"Are you Dexter?"
"Yes."
"I'm Amber."
Dexter looked the young woman over. She was attractive in a 'the girl next door' manner. Brown hair that came to her shoulders, brown eyes, and a pleasant build.
He stepped back and said, "Come in."
Amber entered the apartment and looked around.
Not impressed with what she saw, she said, "The agency said you want me for a week."
"That's right," Dexter said.
"That'll be fourteen thousand," Amber said.
"Here's the debit card. Call it in," Dexter said holding out his debit card.
"You're sure?" she asked skeptically.
"Yes," Dexter answered.
"I'll charge five grand on it, but I'd rather have cash for the rest," she said. Seeing the look on his face, she said, "The five grand is the agency's commission. I'd rather not pay taxes on the tip."
"Ah. You'll have to take me to the bank," Dexter said.
"You don't have a car?" she asked.
Dexter said, "I left it in ... well I left at an airport. I have to go back for it when I'm feeling better."
"Why don't you rent one?" she asked.
"Why should I rent one when you have one?" Dexter asked.
Somewhat embarrassed by her old car, she answered, "My car is small."
"So?"
"Just figured ... you'd want something better," she said.
Dexter said, "Small is fine."
"Let me call in the card to the agency," Amber said.
"Go ahead," Dexter said.
Amber made the call. She talked for a few minutes and then hung up. She turned to Dexter and asked, "Are you ready to go to the bank?"
"Sure," Dexter said.
Dexter and Amber left the apartment. She had a little Kia Forte that was filled with junk. It took her a minute to clear some space for Dexter to sit. Based on how much stuff was in her car he wondered if she lived out of it.
The trip to the bank didn't take long. She drove and he rode shotgun. The service at the bank was excellent, and actually impressed Amber, who was unaware that it was the normal level of service at the bank. She had assumed he rated some sort of VIP service. She left with nine thousand dollars in her pocket, and he left with a thousand.
They returned to the apartment. Amber walked around the place, and noticed that he had only one bed. She hadn't expected otherwise.
Looking over at him, she asked, "Now what?"
"I've got a shopping list. If you could run to the store, it would be great," Dexter said.
"Clothes?"
"Food."
"Food?" she asked with a raised eyebrow.
"You know ... that stuff we eat," Dexter said.
"All right," she said."I was just thinking it was kind of kinky."
"Nothing kinky for me," Dexter said with a shrug of his shoulders.
She looked down at the shopping list he handed her.
She said, "I like yogurt for breakfast."
"Get some," Dexter said.
"This is all frozen dinners," she said.
"Would you rather cook?" he asked.
She said, "I can if you want."
"That would be fine," Dexter said. "Buy whatever you need."
"Okay," she said. After spending five minutes in the kitchen, she came out. "You've got nothing in your kitchen."
"I don't cook," Dexter said. "I nuke."
"I don't nuke. I cook," she said.
"Feel free," Dexter said.
When Amber left to do the shopping, Dexter took a seat in his easy chair, wanting to rest a little. He didn't seem to have much stamina, and he didn't feel like he was making any gains in that area. He hoped by having Amber around, he could concentrate on recovering from his surgery.
When Amber returned, she carried a bag of groceries into the kitchen.
Coming out, she asked, "Are you going to help me?"
"I'm not supposed to life anything heavy," Dexter said.
"Why not?" Amber asked.
Dexter said, "I had heart surgery last week."
"You're kidding," she said.
"No," Dexter said.
"Can you get it up?" Amber asked starting at him.
"I don't know," Dexter said.
Amber asked, "Why did you hire me?"
"I need someone to take care of me," Dexter said.
"There are nurses for that," Amber said.
"They won't run errands, and they won't stay here full time," Dexter said.
Amber said, "I'm an escort."
Dexter asked, "Who else could I call to come live here for a week, run errands, and generally take care of me?"
"Normally taking care of a guy involves ... well ... having sex with him," Amber said.
"I need someone to remind me to take my pills. I need someone to drive me around," Dexter said.
"I charge extra for scat," Amber said.
"What?"
"You know, enemas and wiping a guys ass," Amber said.
Dexter was shocked. "I don't need that."
"Good. I don't really like that kind of action," Amber said.
"I don't blame you," Dexter said as he sat there looking at her.
"I'd better get the rest of the groceries."
Dexter went into the study to work on the website, while Amber took care of the groceries. He had been in there for an hour when a wonderful smell permeated the air.
He went into the kitchen and asked, "What smells so good?"
"Spaghetti sauce," Amber answered. "My mother's recipe."
"It smells good," Dexter said.
Amber said, "I made enough so that you can freeze the leftovers."
