Chapter 4: New Skills and an Angel

Arriving downtown Linda saw an Italian restaurant featuring pizza and grabbed the bus’ stop-cord. She realized that hunger pangs were making her cranky. Ms. Mouse agreed. Linda walked into the restaurant and, since it was open seating, she selected an empty table by the front window. She was pleased that the pizza menu allowed customers to order by the slice. Linda ordered two slices of pepperoni pizza and a Pepsi. It was really good pizza. She would definitely return to this place when she was hungry.

Back in her hotel room, Linda opened the top drawer of her dresser and spotted the plastic grocery bag containing her ripped white blouse. Deciding it was a good time to dump the blouse, Linda picked it up and stuffed the entire bag in her purse.

After she left the Wilson Hotel Linda walked along the sidewalk, for several random blocks, no particular destination in mind. Ms. Mouse was doing her invisible Jedi thing, freeing Linda to absorb the local scenery. Dirty taverns, a pawn shop, adult bookstore, doughnut shop, closed now at night. A few boarded up store-fronts and a large neon-glow second story sign over what used to be a theater, flashing ‘GIRLS! GIRLS! GIRLS!’ in several different colors.

As she started to walk past the theater entrance a man standing near the alley whispered something to her, too low for her to catch what he said. Linda’s radar perked right up.

Walking closer to the alley guy Linda looked him over. Dirty T-shirt, ripped jeans and tennis shoes. Alley guy needed a haircut and that scraggly beard wouldn’t win him any style points.

“Hey, chica, you looking to get high? I’ve got the good stuff. Just about anything you need. If I don’t have it on me, I can get it.”

“Show me what you got.”

“Not here, back in the alley. Too many eyes out here.”

“Lead on, alley guy.”

Linda followed him twenty feet into the alley when he turned. “OK, sugar. Whatchoo need from Little Micky?”

“Not much.” Linda didn’t feel like talking. The man was definitely a dealer. She got no vibes off him that he was anything other than what he appeared to be. Evil. Dealer. Scum.

Deciding to add onto the Tall-Muscle guy rumor, Linda simply lifted alley guy and slammed him against the back of a building eight feet off the ground, smashing his head and killing him instantly. After he slid down to the alley floor she very, very carefully searched him. He did indeed have drugs on his body. He also had cash in a leather pouch hanging on a metal chain around his neck. Looking inside the pouch she saw a bunch of green bills dropped haphazardly inside. At least he was a successful drug dealer ... until he met Ms. Mouse. She snapped the chain and placed the pouch into her purse.

Then she walked out of the alley and continued her quest for a trash can or dumpster where she could drop the bagged blouse. Deciding to walk up to 3rd she turned at the next corner. It was now around 10 o’clock and Linda was getting tired. It had been a very eventful day.

Streets in Cauthen, Virginia ran east and west, and the avenues were all north-south. The whores and pimps owned 3rd Street from State Avenue in the west, six blocks to Spring Avenue in the east. Cauthen was a very moral city. No prostitutes or pimps had been arrested in the last five years, ergo, there must not be any illegal sex trade in the city. Pat yourselves on the back Cauthen politicians. Good Job! Police department too. Plenty of kudos to spread around.

Arriving on 3rd Linda looked around. There was a city trash can on the corner, and Ms. Mouse slipped the plastic bag full of torn white blouse inside. Glancing up, Linda noticed twenty or thirty whores on the stroll. Walking east and west on 3rd, they preened and posed for the johns cruising slowly in cars, as they called out to each other, back and forth. It was like a scene from a party.

One group of seven girls approached Linda. Pussy Posse, Ms. Mouse whispered in Linda’s ear. Jedi mind trick time. Linda faded from view. The girls paused on the corner, and complained about how slow tonight was.

“If I don’t get me some soon, Pinky’s gonna beat the snot right out of me.”

“Bitch, Pinky beats the shit out of you anyway.”

“Yeah, but he don’t use the clothes hanger unless I’m short, and tonight don’t look good.”

Ms. Mouse whispered, Let’s find us some of this Pinky.

Linda nodded, “Let’s do that.”

One of the whores, the last one in the Posse, turned to see who was talking. Noticing no one, she shook her head and stuck her finger in her ear to clean the wax out.

Two blocks east, Linda could see five men standing on the corner, talking, laughing, and passing around a couple joints.

Pimps, whispered Ms. Mouse.

One of the men was dressed all in pink. Linda raised an eyebrow at Ms. Mouse.

Ms. Mouse nodded. It was Pinky all right.

