"I began doing it for financial reasons," she said predictably. "Oh, when I was younger, I thought this was just the lowest, most immoral thing in the whole world. I wouldn't have considered doing it for anything, and the thought just never occurred to me.

"After I was divorced from my husband. I was having a pretty hard go of it. I had two jobs at the time, and was spending all of my money just supporting the two kids. I knew a girl who was doing this thing. She knew that I knew about it, but we never discussed it. I liked her in spite of her profession.

"One day, she asked if I'd like to sleep with a man for some money. He was looking for someone like me-I was a size 7 then, a lot thinner, and it would be an easy way to pick up some easy extra cash. She knew I could use it.

"I was shocked at first, but soon began thinking seriously about the idea. 'Why I don't even know if I'd be able to sleep with a man I haven't met before,' I said. 'Sure you can, honey,' she told me, 'It's easy. All you have to do is put on a good show, and it'll be over in no time at all. Besides, you'll have money enough to do all the things you'd like to now, but can't afford.'

"I told her I'd meet the man, and try. It worked all right, and pretty soon, I realized that I could make more money in a night than I'd been making from my two jobs before in a week. I guess that's when I started."

Her break with straight life could not have been an easy one. She'd been married, middle-class, and the mother of two children.

"MOST other prostitutes have a pretty rough time in their personal sex lives during their careers," she told me. "though I don't think they have that problem before beginning. I'm actually the exception among girls of my calling," said Angela. "Most of them are lesbians at some time or another. When they get tired of men, and sex becomes boring, it provides another outlet for them. I've gone to stags and things with them, but I've never dug sleeping with an other girl."

I tried asking more personal questions. She claimed she was quite normal. No hangups. It was not until much later in the conversation that she told me. "I was married to my husband for four years-I'd had two children-and I'd never once had an orgasm. I was laying down first and getting up last."

"Do you get any satisfaction from sleeping with your customers?"

"No, but I'm a very good actress. I can't trust white men, so how can I relax enough to come?

"A friend of mine likes white men. We've discussed the whole thing at great lengths for hours at a time. She says she's had some bad experiences, and that black men have abused her. She told me, 'Some whites are more soulful than others.' Huhh! I don't believe it.

"I'm really very prejudiced. I could never get involved with a white man, and all my customers are white. If I had black customers, I might become involved, so deliberately, I don't have them as customers."

" Do you have any boyfriends? "

"Oh, sure, but they're all black."

" What kinds of relations do you have with them? "