ANOTHER KIND OF DIAMOND

by Gloria Obizu

  You don’t have to be sorry, okay? ‘Cause I’m here now and everything is cool babe! You want us to go somewhere special or something? I said still trying to be nice to him and stuff, you know?

  What? The guy screamed and moved away from me when I moved closer to him, you don’t understand, he continued. I don’t really want anything from you, so I’m very sorry about this ‘cause is my mistake and I apologize. The thing is that I saw some Ads , some girls pictures and phone numbers in this Daily News Paper that I’ve in my hand and dialed ‘cause I wanted to know what will happen. I wasn’t thinking you’ll be here for real, believe me! I’m like that! I always want to prove things by myself. If you want to know, I’m from some country he said the name of the county but I don’t even remember that. And I came into the US only six months ago. There in my country, this kind of thing is impossible so, you see why I wasn’t thinking you’ll be here for real? I like everything I’m seeing though, but I’m sorry I can’t do anything with you because I’m married.

  Are you serious? Rita cut in. When you think you’ve seen it all something pups out of the damned deep blue sea! Rita uttered.

  Wait! You ain’t heard anything yet, Cindy went on. Shut your mouth fucker, I shouted at him. Enough of your nonsense, okay? I’m here for business and you wanna tell me fucking ass stories about some bullshit. Ok, all I get from all this stuff you are making up right now is you don’t wanna get down with me, ha? That’s fine! Just let me have the money. Your bill is a hundred bucks and as soon as I get that, I’ll be ready to get out of your face.

  Now listen to this, I don’t have that kind of money, the idiot started ranting again. I’m on duty here or can’t you see? The only money I’ve with me is this 20 dollar bill and he had the boldness to put the fucking money in my face and that got me really upset. I just thought I couldn’t handle it anymore so I picked up the phone and called Jove. Hi Johnny! Some guy here is making some trouble, I said. And I was speaking so loud ‘cause I wanted that guy to hear me thinking he would get scared and play ball but no. Instead I heard him say, are you calling the cops on me or what?

  Are you serious? Rita screamed.

  Listen! Please don’t do that ‘cause I don’t want my wife to know about this! Cindy chuckled along with Rita. And he continued with all the bullshit stuff again and was still talking when Jevons came and stood right in his face with his 6 foot 2 height and massive flesh. Hi lover boy! Are you gonna do business or not? Jevons’s voice echoed.

  I already told your woman I don’t want to do anything with her, he started again. Anyway let’s get out of here to some corner ‘cause I don’t want my family to hear about this at all. He led the way while we followed until we got to a sport and then he started repeating the same bullshit story he already told me but Jevons caught him short.

  I don’t want to listen to any of your crap, okay? You wanna do business or not? Jevons was looking really menacing.

  I’m a married man please. Just take your girl and go, the guy repeated.

  And where were your fucking senses when you called us to come out here in the cold, eh? Are you crazy or something? Jevons was really angry and was showing it but did it matter to the guy? No! Instead he started talking shit again. I’m surprised this kind of thing could happen. How does a man call a girl he saw her picture on a News Paper without meeting and talking to her beforehand and then from nowhere she shows up and wants to do whatever with him. What if the man is evil, he could kill her in matter of seconds.

  All that is taken care of sucker! Jevons told him.

  Anyway I’m in shock right now because I never thought women go this far. This has thought me a big lesson!

  And how do you like that, ah? Jevons asked.

  I don’t know, he responded. May be attitude about them is going to change and they can’t blame me ‘cause they brought it on themselves. The guy was by now really working my nerves but I still kept my cool.

  You better quit running your mouth, okay? You think I care a bit about what you say or how you feel? This is business, it is legit Mr. and business you gonna do, Jevons was almost shouting by now.

  What kind of business is it? The guy asked without showing any sign he was ready to play ball. By now I couldn’t hold back anymore so I told Jevons we are wasting precious time arguing with this fellow ‘cause he is never gonna learn. That was when Jevons got rough with him.

  Now your bill is 100 dollars, pay or you die. I will strangle you, put your body in the trunk of my car and go dump you some place where nobody will ever find you and I assure you nobody will even know I did it. I’ve done it before. Jevons threatened him.

  Please don’t kill me, he pleaded like the coward he is. I’ve a wife and six children and I’m the only one providing for my family.

  I don’t think you know who you’re messing with, understand? Do you think I give a fuck about your family history, ah? No! I mean, do you think I really care? Jevons tried talking real mean thinking this will brake him but not this guy. I know you don’t care but please don’t kill me, he said instead.

  Pay up then and let’s get out of here! Jevons now raised his voice even higher.

  I don’t have the money. Besides it’s too much. I understand you are probably doing your job Mr. but I won’t pay 100 dollars just for an hour with any girl.

  Now listen up and listen good fella! We are here for business and business you gonna do, Jevons said and was gonna grab him by the throat again but he said; Ok! Ok! Wait please. I don’t have any money here but I’ve some in my bank.

  Where the hell is your bank, damn it?

  On Vermont Avenue!

