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Their cottage was located across the street from a woman’s dress shop - the only one in town. The day her mother and she moved into their cottage, Andi saw a help wanted sign in the shop’s front display window. She thought that this would be a way she could help her mother. She had already promised to be responsible for cleaning their cottage. But, this would be her job, her own job. When her mother went to the grocery store, Andi got up the courage to go in and apply.

  When she did, Andi met a very important person.

  At that moment, Judith Robinson, the shop owner, was a 45-year-old childless widow. She was quirky, always intriguing, and a very beautiful woman; five-feet-eight inches tall, who once possessed a perfect model-thin body and a gorgeous face with big wide-spread blue eyes, a winning smile, and the longest, richest head of dark brown hair. Now, she was still thin, but some of those beautiful curves and straight lines had changed their shapes. Still, she easily looked ten years younger. With her sweet, proper voice she had the cutest hint of a British accent from her childhood in England and Australia.

  Judith’s twenty-three years after college had been an eclectic mix of jobs. She had been a fashion and lingerie model in New York, and a purchasing agent at a fashion modeling agency. She loved modeling and hated business. She married young to an older man. They lost his fortune when they attempted to begin their own designer label.

  Being childless was Judith’s third great loss in life. And, like the other two – the death of her husband and her financial reversal, a loss that could not be recovered.

  The shop’s decorations and content sparkled in Andi’s eyes. She had never before seen such gorgeous, sexy clothes. The dresses and nightgowns and underwear were dazzling; all the colors of the rainbows and so soft to touch and so different than the few dresses that her mother wore. Andi, herself, had only one white cotton dress and two dark, plain skirts with simple blouses.

  At that September morning’s moment, Judith had just finished putting out new lingerie on a display table when she heard the front door bell ring. She turned and saw a diamond in the rough, a woman child growing out of her awkwardness into sensuality, an ugly duckling becoming a beautiful swan in her second season. Even in her worn jeans, too-tight white t-shirt, and old sandals, Judith saw the natural talent. This girl was five feet seven or eight inches tall. She had long brown hair that had lots of body, long lean legs, with some roundness in her hips, a thin waist and a very beautiful smile. In that instance, Judith saw this girl’s potential, a future Judith knew she should shape, could make, for this sexy girl. Judith had a mission in life, once again.

  Andi introduced herself to the lady and learned she was Miss Robinson. After introductions, Andi answered Miss Robinson’s inquiry about herself by explaining, in one quick burst, where she lived and her family situation and how she was hoping to get a job to help her mother and would work whatever hours Miss Robinson needed, except for school hours as she wasn’t involved in school activities. Andi asked if Miss Robinson was still accepting applications for the clerk position.

  Judith couldn’t believe the words she heard; this young beauty needed her help. She smiled, happy and satisfied.

  Miss Robinson said to her that no application was necessary, because she was hiring Andi right then. She wondered if Andi could start tomorrow after school. Andi was dazed with this answer and said yes.

  Judith said, “Wonderful.” Then, told Andi that she had a dress code. Andi would need to wear a dress each day; no pants or jeans. And, because Judith noticed earlier that this young maid wasn’t wearing a bra over her small breasts, she told Andi that she must wear underwear all the time, too. Dress shoes were required also. Judith saw a frown on Andi’s face, and asked if Andi had a problem with her dress code. Andi said she didn’t. She loved the idea of dressing beautifully while in the store.

  “Miss Robinson, I don’t have any clothes that look like these.”

  Andi pointed around the store, and then told Miss Robinson of her meager wardrobe. She apologized to Miss Robinson and looked at the floor. Andi didn’t know what else to say and thought she would lose the job.

  Judith held her hand up to calm Andi’s fears. She proposed a solution. If Andi would be very careful and treat the clothes well, Judith would build Andi’s wardrobe from the shop’s collection. Judith told Andi that she wouldn’t pay her for the first month she worked, as this would cover the cost of her new clothes. Judith winked and said Andi would sell so many clothes for Judith once women saw Andi wearing them.

  Andi couldn’t believe what she heard. It seemed very generous to her. She readily agreed.

  Judith smiled again and told Andi that they would get her new clothes now. And, so they did.

  Over the next 90 minutes, Andi lived a dream come true. They started with underwear which Miss Robinson called lingerie. Miss Robinson had Andi take a dozen panties. They were the colors of the rainbow and so different from any that she had ever seen before. They were also so soft and light to touch. Miss R found her correct size immediately, small, and had Andi try on different styles. Andi found them all wonderful, real sensual delights; especially the tiny ones that didn’t have any back to cover her behind.

  Miss R also found bras for Andi that fit comfortably and made her look full and round. Andi rarely wore bras and didn’t know they could do so much for her small chest. Miss R then showed her wonderful hosiery; panty hose, stockings to be worn with garter belts, and thigh-high stockings that stayed up with elastic tops. Her legs felt great in them.

  Next, Miss R slipped Andi’s feet into high-heeled pumps. She had never worn heels before and it showed. Those shoes were tough ones to start with given their four-inch heels. Andi struggled the first few minutes until Miss R told her to relax and to walk slow and deliberate. Andi slowly got the hang of it. She couldn’t believe how sexy she felt.

