DEATHLY DAZE.....(part 2)

Although my days at Brett's Boys were some of the best times of my life, there were a few times that they became my worst.

As I related earlier, I would make a near fatal mistake in 'reading' a client and it was only my sheer determination to live, combined with a few other factors, which ultimately saved me from an early death.

Graham had sent me on an out call.  The client lived in the Sydney beach suburb of Manly, or rather had an apartment there which I felt certain was used only for his dalliances with boys.  Being a Saturday night I went with one of our drivers, rather than taking a taxi.  Arriving at the apartment which was located on the 10th floor of the building I was greeted by a very drunk and very large middle aged man.

As per custom we always rang in as soon as we had arrived at the clients place.  This was for both safety and timing reasons.  The client was not particularly pleased with me as he had asked for a 'straight looking, muscular boy'.  Graham, as usual, had sent me and told me to 'act the part'.  I apologised to the client and explained that it wasn't my fault but would be happy to return provided he paid the money for the driver.  The client softened at this and decided to keep me, told me to ring back and say that he would have me for 2 hours.

Cleverly I asked for the money in advance, which he gave me, and we spent the next two hours drinking whiskey, getting naked (and not much more) and then when the whiskey ran out, walking down to the nearest liquor store to buy another bottle.  When the time was up I rang the parlour to let them know I was ready and they beeped the driver who was waiting outside for me.  Graham asked me to remind the client that he still owed $200 for a previous call and that I was to bring that money with me.

When I asked the client for this money he suddenly went into a blind rage.  Before I knew what was happening he had punched me in the face, knocking me back  down onto the bed, then jumped on top of me and started to strangle me.

I managed to bring my knee up hard into his testicles and jump from under him.  I was desperately trying to reach the door, but he caught up with me and pushed me down the small flight of stairs leading from the bedroom to the lounge / kitchen area.  Then he pulled me up and pushed me straight towards the balcony sliding doors.  It was a small 'juliet balcony' less than a metre wide.  He was going to throw me over the edge!  

How I managed to stop him, I really don't know.  I remember desperately holding onto the wall and the side of the glass door as he repeatedly screamed and tried to push me out and over the balcony.  I guess being so drunk he was not as in control as he thought and I managed to push back against him, loosening his hold on me.  I hit the floor and crawled between his legs, again making a dash for the door but he was behind me in a flash.

The next few minutes were like a scene from a Charlie Chaplin movie.  Me running into the small kitchenette and leaping over the breakfast bar with him behind me.  I managed to do this 3 or 4 times before he stopped and double backed on me again pushing me down onto the ground.

On the wall he had an ornamental curved sword which he grabbed for and started swinging at me.  Using my legs I kept kicking him, trying to keep him and the sword away from me.  Finally I managed again to get a good blow to his balls and ran for the stairs.  He was on me in a flash, the sword swinging closer and closer with every stroke as I desperately tried to push him back using my legs.

Two miracles happened.  I heard the driver outside banging on the door and calling my name.  By this time I was screaming wildly, death by sword was inches away.  Then with an almighty crash the driver kicked the door open, pushed the client over the top of me and grabbed me by my shirt collar and dragged me out the door.

We went straight to the local police station where I spent the next hour telling a not very interested police officer my story.  It would only be later when Graham rang the police that they would press charges against the client.  For the first time ever, Graham, not only admitted his mistake in sending me, but also gave me a mogadon pill and let me sit out the back of the parlour with the other boys and get stoned.

The second time I felt sure I was about to be killed actually happened with one of the boys.  Funnily enough this was one of the boys I was closest too.  He was a big, muscular, rough looking boy but with a heart of gold or so I thought.  At the time he was probably one of my closest friends and constant smoking partner.  He used to call me 'little buddy'.

I was on the phone talking to a client (at this stage I had been promoted to receptionist by Graham) when the door  bell rang and down the hallway came the boy.  Whatever drugs he had taken had turned him into a raging lunatic.  He was yelling and punching the walls as he stumbled his way into the kitchen where our phones were.

Because it was him, I thought I would be able to calm him down.  With my hand over the receiver I abruptly and loudly said ' Allen, shut up, I'm on the phone to a client'.  Allen lunged at me and with all his force grabbed my head and smashed it into the side of the counter. Not once, not twice, but three times.  I was dazed and bleeding profusely.

It took 3 other boys to pull him off me but he was still screaming at me and trying to get at me.  I managed to run through the back door and jump the fence into the lane way where I headed for Diamond Lil's, screaming at my friend Brett to lock the door as I ran inside.  

Brett locked and bolted the door but the next thing we knew Allen kicked the door in with one almighty crash, he was holding a kitchen knife in his hand!  I made a rush up the hallway for the front door but was not quick enough.  As I reached the door Allen had me by the hair with one hand and as he swung his other hand back with the knife, unbelievably Brett grabbed the knife from him.

Allen didn't even register this and just swung at me.  I instinctively ducked and Allen's fist went straight through one of the door panels.  With Brett bravely trying to hold Allen back, I squeezed myself through the jagged opening in the door, my shoulders getting raked by splinters, blood everywhere and made it out onto the street.  Amazingly there was a taxi in the street which I managed to flag down and jump into.

I went straight back to my new terrace house.  Shock and horror etched all over me.  I even pushed the fridge against the front door, terrified that Allen would come after me.  I spent the next few hours absolutely terrified and getting stoned in between bouts of uncontrollable shaking and sobbing.

Later in the day, Graham rang me and asked me to come back to the parlour as Allen had 'recovered' and was mortified at what he had tried to do to his 'little buddy'!   It wasn't easy to do it, but with all the boys and Graham assuring me that Allen was truly sorry I approached him in the room alone.  He was crying and trying to apologize.......eventually we fell into each others arms.  Until the day he left he looked after me, brought me grass to smoke and wouldn't let any
one say a bad word against me.

The third time was so unreal that it was actually funny.  Graham had asked Brett and I to go over to Diamond Lil's (the Tranny Parlour) as both girls had been called away on an out call.  Brett was sitting at the back reception area, where the street girls and their clients paid there $5 room hire, and I was in the front room cleaning.  The trannies were notoriously lazy when it came to cleaning so I decided to give the place a good going over.

Over the noise of the vacuum cleaner I heard the door bell ring.  This was unusual as most clients came through the back entrance.  By the time I had switched the vacuum off and opened the front door, Brett was already halfway up the hallway.

Standing at the door was a very desperate looking junky guy holding a gun.  He had it pointed straight at me and said something along the lines of 'give me your money'.....(with the street girls calling all day, plus the tranny clients, it wasn't unusual to have quite a few hundred dollars in the 'till' at any time.  I totally froze and the next thing I know Brett pushes past me, tells the guy to 'fuck off' and with one hand slams the door shut and with the other hand pushes me and himself onto the floor.  BANG!  The bullet goes straight through the door and down the hallway where we eventually found it embedded in the back wall of the kitchen.

My next encounters with near death would come both unexpectedly and from the person I least expected.