  That’s not too far from here, so why the fuss?

  I know, but I can’t leave my job. What if my supervisor shows up?

  Wait a minute! I don’t think you understand what you got yourself into Fella! Are you saying you’ll rather die than loss your job, ah? What kind of a guy are you?

  I’m really afraid right now! I don’t want my family to know about this please, the guy continued.

  You’ll then die, still afraid and I’ll like to see what that will look like on your cold miserable face, Jevons said and tried to grab his throat again.

  Ok! Ok! Let’s negotiate please, the guy started again. Jevons looked at me and I myself was staring back at him. I didn’t even know what I was thinking anymore until I heard Jevons shouting, negotiate? Negotiate what? We ain’t talking about deals here, moron. All we want is the 100 bucks you owe us, that’s it! That’s for an hour though ‘cause once an hour is over we begin charging you extra 100 bucks for every 30 minutes so I advise you save you and your family some money? We’ve been here 30 minutes already and time is going. It’s probably gonna take another 30 to get to the bank and back and that’s if you are lucky with the traffic. So I advise you wizen up, fool!

  Ok! “Take me to the bank and I will give you 50 bucks,” the guy had the boldness to utter again and I remember thinking that he is truly crazy and is like Jevons was thinking the same way ‘cause the next thing I heard was, “come-on men, there is a crazy fella out here tonight!” Jevons was shouting real meanly this time. “You give me 50 dollars?” “Are you kidding with me or something?” He moved really close again and now grabbed the guy’s throat for real.

  Ok! Ok! Let’s go to the bank. I’ll take the risk and I will give you the 100 dollars.

  That was how we got to his bank, he cashed and gave us $100 and then we took him back to his bank job just for being nice sake ‘cause we could have let him walk. He didn’t even have the courtesy to say thank you when he got off the car. He just worked away without looking back and I remember thinking that this is one of those bad guys out there. I wondered what the outcome could have been if I had gone alone, understand? He probably would have killed me to avoid paying the money or to keep the whole thing from his family.

 
See! This is the kind of thing I’ve been talking about, Carissa started. Now Tasha is gone and that’s really serious! Yeah! It is gonna be harder ‘cause I don’t know what I’ gonna do without her. Actually my mind is beginning to work in other directions right now.

  Don’t go crying again Carissa. We gonna be there for you no matter what. We’ll always have each other, you know that! Rita stressed.

  I know! But nothing will ever be the same without Tasha! No way! Carissa continued with bursts of tears.

  I know something horrible has happened but there is nothing none of us could have done to stop it, Cindy continued trying to talk Carissa out of grief. Tasha liked doing that kind of job they went for yesterday ‘cause it brings in lots of bucks. If you pull it through, sometimes you make as much as five thousand grand or more and Tasha does it a lot and really experienced with it, so I wonder what went wrong this time. I don’t even understand why people kill with things like this, Cindy continued. You get your stuff and I get my cut so why some guys go crazy and start shooting and all that, I don’t know.

  ‘Cause they are greedy, Carissa started sulking. Some people just want to take the money and the drugs, go sell it to someone else probably kill the person too and the same thing continues. Some wanna simply kill everyone else and keep everything to themselves.

  And they got our own Tasha this time! We shall miss her a lot! Rita began again. But it could have been any one of us you know. I think the rest of us need to be really careful. A lot of weird things happen at the club you know. Some you get to hear others no one talks about. There are lots of rumors making the rounds these days about things happening to girls like us that sometimes I get scared but because I don’t know what to do, I try to remain calm.

  You are right! Some girls just disappear and you don’t hear from them ever again, understand? There are some girls I see and then I don’t see them no more and I ask about them and nobody says anything has happened to them but I keep worrying. It is all wired Carissa continued. Remember Wendy?

  Ehen! The pretty tiny girl who is very popular at the club? She is really fun to be with. Rita said.

  I know! But no one has seen her in months. There is a rumor that she is missing. I think she went on outside job too and not been seen since then. Carissa said.

  I also had that Pam is down with Aids. Cindy added.

  Really? Rita reacted. I now know why I’ve not been seeing her for a while. There is this other girl I know who is down with AIDS too. Come to think of it, I blame them for that! We all know the risk in this business, so how is someone gonna do it without a condom? I don’t get it.

  What about the drugs! That is killing us too! Guys, sometimes you do stuff you don’t wanna do ‘cause you just don’t know what you do ‘cause you are high on drugs! I also heard that Mabel passed out in her room last week ‘cause she overdosed on some stuff.

  Baby, sometimes it’s hard to do what we do with your two eyes wide open. You must spice up your mood or you shut down. Cindy started again. Babe we got to make some money! And the higher the risk on the job, the more the pay, understand? So some guys want girls to do all sorts of things including going without the condom and ready to pay more and girls go for it. I personality won’t take such a risk. No, I won’t for all the money in the world! So I say, watch your steps, you out there! Take it easy and slow it down! At the heat of it all, pause and remember what is really important and that is life. And baby we live but once.

  Of what use is the money you are not gonna use anyways? The fucking dead don’t need any money was Carissa’s reaction.

