Dope Girl: The Beginning

by Sa'id Salaam

  It was only then that her empty stomach became noticeable. The local farms had given up all they could for the season which meant she would have to find a different route. She headed into town to see what she could forage. The elation of the day’s travels was visible on her pretty face as she practically skipped to town.

  That’s how Emit saw her for the first time. His car swerved when he first laid eyes on the pretty young thing. That’s exactly what he was in the market for.

  The recently widowed steel worker was comfortably middle class. He owned his own land and house in a neighboring county. Emit was hands down the most eligible bachelor in five counties.

  Even at his wife’s funeral, women, including her closest friends, shamelessly threw themselves at him. They weren’t there to see her off, but to try and replace her.

  Only problem was, Emit wanted something young. Something fresh and moldable to shape to fit him. None of the jilted mothers would sign the license allowing him take their daughters as a wife. Even when he offered cold cash he was denied. Pride cost more than money around these parts.

  News of the crack head in Longs with the gorgeous daughter reached him so he came to town to investigate. He could only wish that the pretty girl he spotted on his way to Kathy’s house was actually her. She certainly fit the description.

  Emit found the now decrepit Johnson home and pulled to a stop. The creaky stairs threatened to give way under his weight as he approached the door. He knocked and posted a smile on his face as he waited.

  “‘cuse me ma’am,” he began, ever the gentleman complete with a bow and tip of the hat. When he glanced up at the ravaged little crack head he almost turned on his heels.

  “Ten for head, and twenty if you wanna fuck,” Kathy said explaining the menu. "But since I got my period you can fuck for ten.”

  It took Emit, who had never come across a crack whore, a minute to process what the odd little woman was saying. He frowned and shook his head in disgust once he got it.

  “Do you have a daughter? I was told you have a daughter,” he said impatiently. Giving a glimpse of the dangerous personality that lay under the surface of the nice guy façade.

  “Yeah but she a good girl. She ain’t gone do nothing,” Kathy said bitterly even though she should have been proud. Half the girls her age were already fucking and half of them had babies. Instead, she was mad because her daughter was chaste.

  “Well that’s good to hear,” Emit proclaimed. Out of the young girls he was able to get parental permission for, they were all fast ass little girls. Some had a baby or two already. “I’m looking to marry.”

  “Marry?” Kathy laughed. “Tywanna ain’t but…Twel? No she…is…um fourteen? No, Fifteen!”

  “Old enough!” Emit cheered. “Law says as long as the parent signs we can get married. And, I’ll pay you a dowry!”

  “What the hell I’m gonna do with some seasoning salt?” Kathy frowned. She hadn’t cooked a meal in years and smoked more than she ate.

  “Not Lowery’s! A dowry. A bride price. I’ll give you five thousand dollars!” He said, hoping the daughter was as dumb as the mother. The dumb ones are easier to train. The thought of a young pretty and stupid girl almost gave him an erection.

  “Ten thousand!” Kathy shot back quickly. Even a rural Mississippi crack addict knew people always offered half of what they were really willing to pay.

  “You want me to sign my daughter over to you, then you gotta give me ten thousand dollars!” she proclaimed triumphantly.

  Emit started to open his mouth to haggle a bit but the front door opened first. When Tywanna saw the man she instinctively ducked her head and quickened the pace to her bedroom sanctuary.

  The couple of seconds Emit had seen her killed all negotiations. He was just relieved the crack addict didn’t say twenty grand because he would have paid it. Luckily, her little mind didn’t think that high.

  The rumors didn’t do her justice, Tywanna wasn’t pretty, she was gorgeous. Even the old lady dress she wore couldn’t fully conceal the curves on the child. The way that dress was poking out in the back bore witness that she was working with a lil’ something.

  “Ten it is!” he said, as if he were in an auction. In a way he was, since he’d just bought a person. “I’ll come by tomorrow with the cash and we can head over to the courthouse and handle the paperwork.”

