“Welcome to the Parlour of Little Pleasures, sir, have you availed yourself of our services before, or is this your first time?”

“Uh… well, no, I haven’t been before… but it came highly recommended by a friend of mine, one Lord-“

“No no, sir, we do not deal in real names or titles here, our establishment is the definition of privacy and anonymity. However, as this is your first time, you will be required to fill out a little paperwork and meet the Madame, who will walk you through the… delicacies and details of our establishment. Now, I’ll give this contract to you. It simply outlines the rules required for your patronage. For the most part, it deals with your complete discretion with regards to our products and services. Our establishment serves clients, like yourself, with unusual and specialized tastes, however, for us to continue operating, you must not reveal anything about your experience here. I assume your friend told you only our location and that you would find us valuable?”

“Yes, that’s right. He was painfully mysterious about the whole thing.”

“Wonderful, that means he did not break his contract. Anyway, the second part of the contract is in regards to your handling of our products, you must be gentle with them, as they are, understandably, rather delicate. You are liable for any damage you cause to them, and you can be sure, damage does not come cheap. In fact, the final part of the contract deals with that aspect – the cost of our services is not modest. You will find the majority of our clientele are wealthy men and women. However, considering that our products are completely unique and highly specialized, I’m sure you’ll agree that our price is entirely reasonable. The contract simply declares that you will pay in full the cost of the product before enjoying her or him. And then, following your session, the product, or products depending, will be inspected for any damages, which, if found, will cost more, and may, if extreme, result in your being banned from the premises.”

“I’ll be honest here, this seems a little extreme for prostitution. I am beginning to rethink my coming here.”

“I assure you sir, all this is necessary. And believe me, it is not just prostitution. Once you’ve signed, you can step behind this curtain, meet our Madame and our products, and your entire viewpoint will change drastically. And of course, if you should decide that you are not interested in what we have to offer, you can choose to leave – with the silence agreed to in the contract of course.”

“Well… I must admit all this secrecy does have me intrigued. And I see nothing here that might be suspicious. So I’ll sign – this had better not be a waste of my time.”

With his signature on the contract, the young lord received a warm smile from the lovely young lady behind the counter of the brothel. She walked toward a thick red velvet curtain hiding the mysterious “products” from the entrance, and offered to take the lord’s hat and cloak. Once slightly derobed, the lord stood waiting expectantly in front of the curtain. After a brief couple of seconds, the curtains rustled and an attractive if slightly short middle-aged woman dressed in a stylish purple dress, hair pulled up in a bun with tasteful jewellery adorning, entered through. The lord craned his neck to try to see into the next room as the woman came through, but she tactfully held the curtains close together as she entered.

“Hello my lord, I am Madame Ferrelli, owner and proprietor of this establishment.”

The lord bowed, “thank you Madame, it is a pleasure. How did you know I was a lord?”

The Madame gave a light laugh. “When you have been in this business as long as I have, you get to know your clientele. Also, as this is a very high caliber establishment, we tend to attract only the wealthiest patrons. You stand with an air of nobility, so I simply induced that you were a lord. Now, if you’ll care to follow me. What you will see in our parlour is a display of our products, and the sight will most likely be rather shocking for your first time. Prepare yourself for amazement.”

With those strange words, the woman turned around and led the lord through the velvet curtain.