Well, my traveling for a while is over and hopefully I'm back to writing full-time.  Thanks to everyone who's sent me email about the story.  All comments are appreciated!

Chapter 8
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Lee dropped his coffee and spilled it all over his table, letting out a yelp when some hit his lap before he could react.  Then he almost knocked his table over trying to get out of the way before more got on him.  He stood somewhat in shock for a few seconds, not sure exactly what to do when he saw Jacob heading his way.  "Too bad you didn't have an audience for that." Jacob smiled when he arrived with a rag to clean up the mess.  Lee wasn't in a mood for anyone trying to lighten the moment and just glared at Jacob.

The mess cleaned up, Lee sat back down and with continued disbelief looked at the paper again.  Under a headline of 'Madam Missionary' was an article about Amy leaving the mission to embark on a new mission, and one that would be misunderstood by virtually the entire population.  

He'd been gone for four days and a lot had obviously happened.  His plan for taking some time with Amy to convince her not to move forward was quickly being trashed.  It was certainly looking too late for that conversation.  Now what, he thought.  He read the article again hoping he'd think of something, but nothing came to his mind.

Halfway through it for the third time he was jolted by the vibration of his phone.  As he answered he noticed that everyone in Beans was looking at him.  It took a few seconds for him to realize he'd yelped again when he felt the vibration.  He was slowly starting to acclimate to the embarrassment that his life seemed to be becoming.

"Hi Lee." Amy said when he answered.  "Can I ask a favor?"

"Sure", he replied.

"Instead of meeting at Beans can you come over to my place?" she asked.  "I don't know if you've seen it yet, but there was an article about me in the paper today and I'm not feeling like going out just yet.

After hearing about the phone calls she'd already received this morning Lee grabbed his things, got a quick refill from Jacob, and began walking quickly over to Amy's apartment.  His thoughts continued to alternate between wondering why she hadn't waited before jumping in and what he could do now.  Just as he got to Peachtree his phone rang again.  "Lee" Amy said.  "I can't hide from this.  I knew it would come.  I'll meet you at Judge Beans in twenty minutes." She said and quickly hung up.  When he tried calling her back there was no answer.  

Against Amy's request Lee continued on to her apartment but didn't get any response when he rang the bell.  He stepped back to the edge of the sidewalk and looked up at her windows but couldn't see anything by the glare of the sun.  He walked across Fifth Street and looked up again.  Even though it was an overcast day he still had to shield his eyes from the glare of the sun, but from here he could see into her apartment.  He stared for several minutes, but couldn't see her or tell if she was there.  He walked back over and pushed the intercom button several more times, but still didn't get a response.  She must already be on her way, he thought, and turned to head back to Beans.

Crossing Ninth he saw three women standing on a corner.  Obviously hookers, he wondered if Amy knew them or if they knew Amy.  He thought for a second about asking them if they'd seen her, but then realized that she wasn't really missing and that he'd talked to her on the phone just a few minutes before and had plans to meet her nearby.  Calming himself from his overreaction he looked again at the 3 women.  Why was she fighting for them to be able to practice their trade? He thought.  She should be spending her time trying to get them out of the business instead of making it easier.  He kept rummaging through his mind the rest of the way back to Beans trying to make sense of something that he just couldn't understand.

"Have you seen Amy this morning?" Lee asked Jacob when he walked in and didn't see her anywhere.

"Not yet." Jacob replied with a curious look.

Lee began walking to the back of the café when he noticed that the table in the back corner had someone sitting at it already so he had to grab the next best spot, which was by the fireplace.  The fireplace was nice, but it didn't have the privacy of the back corner table he'd come to like.  He looked at his watch. Where was she?  How could she have been so stupid, he thought as he looked out the window waiting for her to get there.  

As he sat waiting his thoughts were suddenly interrupted by something that Ben had said the previous day.  "It's not as easy or clean-cut as you think." was the one that boggled him the most.  Ben wouldn't elaborate, which was very unusual, and Lee was struggling with it.  Lee's own position seemed pretty clean-cut.  Or, at least it had.