Linda continued walking closer. She was on the opposite side of the street from the five pimps.

Time to see what kind of range she possessed. Pinky had a lung full of smoke when he dropped the joint and grabbed his nuts. He choked out smoke, trying to scream, as blood stained his hands and spread around his crotch.

Another pimp, dressed in purple with a ruffled white shirt, yelled at Pinky for dropping the joint on the sidewalk. Then he, too, started doing the missing-dick-dance. All five pimps ended up lying on the hard sidewalk holding their crotch and bleeding. Someone must have called 911. Linda heard the approaching sirens of police and ambulance drivers. Ms. Mouse slipped silently into the night, headed for the Wilson Hotel, room 312.

Back in her room Linda opened the leather pouch alley guy was wearing. Dumping a pile of cash on the bed, Linda had to smile. A successful, profitable days work. Counting out the money in her denomination piles Linda found she had another $4,400! “Damn, how much time did I waste working at McDonald’s? Good thing I didn’t get a college scholarship after all. I would’ve wasted another four years there.” Linda scooped the money up into her purse along with the now-empty leather pouch, and placed her purse under her pillow, so she could sleep on it.

In the morning Linda grabbed her toiletries bag and walked down the hall to the communal bath. Fat guy opened the door to his room, spotted Linda in the hall and slammed it shut. She smiled as she heard the deadbolt click home. Finding the bathroom empty Linda walked in, locking the door behind herself this time. After paying tribute to the porcelain god, Linda took a quick, relaxing shower, dried off and walked back to her room.

Okay. Today was a mall type shopping day. She needed to pick up linens, towels, some dishes, a few clothes, steel-toed shoes, a small flat screen TV or a radio. Maybe both. The room at Carla’s house had connections for wifi and cable TV. A computer was in the future but not today, unless she found a really good deal. Thanks to alley guy’s contribution she wouldn’t need to visit the credit union for a withdrawal.

Linda dressed for shopping in a blouse, skirt, and sandals. Downstairs, she and Tommy exchanged greetings as she grabbed another paper to read on the bus.

“Hey, Linda good morning.”

“Good morning to you, too, Tommy.”

“Front page, ‘The Back Alley Killer’ strikes again. Some drug dealer just a few blocks south of here. Down by the peep shows.”

“Cops have any leads?”

“Nah, but they still looking for some giant dude. Word on the street is a big-ass-vigilante has moved here. Good for us, I say. Crooks have taken this city over, and the politicians are in on it. Some of the cops are too.”

“Any other excitement around?”

Tommy started laughing. “Only if you consider dick-less pimps exciting.”

“How’s that?”

“Seems five of 3rd Street’s pimps ended up with their dicks cut off last night. Two of them died from blood loss. The other three are still in the hospital. Big mystery there. Might be an FBI corruption probe going down in the city too. One of their agents was found dead in Semper Fi park yesterday.”

“You might just be right! Someone may just be cleaning this city up. My money’s on the Big Guy.”

“So far no one’s been killed that wasn’t crooked, except that FBI agent, and that was prolly ‘cause he got too close to someone in the know. If someone’s tryin’ to clean this dump out, I’m on his side.”

“A dead FBI agent too?”

“Yeah, he got page two billing. Couple of teenagers walking in the park found the body. Paper said he was lying face down in his own vomit.”

“Was he shot?”

“Paper says not, but gotta wait for the coroner’s report to know for sure.”

“Well okay, Tommy, breakfast time for me. I need to go shopping today.”

“I heard you was movin’ out. I was just gettin’ to know you.”

“Yeah, I found a nice room for rent in a house out in the ‘burbs. No offense, but it’s a lot safer than the Wilson.”

“No offense taken. I don’t own the place, just work here. You have a nice breakfast now, honey, and have fun shoppin’. If you see the giant, tell him us common folks are on his side.”

“I’m gonna miss you.”

After breakfast at Starbucks, Linda caught a bus to South Central Mall. For the first time in her life, shopping was not a financial burden. She estimated there was close to six thousand in her purse. She still had the two grand in the train station, and around seventeen hundred in the safety deposit box, thanks to the pimp’s money clip. She hadn’t touched her checking or savings accounts yet. Life was good!

By the time Linda ran out of hands to carry all the bags, she had spent over eight hundred dollars. No one had any steel-toed shoes, ladies variety, though. Sexist shoe manufacturers! One store offered to special order the shoes, but when she checked the price, Linda just resolved to stop kicking dead bodies. She never got around to electronics, linens, or dishes. Tomorrow.