  “Well, how much you got on you now?” Kathy asked shamelessly. She had that money spent already.

  “Guess I can stand to part with a few dollars.” Emit sighed. He reached into his pocket and removed a sizable bankroll and peeled off two twenties. “I’ll be round ‘bout two tomorrow.”

  Times were slow and in the bad economy forty bucks equaled four sucked dicks. It was enough to buy a meal for her child and get a couple of rocks. She could finally get one of those fat-fat burgers she was always going on and on about.

  As soon as the money touched her desperate palm it chased all thoughts of anything but getting high far, far way. Besides, her daughter would be fine. She hadn’t fed the girl in months and she’d managed.

  Tywanna heard the man leave and assumed he must have left some money behind with his semen. If she caught her mother before she got that pipe in her mouth she had a shot at a meal.

  “Mama?” she called out as she ventured into the empty living room. A check of her empty bedroom confirmed Kathy was in the wind. Kathy beat him down the steps as she rushed over to the trap house.

  More out of habit than actual success, Tywanna went to check the fridge. She could still remember vividly when it was stocked with food. Fresh fruits and vegetables, and pots full of delicious leftovers cooked by her grandmother. Now all it contained was a long ago burned out bulb.

  “And ‘I’m the lil’ bitch?” she asked angrily and slammed the door. It was the closest she ever came to talking back. She would give her sorry mother an earful whenever she was out of ear shot.

  As unfit as her mother was she still respected her. It was one of the lessons taught by her loving grandmother; lessons that were etched in stone.

  Since the gardens were out Tywanna opted for plan B. The supermarket. She wouldn’t steal because she was raised better than that. Luckily she wouldn’t have to.

  Most people in town knew her plight including the clerks at the market. They generously allowed her to keep her dignity by offering free samples of different foods. They made sure to pile it on so she could get full.

  The only downside to the market was having to past right by the Fat-Fat Burger Shop. Tywanna crossed the street as she neared hoping to put a little distance between herself and what she couldn’t have. It was futile though because fat-fat burgers had an aroma that traveled for miles. The smell was so strong you could taste it.

  Dinner was several pieces of a new sausage the store grilled for customers to sample. The lady in the deli asked Tywanna to try the new cheese and the man in the bakery needed her opinion on a batch of fresh baked muffins. Water from the fountain washed it all down and sent the girl home full. Mission accomplished.

  Chapter 8

  “I need you to come straight home from school today,” Kathy advised as Tywanna prepared to leave. “That man who was here yesterday wants to talk to you about something.”

  “Ok mama,” Tywanna said, while simultaneously saying ‘yeah right’ inside her head. Anything a friend of hers had to say, she was sure she didn’t need to hear.

  It still amazed the girl how many handsome and well to do men would come by to see her mother. She knew a lot of them had wives and families, so why Kathy?

  “Probably cuz she let them put they thang in her mouth,” she assumed bitterly. She assumed right too because that’s exactly why they came.

  Kathy had lost all of her teeth by now and had a mean head game. All gums and tongue, just the way they liked it. Men of all incomes and social levels would pop in to get their dicks sucked. A good blow job could lessen the severity of whatever the day may bring. A ray of sunsh
ine, a breath of fresh air. Head, it does a body good!

  She had long ago traded her looks for dope. Her once fine frame was ashy skin and frail bone. Even the once luxurious head of shiny black thick hair was gone. Kathy now looked like she had an angry cat atop her head.

  “Shit!” Tywanna cursed seeing the same fancy car sitting in front of the house when she came from school. If she hadn’t forgotten her library card she would have went straight there, for some reason the old librarian insisted on checking it every day even though she was sometimes the only visitor all day.

  “Here she is!” Kathy sang so cheerfully Tywanna became weary.

  Emit smiled so brightly it only made her more uncomfortable. It reminded her of when she was young and helpless, too little to fight back.

