Candy at the Whore House

When traveling in my younger years I always noticed that when people asked “ Where are you from”, I would say “ Wheeling”. The response would always be one of two things, either “ That’s where the Jamborees is” or That’s where all the whore houses are”. One experience I remember well was hitch hiking up the Ohio River towards home. A guy in a Corvette picked me up and asked where I was going. After I said Wheeling, he told me I would not believe what happened to him on his way through Wheeling when he was headed South. He proceeded to tell me how he had stopped at a house of ill repute in Wheeling and asked for the services of one of their employees. Who should appear, but the girl he used to sit behind in school when he was in high school in Pittsburgh. I could imagine them both discussing how their careers were going.

Now back to the old neighborhood. As mentioned earlier our tribe lived in a respectable neighborhood near the National Road. Along the National Road were some magnificent old Mansions. Within a couple block of our house was a very nice Mansion along the National road that resembled one of the homes you would see on the finest of southern plantations. Somehow my father knew the people that ran an antique business from the home. As a child I remember going to auctions these people put on. Some of my siblings were used to make fake bids for these people to drive the price up.

Not until I was much older did I realize this place was actually a front for prostitution. As young kids around the age of eight or nine, we always were looking for candy handouts. We got to know who kept some candy around for kids. I can remember going into the basement of this place where these women sat around in their underwear. As kids we did not have a clue why these people sat around in this attire, all we knew was it was a good source for candy.