Linda took out her flip-phone and called a Yellow Cab. When the cab arrived she decided to drop the new clothes off at Carla’s house.

First though, she made a quick stop at the train station and added two days worth of quarters to the storage locker.

She walked up to the front door of 810 Prospect, and rang the buzzer. Carla opened the door and fussed at her, “Linda, you live here now. I gave you a key. There’s no need to make me walk all the way over here to open the door now.”

Linda smiled at the nice old lady and entered, awkwardly, with all her shopping bags.

“Oh my! You have been busy today, haven’t you? Come inside and sit down. I want to see everything!”

Linda entered the living room and set her bags on the floor with a sigh. Carrying all those clothes got heavy, fast.

Carla came back in carrying coffee service for two. After the ladies poured, fixed, and stirred, Carla said, “Okay now. Show me what you got.”

Linda proceeded to take her purchases out of the bags one by one and show them to Carla amid the ‘Ohh’s and Ahh’s of her landlady.

When the show ‘n’ tell session was over Carla said, “Oh, I almost forgot. You missed all the excitement yesterday. Little Jackie from across the street was almost kidnapped! Some man drove up in a van and tried to snatch him right off the street. “The girls”, she nodded upstairs, “say he shows up on the internet with a whole history of sex crimes. From what they told me he kidnaps young boys, sexually abuses them and tortures them to death. He has been in and out of prison.” Carla nodded to herself.

“That’s horrible. Did he escape? What happened to Jackie?”

“Well now, the funniest thing happened to that man! Somehow, he got beat half to death. Even lost his privates. There was blood everywhere. None of it was Jackie’s though. He got away just in time and his momma ran him straight into the house. Jackie kept yelling something about an angel saving him.”

At that moment two girls, close to Linda’s age, came down the stairs and into the living room.

“Linda, this is Janice and that’s Kathy. They’re the two girls rooming upstairs with you. I told you about them yesterday.”

“Hey, Linda, nice to meet you,” said Kathy. “Carla has been telling us all about you.”

“Hi there. I’m Janice, and like Kathy said, nice to finally meet you. Looks like you bought out the entire shopping center.”

“Are you moving in tonight?” Kathy asked.

“No, I was just at the mall and decided to drop these things off here, since it was still early in the day. I’m not moving the rest of my stuff ‘till tomorrow.”

“Too bad. We have a tournament tomorrow, or we could help you move.”

“A tournament? What kind of tournament is that?” Linda asked.

“We play golf for the college during the school year, and practice all summer at the Cauthen Country Club. It’s a great way to meet a potential Mr. Right,” giggled Kathy.

“Yeah, but all we’ve met so far are the ‘Mr. Right Now‘ guys,” added Janice.

“I don’t know about that. Bill was pretty interested in you the other day.”

“Interested in seeing what his hands could find,” replied Janice.

“Golf hmm? I’ve always wanted to learn how to play golf, but never had the chance.”

“We could show you the basics. Neither of us is great, but we could at least show you which club to use for each shot.”

“That sounds like a lot of fun. Maybe after I get moved in we could find some time to play.”

“Good then. We’ll probably start with getting a bucket of balls and letting you practice your swing and then some practice on the putting green,” suggested Kathy.

“Sounds like a plan,” said Janice.

Carla said, “Let’s help Linda get all these nice new clothes up into her room. I’m sure she has more to get done today so she can finish moving in tomorrow.”

With all four ladies carrying bags upstairs it was an easy task. In the room, Linda once again had to show off all her purchases.

Carla said, “Just leave everything here on the bed. I’ll get all these nice new clothes washed tonight and tomorrow morning for you. My washer and dryer are both upstairs, so don’t worry about me carrying loads of clothes up and down.”

“Did Carla tell you about Little Jackie?” asked Kathy.

“Yes, Carla did mention something about that.”

“That pervert got just what he deserved,” muttered Janice. “I can’t imagine how devastated his parents would’ve been if that creep had gotten away with kidnapping Jackie.”

“Exactly,” added Carla.

“It’s odd, though. Just how did the perv end up with broken ribs, and all those bruises?”

“Don’t forget his nuts! I heard they were pureed.”

“More like ground round steak,” said Carla.

“Sounds like I missed all the fun, then.”

“How do you plan to move tomorrow? Do you have a car?”

“No, I think renting a pickup truck or van from U-Haul is the best idea. I can pick up everything I still need at the mall, plus my suitcases ‘n’ stuff from the hotel. The whole move will just take one trip.”