Chapter 3

Karen started the next morning and took to the job well, the customers were usually friendly and sometimes left tips, not a lot but it all helped, the tips all went into a pot and were shared out between the staff each week based on how many hours you had worked that week.

She loved her job and enjoyed interacting with the customers, the other staff were all friendly and for just a little while every day she could forget about what waited for her at home.

After she had been working at the “Copper Kettle” for a year and a half she was still having to give the landlord regular blowjobs to give her time to pay off the rent arrears. She had paid most of it now but it was slow going, no matter how much overtime she put in or how good the tips were before the end of the month Richard would find her purse and manage to spend most of the rent.

At first Karen would get embarrassed and tried to change the subject when one of her colleagues mentioned a black eye or cut. Gradually as the beatings got worse Kelly often found she had to send the girl back into the kitchen to work so that the customers wouldn’t see her bruised face. All the staff were concerned for her but Karen avoided all attempts to get her to talk about what she was going through.

Eventually after she had been working at the “Kettle” for a year Karen finally opened up to Sharri, a friendly girl with long ginger hair and freckles who worked in the kitchen. It was difficult for her to talk to anyone about it. She still loved Richard totally, even after all the beatings and the lost money he was still her man and she loved him.

As Karen was being sent to the kitchen more and more over time they had plenty of time to chat as they worked and Sharri became her best friend, well her only friend really.

The pair would quite often go for a coffee after work. It was a relief for Karen to have a shoulder to cry on when Richard’s abuse got too much for her to take. Karen tried not to dump her problems on Sharri too often but some days she just needed someone to talk to and Sharri always seemed to know when her shoulder was needed. Sharri’s boyfriend Jack was in the police and Sharri often tried to get Karen to go to the police about Richard’s violence. Karen knew her friend was worried about her and was only trying to help but why couldn’t she see that Richard was a good man? He was just going through a bad patch that’s all it was.

Soon her man would find himself a good job, he would be happy and stop taking his frustration out on her. They would be able to rebuild their lives, buy a new house, start a family, it was only a matter of time. Karen knew that Richard could do it, she just had to have faith and stand by him until he was back on his feet again.