"I'll be dead by the time I am 30"

Where did that thought come from? Was it prompted by the fact that tonight, on her 29th birthday, she was standing on a dark street corner in the rain waiting for some "John" to pay to have sex with her? Carol hoped she could get a "date" tonight. Dates had been few and far between lately. She was very aware that her looks had faded. When she looked in the mirror she could see her sagging breasts, her big ass and her thick waist and knew that she was no longer attractive to men. At least her legs were still shapely. She also knew that the pallor and wrinkling of her skin was caused by her aversion to the sun and her constant drug, tobacco and alcohol use.

How had she come to be here? Her life started out like a fairy tale such a few years ago, with a loving mother and a doting father. She could remember, with a smile in her heart, the times at the beach or in the park with her father or the family gatherings with her grandparents. The entire family life was shattered when her father was killed in Viet Nam.

Her father's pension and life insurance made it unnecessary for her mother to work, so without any outside interests she took solace in a bottle. Then came the second shattering. Her mother, in a drunken stupor, went in search of another bottle at a time of night when only drunks are out. She met one, head on, and at 15 Carol was orphaned.

Because of the money, her uncle and aunt (her fathers older sister) were happy to take her in. She soon found that her uncle was a dirty old man when she caught him peaking out of her closet and masturbating while he watched her getting dressed for school.

It all came to a head a few weeks before her 16th birthday when the he tried to rape her. Her aunt was away and she was awakened by the drunken old bastard trying to get into her bed, nude. Although she escaped from him this time, he said that if she told anyone he would say that she was the instigator. The threat worked and she kept quiet. He took this as his license to grab a feel of her at every opportunity.

A few days after her 16th birthday she left with her 19 year old boyfriend, Jerry, her uncle's car and $312 that she stole from his sock drawer. When the money ran out they turned to a life of crime. The beginning of the end was when they found a gun in a car they were ransacking. The gun led to a series of armed robberies, which led to a long prison term for Jerry and a stretch in a youthful offender's facility for Carol.

Jerry's baby was born while she was imprisoned, so the state took it away from her and put it up for adoption. At 21 she was released and the state found her a job in a fast food restaurant and a bed in a half way house.

It wasn't long before she was caught in the back room having sex with one of her co-workers. The manager wanted, and got, his share. Her employment in the fast food industry came to an end when she sent a case of clap home to the manager's wife.

It did teach her, however, that sex could be a lucrative career for a young, attractive, woman. Her days were free and she was not encumbered with any responsibility. She had plenty of money for the first time in her adult life. Having too much money was just like having the gun. Slowly but surely she was drawn into the fast crowd with their drugs and "I couldn't care less" attitude.

She had been working the streets for over two years when she was first arrested for soliciting. This marked her with the local vice squad and arrest followed arrest. She soon found that she was spending more time in jail than on the street and most of the money she made was used to pay fines. The city was making more money from her prostitution than she was.

Carol finally got the message and left Jacksonville for the "big time" in Las Vegas. The big time was not quite what she had expected. The years of alcohol and drug abuse were beginning to take their toll. Most of her competitors were still in their teens. The bloom of her youth was rapidly fading and she found it harder and harder to attract the big spenders.