BACK IN APRIL, a gentleman named Jerry wrote to request ...

N APRIL, a gentleman named Jerry wrote to request that I let him lick, suck and otherwise worship my gnarled, stinky feet. Color me uptight, but I don't like strangers; I'm hardly going to let one jam his tongue between my toes.

Shortly thereafter, I received a note from a young woman asking that I forward her email address onto my frustrated foot-freaky friend. Turns out, she's a professional foot-fetish model and was offering her services-for a price-to Jerry.

I've known dominatrixes and various other sex professionals, but I've never met someone who deals strictly in feet. So I asked Nadia (her business name) if she'd be interested in being interviewed. Much to my glee, she agreed.

Because it's got the proper naughty noir flavah, I asked her to meet me at the Gramercy Hotel bar. I got there first and secured a table in a dark corner. The only other customers were a couple discussing the logistics of their soon-to-be tawdry affair.

"I care more about my kids. I would love them to think well of me," whined the douche in a suit. His coconspirator murmured something naughty in his ear while stroking his lapel. He did his best to feign an expression of torment. I was mesmerized.

Then an attractive young woman walked into the bar-my date! If she hadn't told me to look for the green shirt, I never would've pegged her as someone who lets strangers lick her feet for money. With her big brown eyes and perfect teeth, Nadia looks like an extra-pretty kindergarten teacher, maybe an ex-cheerleader. I waved her over and quickly filled her in on the dramatics going on across the room. We both turned to listen.

"I want someone who wants me for me!" Philanderous Phil bleated. We burst out laughing at his jackassitude and ordered drinks.

So, how did a wholesome-looking gal get into the foot biz?

"It sort of found me," Nadia explained. "Back when I lived in the Midwest, I'd be at a rock show and guys would just come up to me and ask if they could kiss my feet. It happened more than once. The first time it happened I couldn't stop laughing-I thought it was the best line I'd ever heard. So I let him."

Nobody has ever expressed such interest in my dogs, so I pushed the tablecloth aside to get a better look at these irresistible feet. Through her boots, they looked like normal chick feet. At the risk of being rude, I asked what it is about her feet that drives men wild.

"I've been told that I've got these perfect big feet," she said. "None of the other girls where I work have feet my size. I wear a size 10 shoe."

It's important to note that Nadia does not have sex with her clients, though things do get intimate. "They sniff my feet and lick my toes and sometimes they'll just hold my foot while they, um, relieve themselves-not on me. [But] sometimes they don't even do that. Sometimes they just love sucking on my feet. One guy likes to pat his face with my feet. It's really sweet actually."

Does it ever get creepy?

"Not really," she assured me. "The only time I got a little freaked out was when I had a regular who got too possessive. The first few times I met with him, he was very amiable. Then he stopped seeing any other girls and began asking me very personal questions. He started mistaking what we were doing-which is a fun, fantasy thing-as intimacy. At one point he said, 'If I could just keep your feet in a box and just carry it around with me, I would be the happiest man on Earth.' That set off a red flag. Then he started gnawing on my feet really, really hard and it would hurt. I had to tell him to stop. It just felt a little too Jeffrey Dahmer after a while.

"For the most part, they're very sweet guys."

Even when things get strange, it's more curious than dangerous.

"There's a specialty called trampling, which is literally standing on the person. My very first experience with this was with this old man. He came in with a cane? He lay down on the floor and put his hands out, face-up, and wanted me to stand on his hands with my stilletto heels on? I stepped on his hands. He starts howling and so I stopped. He goes, 'No, no, honey, keep doing it!' Then he wanted me to stand on his chest, but he kept making these horrible grunts-not like pleasure, but like he's having a heart attack. I kept thinking I was going to kill him. But he loved it. Gave me a big tip."

By now the conflicted couple across from us were pouring themselves into a cab-together. Curiosity was about to kill me, so we went into the bathroom. Nadia removed her boots and socks, revealing feet that were probably as cute as feet can get-but still.

"I think we just think differently," she pointed out. "I think it's always going to be a different approach than with a man."

Compared with scat play, bukkake and infantilism, a foot fetish seems pretty mild-quaint, even. Nadia agrees with a smile. "The foot thing is really pretty innocent. Unless they want to cut them off and put them in a box."

Nadia can be reached at Perfectsize10s@hotmail.com.