  “Hey little lady,” he said, tipping his hat to her. Tywanna just stared back without responding. “Shy, that’s good.”

  “This is the man I told you about. Are you still ok with what we talked about?” Kathy asked double talking them both.

  “Um, yeah mama. Soon as I get back. I just gotta run out for a sec,” Tywanna rambled and rushed to her room. She grabbed her passport to the outside world and rushed back out. The plan was to go wait out whatever her conniving mother had working in that devious head of hers.

  “See, I told you!” Kathy lied. She produced the marriage consent form with one hand and an opened palm. “Where’s my money!”

  “Here you go,” Emit said, snatching the paper just as eagerly as she’d snatched the cash filled bank envelope.

  Once the swap was made they began to wait, and wait, then wait some more.

  “What time you reckon that gal will be back?” Emit asked growing impatient. The justice of the peace would be closed soon ruining his plans for the evening.

  He wanted to rush her over there and exchange vows so he could get her home and put his dick in her. Emit barely slept a wink anticipating getting his big paws on the girl.

  “She’s young, probably out gallivanting with her friends. Want me to suck yo’ thang while we wait?” Kathy asked ever the good host.

  “Just assume suck it myself ‘fo I put it in that mouth of yours,” Emit spat repulsed. He was growing agitated and impatient, but he wasn’t the only one.

  The little addict who hadn’t had a blast all day now had ten thousand smokable dollars. It was pure torture for her.

  “Why don’t you swing by the library on Maple and give her a ride back,” Kathy advised. She needed him to give her enough time to smoke a rock or two. If he would have blinked she would have left.

  “I’ll be right back then,” he said taking to his feet. “If she ain’t there we gone have a problem. I want my wife or my money back.”

  Tywanna had used the well-worn path through the woods and emerged just as Emit pulled off. She smiled assuming the ordeal was over and went inside. Nothing could have been further from the truth. In fact, the ordeal had just begun. Kathy hadn’t left yet so she took a shot at trying to explain.

  “I ain’t finna’ marry that man!” Tywanna protested “I don’t even know his name.”

  “Emit,” Kathy shot back as if that settled it. "You ain’t even really got to go through with it. Just ride down to the court house with him."

  Kathy knew her child and knew she wasn’t hearing ‘nare day of marrying the stranger. There was no way she was giving a coin of that money back either.

  “Ok mama, let me go change,” Tywanna lied.

  “Me too,” Kathy lied back. Good thing their rooms were on opposite sides of the house, because they both entered their rooms, closed the doors, and went out the window.

  They both set off in different directions, toward different fates. For Kathy, her first stop was to the trap house. She spent a hundred dollars on what would be a twenty anywhere else in the country.

  The local junkies who had visited or lived in other cities often told tales of humungous rocks that smoked for hours. It was like fishermen tales for crack heads. Far away magical lands with dimes the size of softballs.

  When Kathy blazed through the paltry amount, she made the decision to take her show on the road. At the rate she smoked the tiny rocks, she would be broke in a week and of course there was still Emit.

  She gave a quick blow job in exchange for a ride to the bus station. Armed with enough money to buy clothes in her cheap purse, she had no need to stop by the house.

  “When is the next bus?” She inquired looking up at the schedule for the proverbial first thing smoking.

  “Ten minutes,” the clerk replied.

  “How much?” Kathy asked not caring where the bus was heading. It really didn’t matter as long as it was away from Longs Mississippi.

  “Dallas Texas, eighty nine dollars please.”

  “Keep the change.” The big spender said handing over one of the crisp hundred dollar bills. She spent five of the ten minute wait smoking the residue from her shooter.

  Kathy stared out into the blackness as the bus sped along the highway. Her thoughts bounced from this to that never once landing on her child. She deserved what was about to happen to her.

  Most bus terminals are shady, shadowy places where criminals and chicken hawks search for prey. Pimps patrol them in search of run-aways to turn out. Dope, death and deception are always nearby.

