Chapter 3

Sore between her legs from John Dobkins' brutal ravagement and sore at the world for her ill-turned fate, Mimi Spender had peddled at full speed her ten speed bicycle back to the dormitory and headed straight through the heavy glass doors to collide head-on with her roommate of this semester--Susie, a tall, blonde girl, friendly in her own timid way. Her blonde, perspiration-matted hair clung to her forehead in stringy bangs and the underarms of her University of California T-shirt were damp from running up and down the steps with boxes of books and accumulated memorabilia of her first semester at the University.

"Hey, Mimi!" she gushed with an enthusiasm Mimi was hard put to match. Susie, set down the suitcases she was carrying, giving her arms a quick shake to get the circulation back in her favor. Quickly, though, her smile faded and in a sisterly manner put her hand on Mimi's shoulder, picking a strand of hair clean of hay. She held the plucked twig in one hand, then reached for another. "My God!" where have you been Mimi? You look like you've been rolling in the hay with Tom Jones. What's the matter?"

Mimi sucked in her breath. No, she couldn't tell Susie about the horrible afternoon she had... she couldn't tell anybody. Not even the police. "I... I'm okay. Pansy bucked me off," she lied.

"Hmmm... that's all huh?" There was more, but Susie didn't pry. "Hey, my Dad's waiting for me in the car so I gotta go. I'm glad I got to see you before I left. Bending her knees, she picked up her bulging suitcases and gave her friend a quizzical look. "Hey, just to brighten up your day, there's a surprise for you up on the bed. I found it in the student Union today... might help. I know you're uptight about tuition and horse-face giving you that C and all..."

"Yeah?" Mimi brightened momentarily, but her encouragement was soon dampened. She'd heard that story before. Easy money... didn't exist.

"Take care of yourself, Mimi, and I guess I'll see you next semester, huh?"

"You too, Susie. I'll write... bye!" Half way through the door to the elevator, Mimi turned in time to see her confidante brace her back against the heavy door to open it. For a second their eyes locked. "Say hello to your parents!" called out Mimi, bridging the silence, the very clumsy silence that separated the two girls.

The dormitory room looked like an abandoned ship. Had Mimi been in a more jovial mood the starkness of the stripped mattress and barren bulletin board might have been depressing, but as it was, she welcomed the solitudinous emptiness. Her own belongings--most of which were already packed--sat in boxes with no destination. What to do?

A scribbled note caught her eye. Oh yes, that must be what Susie found in the student union. Mimi sank down on the mattress, her calves tight from the breakneck bike ride back to campus, and her inner thighs sore and bruised, she was sure, from the photographer's assault. In Susie's gothic handwriting in red ink, Mimi read: "Good bye in case I don't see you before I leave. See 'ya next semester and have a good summer. Don't do anything I wouldn't do." Mimi cringed, but read on. Below was a index card obviously plucked from its staples. Surprisingly, it was an ad which read: "Help wanted--Female only--to work at Bartholomew's Kennels outside of Davis. Low wages but good experience; room and board included. Contact Ed. All applications confidential." Then below: "Send photograph for interview."

"Yippee!" Now here is a job right up my alley! None of this model junk. "Fantastic!"

With new resolve and a plumped up sense of self-worth, Mimi picked up the phone and dialed nine for an outside line and called information for Davis, Bartholomew's Kennels. A man answered, introducing himself as Ed Buyers and offered (considering Mimi's qualifications) to arrangement an interview for her tomorrow.