In mid thought he heard something so distinctive he'd never forget it - a sudden and complete silence in Judge Beans.  He looked up and there stood Amy.  She was all alone, standing in the doorway, with everyone in Beans staring at her.  This went on for hours, or so it seemed to Lee.  A few seconds after she entered though there was a sound from a table in front of him.  One person began to slowly clap.  A few seconds later another joined in and soon a third.  A couple more joined, but the other half-dozen didn't respond.

Amy smiled slightly and acknowledged those who'd acknowledged her.  When she finally sat down across the table from Lee she looked exhausted.

"Rough morning?" he asked.

"Something like that." She said.  "This Jon Houston guy at the paper called me about ten last night asking me a bunch of questions.  I wasn't really ready to deal with him and I didn't realize he was planning on running the story today.  I thought I had some time.  I should have known better." She said in frustration.  "My phone started ringing about five this morning and I unplugged it after the fourth call in as many minutes... What I don't understand is how he knew.  I told Ray yesterday afternoon, but he promised not to tell anyone until I was ready."

"Well, he must have told someone.  But that's past history at this point.  The question now is what are you going to do."

"Well, it may be past history, but I'd still like to know how that guy found out.  I feel like someone's out to get me.  And I don't think it's Ray." Her voice trailed off, questioning if Ray could have been the tipster or not.

"You didn't realize going into this that there would be a lot of people out to get you?  Like the bulk of the population?" Lee said.  "There's a reason prostitution is illegal Amy.  People don't want it and they don't want you trying to change that...  I think your best option is to call that reporter and tell him that he was mistaken.  Then refocus back on what you've been doing at the mission.

Amy looked briefly at Lee and then stared out of the window.  Lee thought about what he'd said and realized that he'd probably been a little harsher than he should have, but he also knew that he was right.  By the look on Amy's face he thought that maybe he'd begun to convince her.  "I quit the mission yesterday Lee." She said quietly.  "And Ray asked that I not associate with anyone from there for a while.  He's concerned about some of the larger donors pulling out."

Con't...

Out of the corner of his eye Lee realized that a man who'd been sitting in the front of the shop was staring at Amy and heading directly their way.  "You're disgusting!" he said to Amy when he approached.  "What you're doing is just vile, I hope you rot in hell!" he spluttered.  He looked briefly at Lee, turned, and left.  For the second time that day and perhaps for the second time in it's entire history, Judge Beans was completely quiet even though it was filled with people.  The look on Amy's face was defiance, but Lee knew that the exterior was displaying something entirely different than she was feeling inside.

"Amy." He said.  "Ben meadows and I talked about this issue a lot over the past couple of days.  You're fighting an extreme uphill battle and one that he doesn't think should be fought and I'm tending to agree with him.  I don't disagree with you that things are bad and that something needs to be done to help these girls out, but what you're doing isn't the way to accomplish it." He paused.  "Will you listen to me for just a moment?"

Amy looked at Lee.  Her eyes were sparkling with the start of a tear.  "Yes." She said quietly.  "I will."

Lee was almost exultant realizing that he was finally going to get through to her and that this would all be over soon.  "Think about this business for a moment." He said.  "First it's demoralizing to many of the women that do it.  I know that there are some like Linea, but she's in the minority.  And it's not just the women who work as prostitutes, but all women.  The very existence of it turns all women into nothing but sex objects.  And think about what it does to marriages Amy.  Do you want your husband to have really easy access to a prostitute?  You've told me yourself how much you understand about male hormones and how difficult sexual temptation is for guys.  When you get married do you want your husband to know that he can just duck into a brothel to satisfy his urges or do you want a barrier that helps him remain faithful to you?"

Amy felt like she'd been hit.  What Lee'd just said cut deep.  Though she'd thought about that issue, she'd never personalized like he just did.  Thoughts of regret began entering her mind.  Was she making a huge mistake?  Some tears began to run down her face, but she recovered and wiped them away.  This wasn't a day for emotions, but for rational thought.  "Is there more?" she asked Lee.

