Chapter 4

Cherry tried to gather her thoughts together so that she could find some way to explain to Jane what she had done, and why she did it. The left side of her face hurt where she had been hit the night before, and now the right side also hurt where Jane had hit her with the bag of ice. Her upper lip was cut and she could taste the bold that trickled down into her mouth.

With a groan, Cherry slid off the bed and rose unsteadily to her feet. Picking up a tissue from a box on the bedside table beside her bed, she dabbed at the cut. Then, she walked slowly into the living room still clutching the crumpled tissue in her hand. Jane was not in sight and when Cherry looked through her open bedroom door, it was clear that she was not their either. The only other place that she could be was on the balcony, so that is where Cherry headed next.

When she slid open the glass door to the balcony, she could feel the light breeze that blew from the sea. With the smell of the sea, and the Sunday morning quiet of the city streets, Cherry felt herself becoming calmer and she decided that Jane had to know the complete truth about her life and the choices she had made.

Jane was sitting on one of the two bamboo chairs on the balcony, gazing vacantly into space. As always, the balcony was her place to go to when she wanted to feel calm and to release her stress. Today was no exception, so when Cherry stepped onto the balcony, Jane had stopped feeling so angry, although she was still not ready to forgive her mother for doing the things she had learned about earlier.

“So, the whore has finally decided to get out of her bed. Have you used that bed to fuck men when I am at the university? I’m sure a slut like you would want to take advantage of having an empty apartment to earn some more by opening her legs for some stranger she picked up on the street.”

Jane’s voice was full of contempt for her mother and her actions. Cherry started to speak, but the words would not come out. Instead, she sat on the other chair and covered her face with her hands.

Jane searched her brain for all the nasty, dirty words to use against her mother. She no longer wanted to shout at her, but she wanted to hurt her by the words she used.

“I see you have washed your hair clean after letting that man piss on you like the cheapest street whore who has no shame or pride. Did you also make sure your cunt was well washed because I’m sure he fucked you without a condom and filled you full of his cum? Who knows what disease he might have given you or maybe you have already been fucked by so many men that you are the one spreading diseases to them. You disgust me and I will never forgive you for being such a cheap street whore.”

And Jane looked at the woman who had given birth to her with disgust and contempt.

“As soon as I can, I’m leaving here so you won’t have to worry about me getting in the way of your whoring activities. You’ll be free to fuck day and night and I hope you will be happy living the life of a dirty and shameless cock sucking cunt.”

Jane’s torrent of words finally ceased and she sat glaring at the woman who she had always admired and loved for the hard struggle to support them both after her father had abandoned them. Now she was angry and confused, and she wanted to vent all her anger at her mother for deceiving her for so many years, and for choosing to live such a disgusting and degrading lifestyle. If any of Jane’s friends or fellow students discovered that her mother was a bitch ... a whore ... a woman without shame or morals ... without pride ... who would sell her body to any man willing to pay ... who must have let maybe hundreds of men fuck her ... Jane almost cried with the shame of being connected to this PROSTITUTE ... this PUTA ... she thought inwardly.

But at last she was silent. Her rage had exhausted her emotionally and physically as her adrenaline levels fell. That’s when Cherry finally began to speak.

“Baby,” she said, using the term of endearment that she had used all her life when talking to Jane.

“Don’t call me baby. You know I don’t like it, and now I hate the idea that I was ever your baby,” Jane’s anger erupted briefly.

“Sorry, Jane, sorry for calling you that, and sorry for the way you found out about me. But please let me explain.” Jane grudgingly nodded her willingness to listen.

“When your father left, I had to try to find a job that would pay enough to support us both and to make a better life for you. I don’t know if you remember what life was like when we lived in the old barangay, but I can tell you that the roads were full of potholes, there were rats and cockroaches everywhere, the stream near us was polluted and sometimes had dead animals in it, the tin roof of our house leaked and the streets were not safe for young girls and boys at night because if they were not robbed they would be raped. That’s the only place that your father could afford for us to live. When he left, I knew we had to get out of there.”