possibly think of in the adult line. I was overwhelmed there was actually that much stuff available. That’s when it hit me just how big this industry was.

We ordered what we needed and I thought to myself, “Maybe I should be hooking up with this guy, because there’s a lot of money in this.” I wasn’t a goldigger, but the idea of being with a man who could actually take me out to a nice dinner once in a while seemed like a fairy tale to me.

Ken was very nice to me. He treated me well and spoke to me as an equal. Back in those days, women weren’t always treated with dignity. Ken spoke to me in a more respectful manner than most men had in the past, especially employers. He was also a lot more sophisticated than Frank. He didn’t work for some big company. He had his own businesses and did as he pleased.

He had a home in Baltimore, but reserved a hotel room for us. I was so excited by everything I didn’t really think about the sleeping arrangements. He said we weren’t going to be in town long, so why get two rooms? God, I was so naïve.

It was great being in a hotel — it was my very first time! Ken told me to get dressed, as we’d be going out to dinner after he ran a few errands. I was thrilled to death. It was like being a kid in a candy store.

We went out for a nice dinner and he didn’t really drink. Ken was pretty straight-laced as far as drinking or doing drugs. He drove a red and white Cadillac with white leather interior, which also impressed me. You had to be rich to have a Cadillac, I thought. He always had Elvis’s music playing as we drove.

I thought he dressed really sharp with the big collars on the shirts, and white belt and white Bailey shoes. Ken also always wore a Pulsar watch. It was digital, which I’d never seen before. And there was a lot of polyester. A whole lot of polyester. You have to understand, though — polyester was the poor man’s silk and satin. Roughnecks didn’t wear it, only “rich” guys like Ken. As tacky as it all seems today, in that place and time, this guy seemed like a movie star.

We went to dinner and had a good time. He loved live music, which was really cool to me. There was a lounge next door where we went dancing for a while before heading back to the hotel.

As we approached the hotel, it was kind of weird because I was working with him and it suddenly hit me that we were sharing the room and what his intentions were. It was okay, though, because I was into him. I appreciated how he had treated me up to this point. He didn’t make it seem like I owed him a lay or anything like that. He wasn’t all hands and there were no threats of losing my job if I didn’t put out. I figured what the heck; I hadn’t slept with anyone since Frank. I didn’t see any downside to it. I figured, “I’m sleeping with the boss. Now I’ll be treated even better.”

The sex was good, but I don’t remember having romantic thoughts like, “Where is this going to lead?” I wasn’t in love with the guy, but I liked him well enough and he turned me on. I figured I was free, single, and on my own. I didn’t have to feel bad about it.

We got up the next morning and I didn’t feel any different. I had a good time and was treated like a lady. My impression was we would probably do it again and it might lead to something or it might not. But I wasn’t really looking for a committed relationship with anyone. It was just nice knowing I could do what I wanted.

We got back to the store, I worked my shift, and when it was over I went home. When I went into work the next day, he asked me what I thought about Baltimore and the warehouse and I said, “Look, I had a really nice time. It was an interesting scene.”

“Maybe when I go back, you can go with me,” he said, simply enough.

“That would be nice.”

“Meanwhile, I want to teach you a few things about the store so if I go somewhere, you can run things.”

He showed me how to price the merchandise, where the new items went, and how to rotate the old and new stuff around the store. He was very good at placing things in the right area to get the best sales. Another responsibility was taking the money out of the machines, because each one had its own individual lock. You’d know which movie was doing the best and those would stay up longer.

I was left in charge and it felt wonderful. Somebody finally thought I was capable enough to handle something on my own. And I did a good job.