"Yes." He said.  "Think about what it says about our society if we allow it...  I know you don't think that it spreads disease, but do you have any solid stats to back that up?  What about it's impact on neighborhoods?  I know you think that decriminalizing it will reduce the number of street hookers, but will it really?  Finally, it's simply immoral.  And you should know that far better than me."

They sat quietly for several minutes.  Amy stared out the window and Lee stared at Amy.  Amy thought through what Lee had just said.  It was one thing to plan on this fight and think about it, but she was quickly finding out that the actual battle was going to be tougher than she'd thought.  This certainly wouldn't be the last article in the paper and she was sure that Lee was right about most people probably being against her.  Reality was quickly sinking in and she wasn't liking it too much.

She agreed with Lee that it was immoral, but then again, so was drinking, gambling, or even over-eating as far as she was concerned.  You can't outlaw everything that someone thinks is immoral.  On some of these issues people need to make the decision for themselves and leave the rest to their own devices.  She was confident of her position that legalization wouldn't increase the spread of STD's and she was fairly confident that it would reduce the spread.  She also new that it would very significantly reduce the number of street hookers.  She began to feel strong again.  She'd already thought through all this.  There were just two items that made her think she should think about changing her mind; how difficult the battle really would be and if she was ready for it, and perhaps most difficult now, Lee's comments on it's impact on her own marriage.

She thought about her reasons for doing it.  They were good reasons.  If it was a battle worth fighting she'd find the strength.  Now, what about her husband, she thought.  She knew that most of the guys that visit Linea, and probably many of the others for that matter, were married.  Would she be contributing to an increase in divorces?  Would she be breaking up families?  Why had she not thought about it like this before?  How would she feel if HER husband were one of those who came to the brothel?

"Lee?" she asked.  "Would you ever visit a prostitute?  If you were married and loved your wife?"

It didn't take him long to figure out what she was thinking.  He knew that she wasn't thinking about him as her future husband, but just as a typical guy.  "Nothing like a direct question." He said.  "Most guys are tempted by sex and I think marriage only reduces it for a short period.  Eventually married guys begin to face the same temptations all over again.  Some have affairs for emotional reasons, but I'm not aware of any guy that's interested in an affair that doesn't involve sex.  That's what drives them and for most that's all they're looking for." He paused for a moment to judge Amy's reaction and to make sure he really wanted to say what he was getting ready to.  "Availability has a lot to do with it.  I'm sure that no matter who I marry I'll face a ton of temptation.  If prostitution were legal it'd be a lot easier for me to give in than if it was illegal as it is now."

Amy didn't react.  She sat listening to Lee almost completely without emotion.  "If it were legal would you be more likely to visit a prostitute than have an affair?" she asked.

Lee was surprised by the question and by her complete lack of emotion.  "Yea." He replied after some thought.  "If I married the right person I don't think I'd have any interest in an affair other than for just the physical stuff.  So yea, I guess I'd prefer a provider." He said, realizing how amazing it was to have said what he just did to AMY."

Amy smiled at his response, which really confused him.  "Why did you suddenly use the term 'provider'?" she asked.  "It's different when applied to you isn't it?" she said more than asked.

Lee stared at Amy.  The fear and doubt that had been there were gone.  Amy seemed more relaxed and her positive outlook was returning.  Lee breathed a sigh of relief.  Amy was a good friend and Lee really hadn't wanted to see her go through what she certainly would if she'd continued.  This morning he'd had two major issues causing a lot of worry in his life, now one was gone.  

His thoughts quickly turned to the other - Charles Durbin's marijuana case.  His realization that he had a hearing on that case in just a few hours completely conquered his mind.  This afternoon he had the impossible task of convincing the Judge that there were sufficient grounds to take the case to trial and he had to do it without the judge and prosecutors laughing him out of the room.

Con't...

He'd hoped that Rush Limbaugh would have begun fighting his case on a civil liberties platform by now so that he could piggyback off of what they were doing, but no such luck.  On the surface it seemed only right to him that a citizen could do whatever they wanted in their own home as long as it didn't hurt anyone.  Couldn't someone all alone in their bedroom have the freedom to do what they wanted?  He thought about the Lawrence vs. Texas case that had recently been handed down from the U.S. Supreme Court.  Why hadn't he thought of that before?  He'd have to read through it quickly when he got back to the office this morning.

