Many years ago, I wrote a piece about the life of a woman. I don’t even remember where it was published. I had forgotten about it when I got an email from a woman wondering if she had told me the story of her life. I replied, saying I thought it was pure fiction, but I may have heard something or read something about her that triggered the story. After the exchange of multiple emails, we both concluded that I hadn’t heard the story of her life. I have never been to the city where the woman lives. Although I had been to that state several times, she had made many trips, including some to places near where I was living. We simply couldn’t find a time when we could’ve met face-to-face. It was the second time someone had wondered if they had told me something about themselves, and I included it in a story I had written.
We became infrequent pen pals via email. I was very interested in her back story – the reasons why she chose her profession. She works as an escort. She used an online service to find new clients and gave me the address for it. I had been under the impression that escort equaled prostitute. She explained that it might include sex, but she never promises it. As she has gotten older, she told me that sex was less frequent than when she was younger. She is now in her early 40s. She is college-educated. She had been married. It ended in divorce many years ago. She owns her own home. Her picture on the website shows an average middle-aged woman. You certainly wouldn’t know her profession by merely looking at her picture.
This last week I got an email from her. Like all of us, she is dealing with the COVID-19 virus. She isn’t taking any clients because of it. She is fine financially, which is a good thing as she pointed out she couldn’t claim her unemployment insurance. She knew that her job would end as she got older, so for over a decade, she has been investing. She had been talking to her financial advisor, and they have been converting investments to things that would provide a steady income stream. She is contemplating whether it’s time to retire.
Her story shows how completely the COVID-19 virus has changed the world we live in. Everyone is feeling its influence. For the time being, our society has completely changed. For better or worse, we will not know if society has changed permanently until long after COVID-19 ended.