  I know! Cindy continued. That’s why we need extra care with the kind of job we do! There are lots of psycho out there these days, don’t forget that! Some wanna rape, others wanna kill. The serial killers all go for babes especially people like us. Some go internet just to brain wash girls and get them into all kinds of stuff. I think the whole thing is getting out of hand. I’ve heard very bad experiences especially in my days as a fresher on the job, but I keep strong and keep going. I remember this particular job I went for back in the days and the guy wanted nothing but a forced kind of thing, you know.

  You mean like rape? Carissa asked.

  Yeah! Cindy responded. That’s what he wanted. He didn’t want anything regular, understand? Yeah! He told me he was gonna get force-y. Can you imagine that! Anyways, I thought that was crazy ‘cause I’ve never heard such a wired thing in my entire life.

  And what did you do? Carissa asked.

  I refused. And when he tried to get mean my fingers went for my ‘Johnny’s’ number. I was screaming into his ears and he came banging on his door. That saved me.

  Baby that was very close!

  I know! What about this other wired dud that was married and still wanted stuff right in the presence of his wife. Not that I cared, understand? I was gonna get down with business, pick up my dough and scram but out of the blues a gun jumped into his wife’s hands and she is like , get out of my house ! I wasn’t even listening to her until the guy himself told me to leave and I walked away with nothing. Not even a cent.

  Cindy! Don’t tell me you didn’t bolt the moment a gun showed up! Baby, I’ll run with all the energy I could afford ‘cause that’s one thing I hate in my life. That was risk taking in the extreme girl! Carissa said.

  I understand! It was one breath taking moment, no doubt about that but Cindy doesn’t operate the way you think! Girl, I’m a hard core babe! I’ve been through so much on this planate that I don’t just get easily scared by shit any more. Anyways, don’t worry Carissa! You’ll get to the point where things like that don’t mean anything to you. Trust me! I have had guns pointed at me so many times that now it’s nothing but a toy, understand? Besides not all that carries gun shots. You have to watch them real good. Look them straight in the eyes and you’ll know who is gonna do it and who is not.

  Look them straight in the eyes? Are you crazy? Carissa will be far gone as long as I still have my head on my shoulders. Look into their eyes? Babe I think you’ve been one hell of a lucky girl.

  May Be! There was this other really crazy stuff that happened. I went for this job and the guy wanted me to get high with him and like I knew his plan I pretended we were on the same page, understand? Suddenly he took off his cloths and lo and behold there was nothing there. It was blank. I got real smart and bit it really fast. Yeah! I flew like a horning bird.

  Are you serious? Carissa asked. When you think you’ve seen it all a brand new stuff drops from the damn blue sky. May be he was into the Sex Trans thing and it went sore. Now, he is neither he nor she but a soul in denial.

  How did you figure! Carissa you are much more smart than you act you know. That was exactly what I thought and that must have been what happened. I even sensed it in a male’s voice with boobs and all that you know! And I’m like Jacob’s hand Esau’s voice. Yeah! Something about cheating, understand? I did a lot with the good books when I was in my tens but I lost all that when I got involved with some kind of crowd, get what I’m saying? Anyways, do not despair girls. Remember, every job has its share of risks, understand? Soldiers die at wars, Sailors at sea; Police men in line of duty, health care workers needle stick which could be even more deadly than a thousand bullets. Some girls even loss their lives in the hands of their husbands or boyfriends. There is this girl I know that turns up with black eyes every time, courtesy of her hussy, Cindy continued.

  That makes sense! Rita begins. Besides, we are in this ‘cause there is nothing else out there for us.

  I’m begging to think there is something else I can do. Carissa said with element of certainty.

  Carissa remembers you tried out some jobs and couldn’t find any that earned you the kind of money you are making right now. I understand it’s a wired kind of job we do and that’s why I try to put away some money. In this business you got to use your senses, you know. D
on’t spend it all in fashion and stuff but put something away like I do. I plan to buy me my own house, set me up a small business and quit for good. A fashion shop won’t be a bad idea at all. And I get out of this early, Rita said.

  I want a change so soon or I’ll go nuts. I’m thinking of doing less of TV, movies, partying and guys stuff . I’m ready for rehab if that’s what it will take to kick my drug habit. The reason we are doing only the nonsense these days is because of these things; cause they rule our world by making us lazy. Rather than glue to TV and do stuff on my days off I’ll spend the time reading to see how I can catch up with lost times and go back to school! But first I must clean up!

  Go back to school? Both girls reacted. Anyways, don’t blame anything on TV and stuff. Cindy continued. These things are like alcohol so, do it in moderation, that’s all. But if you allow that rule your world, don’t blame the hard working guys who make them happen, okay? They teach you, a lot too, understand? Besides, you have to be real about life. Tell me something, who is gonna take care of your shit while you are in school, eh? I mean you’ve got no support system, so who is gonna pay your bills. Rent, phone and all that shit. Besides how do you pay the school fees? Do you know what some of these schools charge for fees? Thousands in dollars girlfriend!