She can't die without knowing sexual ecstasy, but her husband can't cope with her disease. She finds a lover who will give her every experience he can, if there is only time.
To keep his mother, Tala, and himself going, fourteen-year-old Filipino-American boy Angelo takes up with American sailors near the 1973 Subic Bay, Philippines, naval complex when his B-girl mother is too ill to turn tricks. They have had a hardscrabble existence in the Olongapo City slums since Angelo's sailor father shipped out thirteen years earlier. Angelo is ready to service sailors, but being handed around proves to be a rough, loveless life.
a Paul & Paula 21 story
When you're eight years old, having a sweetie isn't something you boast of. When you're eight years old, having a sweetie can lead to vicious teasing. And when you're eight years old, that's hard to deal with. -- I'm numbering them so that they will be listed in chronological order. Every now and then I might stick something in that happened before something else.