  But, the best time was next; all the dresses! She would recall forever that magical hour when Miss R brought to her dress after dress to try on in the dressing room, and how each felt on her body over the small silky underwear, and how she looked in the mirrors that lined the dressing room’s walls. She couldn’t believe the woman she saw reflected back at her. That wasn’t farm girl Andi. It was a different girl, a woman, a young fashion model. Andi fell in love; with the new her, with the clothes, with Miss Robinson for changing her so fast. She knew this was her new life.

  Judith had found her future too. She had found the student to mold, to make her proud.

  It took Andi three trips to carry her new wardrobe home.

  ***

  The new Andi began to attract attention all around town, especially at school. She received long, admiring stares from the boys. Some were dazed, others were overwhelmed, and most couldn’t find the words to speak to her. But, there were a few boys who came up to her and wanted to do things for her, with her and to her. It was an incredible change compared to farm girl Andi from the year before.

  That attention from men, that need and that desire to be with her, continued for the rest of her life. She couldn’t understand it at first. She still felt like Andrea Anderson, the girl who had trouble with reading and writing and math and was shy and intimidated by so many things. But over time, she learned that those big issues meant nothing to most men. They simply wanted to be with her and to touch her. She knew that most wanted to have sex with her and she accepted that; later she understood it was one way to succeed or move her career ahead. However, she never realized that some would hurt her or lie to her. The good ones and the bad ones were all attracted to the way she looked. And, she learned, to become a success, she had to look her best and to show off her body, every day. Miss R told her that if she acted the part of a fashion model she would become one and others would believe it too, completely. And, so she did.

  ***

  By Christmas that year, her senior year in high school, Andi decided to pursue modeling as a career. There was no way she was going to college. She didn’t want to go, her grades weren’t good enough, a
nd her mother didn’t have the money. She began modeling with local jobs. Miss Robinson helped her get connected with a Philadelphia modeling agency and she got her first cover on ‘Sixteen’ that spring.

  That cover started everything. At the same time, her body fully matured and she was getting offers for all the adult fashion magazines. Andi’s head was spinning and she basically ran away from home in May to do those shoots and runway shows. She was failing four of her six classes, so she dropped out of school, and didn’t get her high school diploma.

  Then, she got her first big break. She and four other young models attracted the attention of Vogue magazine. They were all offered a location shoot in Miami for next year’s spring and summer collection. Andi said yes, immediately. She had to leave for Florida in one week. Andi came home to speak to her mother, because she needed her permission and her mom had to go as a chaperone since Andi was under 18. Andi was so scared at what her mother’s reaction would be.

  Andi always treasured her mother’s answer, “You can always go back to school but you may not always be able to model.”

  Andi was in tears when she heard her mother’s support. She assured her mother and Miss R that she would be a success.

  In the beach shoot, Andi wore a pink bikini and it made the cover. By September 1984, her career was launched and she never looked back.

  sid - september 1983

  Suddenly, he had everything, everything he could ever imagine! He had two multi-million dollar homes in two of the most desired places in the world, a diversified portfolio of cash, real estate and equity investments, and treasures of artwork and jewels and valuable trinkets.

  And, yet, he was an orphan. He inherited all this from his parents. He inherited all this because his parents were found dead ten days earlier, floating in the Pacific a mile from their motorized yacht and twelve miles out from Marina del Rey. The coast guard concluded they had been blown off the boat in rough seas and stormy weather.

  And so, Sidney Alan Gabriel, Junior, and his wife, Lana, and their seven-year-old son, Troy, were elevated from their struggling life in Encino, barely making due on Sid’s career as an actor and producer, to a life of ultimate luxury.

  At 38, Sid had failed at most things he’d tried. Like his father, he had the looks and the body and presence to get people’s attention. Plus, because he had the same name as his famous father it opened doors and moved him to the front of the line at auditions. But, unlike his father, Sid did not have the timing or discipline needed to master acting. He never remembered his lines, he was always late for filming, he fooled around with the women and snorted too much cocaine.

  He earned an Academy Award as best supporting actor in his third film, partly due to his father’s fame. Yet, he showed real promise in that coming of age story of a pretty young artist. He played a sports car driver, and was the artist’s main love interest in the movie, My Life. The press and fans felt there was true love between Sid and the leading lady, Julie Froberg, but they didn’t know that Julie was a lesbian. Instead, Sid was falling for another actress, Lana Woods, who played Julie’s younger sister in My Life.

  Sid didn’t know it, but that was the peak of his career. After ten more films that didn’t have critical acclaim or commercial success or decent roles, Sid’s acting career was at a dead end. Sid looked to everyone as a flame-out at age 30.

  His personal life wasn’t great either. Lana got pregnant while they were dating. He told his parents. They convinced Sid to get married once he told them he loved Lana. That was a mistake. What made it worse was his parent’s requirement that Sid needed to move out of their estate and find his own home. They gave him the down payment, but cut off any allowance for other income. Sid hated the change to his life. He didn’t like the end of his freedom. But, Sid faced his new reality. He was smart enough to realize that with his and Lana’s shaky income as actors that they better look for a modest place. They found a split level in the San Fernando Valley.

