Chapter 1

The Alley was dark. The alley was cold. The alley was private.

“Three bills? That’s all?” said Wesley Parker.

“You got anybody else brings in more than me?” said Lea Scott. The pimp smiled.

“No, but you can do better,” he said. “Understand?” Lea grimaced. She needed the motherfucker for protection especially now with her mom not doing too well. The street was chancy these days, so going it alone; well, not a good idea.

“Tomorrow,” said Lea. “Tomorrow’s Monday; weekdays are always better than weekends. You know that, Wesley.” He nodded.

“Okay, but five bills tomorrow, no more of this three-shit,” he said.

“Anything for you, Wesley,” she said. Her tone totally sarcastic.

“You best believe it,” he said, his tone, conversely, was threatening.

“See that young one on corner?” said Lloyd.

“Yeah, like I could miss her,” I said. “She’s the best one around these parts.”

“Yeah, and she’s around all of the time. If Marge wasn’t so suspicious, I’d make a move on it for sure,” he said.

“You figure you could afford her,” I said.

“She’s a street walker not some fancy-ass call girl,” he said.

“Hmm, maybe,” I said.

“You oughta make a move on her yourself, Andrew old bud. You’re young and single and hard up,” he said, and he did smile.

“Yeah, but not that hard up,” I said.

“Hmm, I saw you checking out those sheep in the field back there,” he said. “But you say you’re not hard up?”

“Funny,” I said, “not!”

My partner, Lloyd Williams, wasn’t the sharpest knife in the drawer, but he did have a point. I was hard up. Twenty-five years old and damn near a virgin, not quite, but damn near. I needed to get myself a woman. I’d be hanging out at Pearl’s tonight. Gonna be hunting for some female who was at least half as hard up as I was! Hell, maybe I should check out the corner girl after all. Street walker or not, she couldn’t be any worse than nothing at all. Hell, no she couldn’t.

It was the last Saturday in January 1980, and it was unseasonably warm, and I had the weekend off as I always did. And I knew the street girls would be a little bit more accommodating price-wise. Well, I hoped anyway. All their regular businessman customers were home with their kids, or most of them. At any rate...

She was working the same corner. I was surprised the cops didn’t have her staked out. I knew the game. She was pushing it. One thing about hauling trash; nobody ever paid attention to us, unless we missed a pick up or were late. One thing people demanded in this town was timely trash removal, oh yeah!

I was sitting on a park bench across the street from her. She was just standing there. Sometimes, she would pace a little bit, stretch her legs; but she would always return to her spot. I’d seen some black guy drive by every so often and have a word with her. Her pimp? He figured to be. He’d just driven off; the girl didn’t look too happy.

I crossed the street. I decided to go for it. I came up to her.

“Busy?” I said. She looked me up and down.

“Whatcha got in mind?” she said.

“Maybe lunch?” I said.

“Lunch? Seriously?” she said. She didn’t look upset or anything. I think she thought she was talking to an ignoramus.

“Yes, and a little recreation afterwards,” I said.

“Recreation?” she said, and then she smiled. “Oh recreation.” And now I smiled.

“Shall we,” I said. Pearl’s was just up the street. I led the way to it.

We got our seats and the girl touring the floor brought us menus. “Drinks?” she said.

I nodded for my lunch date to order.

“Iced tea,” she said. I nodded and held up two fingers. Well, it was a warm day even for January.

“Mister, before we go any farther, and I am kinda hungry, you do know what’s going on here, right?” she said. I guess she still wasn’t sure that I wasn’t an ignoramus.

“Yes, ma’am, but I am not into quickies. And yes, I do have money,” I said. She seemed relieved.

“I gotta say, you’re not the first guy who’s ever asked me to lunch, but it doesn’t happen a lot. I mean...” she said.

“Look, my name is Andrew, Andy,” I said. I waited for her to give me a name. I knew it would likely be an alias, but I didn’t want to be dealing with her on a pronoun only basis.

Chapter 2 »