Before he could get too far into his thoughts the woman who'd been sitting next to Lee, and had been the first to clap, stopped by their table and put her hand on Amy's shoulder.  "You're a courageous woman." She said.  "You're doing the right thing."

Lee stared up at her with some disbelief.  She was at least 80 years old and not the first person Lee would have expected to be supporting what Amy was doing.  Then he realized that she'd heard their conversation and figured out that Amy had changed her mind.  Lee as almost ecstatic.  "Thank you." Amy said.

"When the war was over I was about twenty, wasn't married, wasn't dating anyone, and didn't want to live with my parents anymore." She began her story without asking if they even wanted to hear it.  "I'd been working for a couple of years, but with all the servicemen coming home I lost my job to one of them and the only other job I could find was for an apparel company over in Alabama.  I wouldn't have made much, certainly not enough to go to school.  It didn't take me long to figure out a way to make some good money though and for the next 10 years I did." She paused and smiled.  "It was one of the best things I ever did.  I met some of the nicest people, got treated really good by most of 'em, and made a lot of money.  I made some really good friends too." She added cheerfully.  "There were a bunch of other girls that I made friends with and certainly with some of the men." She smiled.  "Some of us are still friends." She paused.  "But a few've died you know."

Lee and Amy stared at her for a several seconds not sure exactly what to say.

"Well, we've all got to die sometime." She said, her cheerfulness returned.  "Every time I read about someone getting arrested just for working it makes me mad." She said with a deep sense of seriousness.  "And then that guy up in Oregon or Washington killing all those girls..." her voice trailed off into her thoughts.

"If you don't mind me asking." Amy said.  "What was it like when you were working?  Were you always trying to avoid the cops?"

"Oh heaven's no." she replied.  "They were some of my best friends.  Well, it was against the law then too, but nobody really paid much attention, least around here.  A lot of the older cops remembered when it hadn't been illegal and they'd seen what had happened in other cities that cracked down when it was first outlawed.  That happened about the same time as prohibition you know, and all either one did was make a lot more problems.  People still wanted their drink and they still wanted their women.  No law was gonna change that."  She put her hand on Amy's shoulder again and looked into her eye's.  "I wish that I'd had your courage at some time during the past few decades.  I could've done something about it."  With a nod she turned to leave.

"Do you mind giving me your name and phone number?" Amy asked.

The woman looked at Amy for a few seconds, almost bewildered.  "Sure." She replied and looked at Lee with a quizzical smile.  She pulled a card out of her purse, wrote something on it, and handed it to Amy.  The card was simple with her name embossed in black letters in a slightly raised section across the middle.  There was nothing else on the card.  Lee remembered seeing cards like this at his grandfather's house when he was younger.  His grandmother called them 'calling cards'.  Amy looked at the card and shock spread quickly across her face.  "You're Alice Friedman?" Amy said.

Alice looked at Amy with a slight smile and simply replied, "Yes."

Amy stared in disbelief for a few seconds.  Alice looked at Amy. "I hope I'll hear from you soon...  You too Lee." She smiled and then turned and left.

Lee looked at Amy for an explanation of whom they'd just been talking too.  "You don't know?" she said with a look of disbelief.  "Alice Friedman?  Think." She implored Lee.  

Now it was Lee's turn to look shocked.  She was perhaps 20 years older now than the portrait of her that hung in the rotunda of the state supreme court, but once he connected the dots he recognized her instantly.

"Do you know what this means?" Amy said more than asked.  "Having someone of her stature helping us on this."

Lee stared at Amy.  "Helping us?" he asked.  "Just a few minutes ago you decided to abort this thing." He said questioning her sudden change.

"What gave you that Idea?" she asked and then not waiting on an answer continued. "Can you believe it?  This is great."

"Amy!" Lee almost shouted.  "We just went over the issues.  Why would you continue to pursue this thing after what we just talked about?"