  Years passed and Sid soon became a middle class working stiff, scrounging for acting jobs. Then, he moved out of acting into directing. When that failed to produce any steady work in the movies, he tried television. He made two pilots for drama series that weren’t picked up by the networks. He did find a steady job directing a game show, but was embarrassed at that kind of work.

  Lana never went back to work after Troy was born. She seemed content to stay home and raise him. They lived across the street from Lana’s sister, so Lana always had a friend nearby, which was a good thing because Sid began to stay away from home longer and longer each day, and his hours varied, with more and more time out at night.

  Sid missed Troy’s second birthday party. A few months earlier, his eye began to wander to the other ladies in town. He found himself spending more and more time in the clubs and bars of Hollywood and Beverly Hills and he couldn’t resist the beautiful young women that were there, that were trying to break into the industry. Sid soon had regular girls he met, to talk, to buy drinks, to spend time with.

  It was on Troy’s birthday that he cheated for the first time. He borrowed the keys to Felix’s apartment, the assistant director from My Life, whose career had also floundered, but at least Felix was getting steady work. Felix was directing soft porn flicks, movies with simple stories and female nudity, but no graphic sex. These movies never made the big screen - instead they were distributed straight to video stores around the country, if they were lucky.

  Soon, Felix and Sid had a deal; Sid would find the girls for both of them and for the soft porn movies and Felix would direct them. Felix’s financial backers were very happy because Sid had an eye for gorgeous, appealing girls, and the ability to convince them he could make them a star and get them to agree to take off their clothes - for Felix and Sid, and in the movies. Sid found it all so easy and so much fun. He really got into it. He really got addicted to it. It became his work and play.

  To Sid, it was a pretty good life. But, Sid always had to coordinate with Felix for use of his apartment and the second bedroom. Plus, he had to always hide things from, and lie to, Lana.

  So, that’s what Sid had been doing for five years when everything changed.

  The change was especially stark and a rebound for Sid as it was an abrupt end to his life in exile. He had missed the really good life. The miracle to Sid, in the midst of this tragedy, is that he hadn’t been written out of his father and mother’s Will. And, they hadn’t given any of their estate to anyone or anything else. He would think about that for years to come. Why not? And, why did they treat him with such contempt after the stupid things he did back in the 60’s and 70’s? He never knew the answers to either question. But, bottom line, Sid was now a rich man.

  Within days the little San Fernando Valley split-level home was on the market, and they had moved into the Beverly Hills estate. The three of them were giddy with their luck.

  stevie - september 1983

  I played high school football. I was a strong safety on defense and played a little offense too, as a receiver. It was my senior year moment of glory. I saw it clearly. This was it. My linebacker defender was tired. And, the guy’s right leg hurt and he was trying to hide it.

  At the end of the running play that went nowhere I told quarterback, “Call the double tight end pass play. I’ll be on the left. Hit me - I’ll be open.”

  My team, the Indians, was down by six with a minute to play. Two plays earlier, I had been brought in on the left side of a double tight end formation. It was third down on the Green Knights nine yard line. The other tight end, the two receivers, the halfback and I took off for the end zone at the snap. With five offensive receivers flooding the defensive backfield, the outside linebacker was forced to cover me. I faked inside, to his right, and then, broke left. I had three steps on the linebacker after he took the fake. The quarterback looked off other receivers before he saw me breaking for the left corner of the end zone. I turned and looked back. The quarterback tossed a high pass that I leaped for,
up and out towards the sideline.

  I caught it!

  I landed in bounds and the game was tied. When we made the extra point kick we had a great Indians win.

  My mother was so proud. I wished my father could have been there too, but he was working.

  Later that night, before I went to a victory party, I tried to share my joy with my dad, but he was drinking again and not listening and telling his silly, stupid stories of being in the Marines. I quietly got up from the couch and left the house when my father went to the bathroom.

  ***

  The following Monday, I was sitting in the school guidance office listening to Mr. Lettrell talk about college, my future and my scholastic records.

  “Hmmm… only a 3.0 GPA. You’re a bright young man, but you’ve been a lazy student. Why?”

  I didn’t know what to say and blurted out, “I don’t know. It was easy to get that.”

  “That’s my point, Garrett. You should have had a 4.0. You’re going to need to work a lot harder in college.”

  “Do I need to take the SAT again?”

  Lettrell asked, “What was your SAT score?”

  I answered, “1290.”

  Lettrell raised his left eyebrow at that number. “Garrett, you have the third highest score in your class, behind the valedictorian and the class president. Do you know that?”

  I didn’t know it and said so.

  Lettrell shook his head and said again, “You’ve been lazy.” He paused, and then asked me, “Where do you want to go to school?”

  I answered, “Delaware”.

  “What do you want to major in?”

  “Business.”

  Lettrell smiled, “No, you don’t need to take the SAT again. You’re in, even with that 3.0.”

  That was the end of my college counseling. Yet, I took to heart Mr. Lettrell’s advice about working harder. I changed my ways in college.