"Great," Dexter said.
She glanced at the clock. "It's time you took your pills."
"Thanks," Dexter said. "I get caught up in work, and forget."
"What do you do?"
"I have an internet site," Dexter answered.
Amber said, "I had one of you internet millionaires for a weekend. He hired me and Cindi. He mostly wanted to watch us have sex. He only got off a couple times. It was a strange weekend."
"I can imagine," Dexter said.
"You're kind of odd," Amber said.
"In what way?"
Amber said, "You buy into that whole whore as an angel of mercy crap."
"No I don't," Dexter said rather surprised by that charge.
"Why else would you hire a prostitute to take care of you?" Amber said.
Dexter asked, "I've only got one bed. I figure you won't have a problem sharing it with me. When I walk around naked, I know you won't freak out ... I'm pretty sure that you've seen it all, bigger and smaller. You won't make a big deal out of my cock hanging out. In the mean time, you'll get paid for doing stuff you'd be doing at home. I figure it's easy money for you."
"That makes sense, in a way," Amber said.
Dexter said, "I've had two bad days in row. I figure having you around might make it a little better, today."
"Well, I'm not going to argue with you on that," Amber said.
"I'm going to go back to work," Dexter said.
"Your pill," Amber said.
Dexter said, "Thanks."
He took his pill and then headed back to his study. He was working on an article that covered his experiences in the bank, as an example of how service should be performed. He stated that it was up to the customer to decide with whom he or she would do business. By having a large number of customers who insisted upon receiving a certain standard of service, businesses would have to adopt practices that attracted customers.
There was a knock on the apartment's front door. Amber answered it, and then stuck her head in the study.
"There's some guy named Eric, here."
"Let him in," Dexter said.
Eric came into the study. He was almost stumbling, while trying to check out Amber. He paused, looked at Dexter, and then looked back at Amber.
Finally, he said, "Who's she?"
"My caretaker," Dexter answered.
"Oh," Eric said.
Dexter said, "It turns out that it is 'Kill Dexter Month'. I don't want to leave the house without an escort."
Amber giggled at that. Dexter gave her one of those looks that suggested it hadn't been meant that way.
"'Kill Dexter Month?'" Eric asked.
Dexter shook his head in disgust.
"I got maced, stepping out of the apartment, yesterday."
"You got maced?" Eric asked.
"A crazy woman from upstairs decided that saying hello to her is the same as attempting to rape her," Dexter said.
"That's crazy," Eric said.
"I agree. I want someone around to call 911, the next time I'm attacked."
"Smart," Eric said.
Dexter said, "I've got to say that you did a great job with the website while I was indisposed."
"I liked the article you posted two days ago about the threats against your life," Eric said.
Dexter said, "I noticed that you added a comment that 'all threats, in the future, would be treated seriously.'"
"You bet," Eric said.
"I guess it needed to be said," Dexter said sadly. "It's strange, but he may have actually saved my life. I had no idea that my heart was in such bad shape. Did you know that if I hadn't had my ulcer treated, it could have killed me?"
"No," Eric said.
Dexter said, "You might want to swing by your doctor and have your health checked."
"That's a good idea. I don't remember when I last had a physical," Eric said.
"Why don't you make the call, today? In the mean time, our schedule has really gotten out of whack," Dexter said.
"You can say that again," Eric said.
"Today is Friday. I'll work until next Wednesday. Why don't you take some time off?" Dexter asked.
"Sounds great to me," Eric said.
"I'm putting together an article that I'm titling 'It Pays To Pay.' It is all about the benefits of paying for better service. I think it is time that we start to demand better service from our service industries," Dexter said.
"How's that help the workplace?" Eric asked.
Dexter said, "You don't get extraordinary service by overworking the staff. It means that management has to employ enough people to do the job well. It means that you take a little time to train your people on how to do their jobs. It means that the employees have to be treated well enough to want to go that little extra distance."
"That sounds reasonable," Eric said.
"From a customer's perspective, it means that you leave a tip that is commensurate with the quality of service. If they just dump the plate in front of you, you leave little or no tip. If they really are outstanding, you leave a twenty percent tip. As customers, we've gotten used to paying for shitty service. That's not right," Dexter said.
"I like it," Eric said.
Dexter said, "We've focused too much on middle management. I think everyone is getting hosed in the workplace. It is time we broaden the scope of the website."
"You're trying to change the world," Eric said.
"Not really," Dexter said. "I'm just tired of being treated like shit."
"It's not that bad."
"You think so until you actually get real service from someone. All of a sudden it is like a light goes on! You wonder why you haven't been getting treated that way every day."
Edited By TeNderLoin