"After what you talked about you mean?" Amy replied.  "The issues you brought up are mostly non-issues.  They seem like issues on the surface, but if you look into them, even a little, you realize that they're not and in many cases may actually be the opposite.  Trust me, I've researched them all and I'm confident in what I'm saying."  She paused.  "You got me on that husband thing though, but even you admitted that if it were decriminalized you'd be more likely to visit a provider instead of having an affair."  

Lee stared at Amy for a few seconds thinking that she'd completely lost perspective.  Did she really think it would be a good thing for her husband to visit prostitutes?  What was she thinking?

"Statistically, what is the likelihood that my husband will have extra-marital sex?" she asked Lee trying to help clear up his confusion.

Lee thought about the question and about how rational Amy was acting given the question she'd just asked.  "Sixty, maybe seventy percent." He replied.

"OK, so in all probability my husband will have extra-marital sex then correct?" she asked.

Lee really didn't want to affirm the answer, but did.

"How many marriages end in divorce?" Amy asked.

"I think the latest figures I've seen were around fifty-five percent or perhaps a point or two lower."

"And what is the primary cause of these divorces?"

Lee began to feel better.  He knew where she was leading, but he was close friends with a couple of divorce lawyers so he know this industry well.  "Financial problems." He replied.

"OK." Amy half smiled.  "What next."

"Affairs." Lee replied suspiciously.

"Well, you're technically correct, but if you talk to marriage counselors and divorce attorney's you'll get a slightly different picture.  First, you said yourself, and I agree with you, that affairs, at least for men, are primarily for sex.  There's an emotional element to them and sometimes that's what starts them, but you don't see many affairs that don't involve sex.  Now, what I've learned about the financial situations is that many times it's coupled with sexual issues.  Numerous folks have told me that a number of times when finances are mentioned as the primary reason for the problems, there's also a sexual issue involved and that it's the combination of the two, not either one alone, that causes the divorce."

Con't...

Lee started to disagree, but held his tongue.

"Divorce is almost always harmful to everyone involved, particularly children.  It's absolutely horrible.  People put on good fronts that everything is OK, but in most cases their lives are a complete wreck and will remain so the rest of their lives.  And the impact on kids is abominable.  Kids whose parents get divorced loose their trust in all humankind.  Have you ever talked with someone after they've been through their first earthquake?" she didn't wait for a response.  "They'll tell you that their security is gone, that they no longer feel secure just walking down the street.  Well, that's what kids of divorce feel like.  The one secure thing in their lives, their parents, is gone.  Parents getting divorced is far worse than one or both parents dieing.  It's devastating."

Lee looked at Amy, still trying to believe and grasp what it was she was trying to say.

"Lee, I never want to get divorced.  Never.  When I say for better or worse, I'll mean it.  Completely.  Or I won't say it." Amy said with some force.  "And unfortunately that 'for worse' part is statistically very likely to include my husband having extra-marital sex at some point during our marriage.  I hope it doesn't, but I'm not as naive as I once was.  And," she paused, "when everything is put in context, the physical act of sex is not the center of a good marriage anyway.  There's a whole lot more to it, like just enjoying being together, caring for each other, supporting each other through tough times, and more and more and more.  So." She paused and took a breath.  "that for worse part, if it's just for physical sex and he still loves me more than anyone else..., would be a whole lot easier for me to deal with if it's an unemotional deal with a provider than an affair.  I can handle him giving her some money for his own sexual needs, but I can't handle him giving her anything else, like his love and affection." She paused and took another breath.  "I'm not saying I'd like it, but..." her voice trailed off.

Lee didn't know what to say.  Could she really truly believe all that she'd just said.

"Look, I'd love to live in a world where people don't sin and where I knew without any doubt that my husband would never have sex with anyone but me.  But realistically that's not the world we live in.  If you study history, or better yet," She smiled, "your Bible..., you'll see that it never has been and I'll bet you that it never will be as long as humans inhabit the earth.  At some level we have to accept, no, we don't have to accept it, but we have to deal with the fact that most guys are going to have some extra-marital sex.  We don't have to like it and we should continue to encourage absolute monogamy, but we have to be realistic at the same time.  That's the point that Augustine was making.  Sticking our head in the sand isn't going to do anyone any good." She went on.  "Throughout all of history women have had to accept their husbands having sex with other women.  Either with other wives in a polygamous marriage, or concubines, or prostitutes, or in affairs."

