My dad (above, circa 1975) is my biggest supporter. He subscribes to Penthouse to read my articles, gets copies of every anthology I have a story in, and reads every news item about sex and porn so that he can send me things he thinks I might be interested in. He’s read AVN, and knows who all my porn friends are—both by their porn names and their real ones. He’s pretty cool, as far as dads go. So I wasn’t surprised when he sent me a link to an article about porn star Dave Cummings, a septuagenarian sex worker.
“It mentions the current Penthouse cover model,” he told me. “Thought you’d want to check it out when you have time.”
After I read the article, I was on the phone with my dad and we were discussing how Cummings reminds me of someone’s grandfather (not because he’s old enough to be one, but because he has a friendly grandfather face) and how it’s nice to see how much the girls in the industry like him. And then my dad told me he and Cummings may have crossed paths.
Cummings was an Army unit commander with the 4th Infantry during the Tet Offensive in Vietnam. My dad, a Vietnam vet himself, was in the 4th at the same time. Dad doesn’t remember Cummings, and says they probably didn’t know each other, but they likely crossed paths during their tours. “It’s a small world,” we agreed.
This has nothing to do with my writing, but I thought it was kind of neat. Also, if someone from my dad’s infantry unit had to go into porn, I’m glad it was Cummings and not my father. I like that he’s knowledgeable about the industry, but I don’t want him to have that kind of knowledge….
Jennifer Peters 