Best Decision I Ever Made to Become a Stripper

Opal Dockery

THE OLD STRIPPER



BEST DECISION I EVER MADE TO BECOME A STRIPPER

It was difficult to be a stripper on the road; but through it all, the good times outweighed the bad. This job enabled my children and myself to travel and see things that would have been impossible if I had worked a regular job. It was like being on a vacation all the time and getting paid for it. Whenever I think back, I know that becoming a stripper was the wisest decision I ever made in my life.

The following best describes my deepest feelings and is from my story in this book,VISION OF BECOMING A STRIPPER: But there was an unsettling deep inside me. The unsettling that has been with me all my life. The unsettling that I have had ever since I have had any sense of consciousness. The unsettling that will not let me stop and be satisfied with a certain situation or certain type of life for any length of time. The unsettling that knaws at my insides to do something else. The unsettling that will not let me settle down - my spirit.

Different Roads to Finding Your Spirit

Opal Dockery

THE OLD STRIPPER

A Dixie Production



I think it is imperative that each of us find our own true self - our own true spirit. All of us do not reach this level on the same road. We all take different roads at times. Who is to say that one road is better or worse than the other? The road that is right for one person may be wrong for another. The end result is what counts. A person might cook rice differently from someone else. As long as it is edible the way he or she likes it; and it serves as a good nutrition value, who cares how it was prepared?

The road I took to find my true spirit and to come face to face with it was quite an unusual road. When I became a stripper, this is the road I traveled that led me to enlightenment. I discovered my spirit. I introduced myself to my spirit. I came face to face with my spirit. I reached a level so high that I would not have been able to cope with the beautiful feeling if it had been any higher.

My spirit has been with me forever. It just took this – what most common ordinary people would call irrational act – to permit me to meet my spirit and to always know that my spirit is continually with me and will always guide me.

My spirit guided me through all the hard times of raising my children. Without the knowledge of my spirit, I do not see how I could have managed this. At that time, I did not know how to take care of myself – let alone two little kids and to raise them to adulthood.

My spirit continually is with me as I make all decisions in my life. I have so much thanks to the road I took as being a stripper and an outcast of society. This decision was the best one I ever made in my life. I truly did find my spirit in them most unconventional way.

Getting In Trouble With a Pimp



GETTING IN TROUBLE WITH A PIMP

To this day, I really do not know why I did this. I could have been killed. I guess it was just out of stupid curiosity. I do not know. At the time, I think I felt that I was trying to educate myself by understanding different people and different personalities - what made them tick. Maybe this was the reason I did what I am about to tell you about. I do not know. I could back-up my stupidity for this particular incident by saying it was for the purpose of understanding personalities based on the fact that I earned my bachelor of science in psychology years later. And I must admit that the first hand experience I received provided more information than anything I could have ever obtained from a textbook.

There was this young, good looking black man that hung around the Two O'Clock Club where I danced as a stripper in Boston, Massachusetts. He never bought any drinks and would say, "No." when hustled to buy some. He seemed to be friends with one of the waitresses. I found out later from other dancers that he was a pimp.

I had never talked to a pimp before as far as I knew. I told myself that I should talk to him and try to understand this type of personality. The approach I decided to use was not too appropriate as far as my personal safety was concerned.

I could not go to him and say, "Heh! I hear you're a pimp. Could I interview you and study your personality?" So I decided on the dangerous approach. I acted like I wanted to work for him.

As far as I can remember, I just went up and told him I wanted to make more money, and I wasn't sure how to do it. I needed someone to show me how. I played the dumb stripper act to the hilt. It worked too good.

Immediately he lit into me. "Listen, Bitch, give me some money. If you haven't got paid, give me what you got on you now. You hear me, Bitch? You pay me to be your man. I know where you work. I know where you live. You have me some money by 2:00 a.m. or leave the state of Massachusetts. You hear me, Bitch? The money at 2:00 a.m. or else!"

Needless to say, I was scared. I went and told my girlfriend and roommate, Lori, about what happened. I told her that she didn't have to walk home with me tonight if she didn't want to because he might be there to hurt me. She said she would never leave me alone to face someone like that.

He never showed up after work. I sure was glad. As a

matter-of-fact, I do not ever remember seeing him around after that.

I think my friend must have said something to him. She had a way of being forceful with words towards these type of men.

I watched my words AND my curiosity very carefully from that moment on.