"I'm having a very hard time believing what you're saying." Lee said.  "What happened to all of your fighting for women's rights and stuff?"

"I still believe strongly in equality.  My views there haven't changed a bit." Amy replied, "But I also believe in reasonableness.  When you first mentioned my own husband to me I had to do some heavy and very painful thinking.  When it comes down to it, keeping my marriage together will be of prime importance to me.  Now, I can expect absolute perfection and that he'll be a part of that rare twenty percent who never venture away from our own bed, and I hope that's the case, but if I expect that I'm almost guaranteeing that my marriage will fail.  So, seeing a provider occasionally is far better than any of the other alternatives.  But," she smiled, "I better get some from him when I want it though."

Lee sat completely dumbfounded.  He couldn't believe all that Amy had just said, and yet, he couldn't argue with any of it.  At least without some more time to think.  And, given his track record in past arguments with her, he wasn't too hopeful.  "Amy, you're almost condoning that married men visit prostitutes." He finally said.  "What am I missing here?"

"I'm not condoning it at all.  I'm just being realistic."

"Fatalistic might be more like it." Lee replied, quickly wishing he hadn't said it.

"Well, call it that if you like, but do you have a better idea?  Give me a better alternative to any of the issues that I've raised over the past few months and I'm more than ready to listen.  I don't particularly like the position that I've taken, but the traditional position our society has taken certainly isn't working.  Making it illegal clearly causes more problems than it solves and I can't figure out any way around that other than simply allowing it.  The consequences of allowing it are far less than the consequences we've experienced as long as it's been outlawed."

"I..." Lee started to say when he was interrupted by the sound of an urgent text message on his phone.

"GA house just voted 160 to 0 to approve the law banning any kind of genital piercing.  Emily wants u to file a civil rights challenge for her as soon as the governor signs it and needs to know by noon if u'll do it or if she needs to find someone else."

Lee stared at the message for a moment.  A light suddenly came on in his head, but not the light that he would have expected.  Emily had mentioned this issue to him briefly a few weeks ago.  Like his argument on Durbin's marijuana case, this was a civil liberties issue.  Put simply, adults should be allowed to do what they want as long as it doesn't impact other people against their will.  That was a basic tenant of the founding of our country two hundred years ago.  This piercing issue was perhaps the most clean- cut of all.  In all of his research on it over the past few weeks he couldn't find any way whatsoever that anyone anywhere was victimized by this as long as it was an adult choosing to do it of her own free will.  He was confident that this would be a very easy case to win.

Marijuana could certainly be argued on a civil liberties basis, but he couldn't deny that there were elements of it that created victims.  Identical to alcohol, or perhaps worse, smoking marijuana altered peoples thinking ability and could lead to driving accidents or other problems.  His arguments though were that making it illegal might cause more problems than it solved.  Only his arguments weren't nearly as solid as the arguments that Amy had made over the past few weeks.

He suddenly saw Amy's support of prostitution in the light of his other civil liberties arguments.  What right does the government have in anyone's bedroom?  He still wasn't sure about most of Amy's arguments, but he suddenly felt a strong urge to fight with her on it from a civil liberties standpoint.  There might be a good and valid reason to allow civil laws to control solicitation on the streets or how it's advertised, but the act itself, as long as it was conducted completely in private, should not be controlled in any way by the government.

"What would you do with this?" Lee asked Amy as he showed her the message.

"Ouch." Amy replied after she'd read it.  Then she got a big grin on her face "You think any of the papers will be gutsy enough to run a headline of 'Bill to protect Georgia Peaches passes House.'"

Once again Amy had left Lee completely speechless.

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Copyright 2003, 2004 JTH
May not be reproduced or distributed in whole or in part, in any form including electronic, without the expressed written permission of the author