  Dallas was one of the few exceptions. The extremely busy terminal was set in the heart of downtown, meaning you had to go looking for trouble.

  “M.L.K,” Kathy announced hopping in the back of a taxi in search of trouble.

  Every major city in America has a Martin Luther King Blvd and it’s always dead in the hood. No matter what state, if you want some dope or pussy M.L.K. was the place to be. The slain civil rights Icon is probably turning over in his grave.

  A short cab ride later they hit M.L.K. and a shabby motel caught her eye. The amount of obvious junkies milling about suggested a vibrant drug trade and caused Kathy’s stomach to churn.

  “Right here!”She cheered as triumphantly as a mountain climber reaching an apex.

  She was famished from the long ride but decided to grab a room and a quick blast. She would sit down and eat afterwards. Yeah, right! That first hit would run hunger off in an instant.

  After checking out the drab room that would be her new home for the rest of her life, Kathy set out in search of rocks.

  “Cuse me,” she said calling the first junky she saw outside of her room. “I’ll buy if you fly.”

  “Hell yeah!!” The addict replied and rushed over to the room. “My name Lady.”

  “Kathy,” Kathy replied as she opened her purse to retrieve some money. The tramp known as Lady passed gas loudly at the sight of all the hundred dollar bills.

  “You must not be from ‘round here,’” Lady commented at the stupidity of pulling out a wad of cash in front of a stranger.

  You could do that back in Longs Mississippi, but this was Dallas Texas, and this particular crack whore was particularly treacherous.

  “No ma’am. I’m from Mississippi,” Kathy said proudly.

  “Well, I ain’t tryna get in yo’ business,” Lady said, which is what people say right before they get in your business, “but um, you should hide some of that money. Don’t keep it all in one place.”

  “You think so?” Kathy asked naively, and then answered; “you right, ‘cause ten thousand is a lot of money!”

  Lady passed gas again upon hearing the amount. Ten grand would keep her high off crack and drunk off cheap liquor for months.

  “Put half, no put all but a couple of hundred under the bed,” Lady said lifting the box spring off of the wood frame. The compartment was large enough to stash a body and had been used for just that on several occasions.

  “OK, I’ma keep out five hundred and hide the rest.” Kathy agreed. She counted out five bills and dropped the rest under the bed.

  “I’ll be right back,” Lady said taking off with one of the hundreds. She recruited a junky/dealer who was perfe
ct for what she had in mind.

  “Kathy, this is Gerrald. Gerrald, Kathy,” she said, formally introducing the two when she returned.

  “Hey Gerrald,” Kathy said cheerfully then showed him her gums. It was her turn to pass gas now once she saw how much crack a hundred dollars bought in Dallas.

  She didn’t see anything else as she scrambled to get a piece of that rock into her pipe. She hadn’t seen Gerrald sneak behind her. Just as she lit the lighter in an attempt to take a long overdue blast, Gerrald put her in a choke hold. It was text book perfect and would have made L.A.P.D proud.

  When the pressure hit her wind pipe the crack pipe went one way and the lighter went another. Kathy was more concerned with reaching for the dope than the death grip on her throat.

  Lady quickly scooped them up and took a long hit. Dying must suck, but dying while watching someone smoke your rocks must really sting. Talk about adding insult to injury.

  She blew a long steam of crack exhaust out just as Gerrald let Kathy’s new corpse fall to the filthy floor. Lady snatched up her purse and rummaged inside.

  “Here go the mo…,” was all she got out before Gerrald hit her with a Teddy Pendergrass uppercut that turned off her lights.

  Lady woke up twenty minutes later, face to face with Kathy on the floor. The sturdy crack whore had been knocked out plenty of times in her career and had shaken it off. Crackheads are as tough as Tonka trucks.

  “Never trust a crack head,” she told Kathy as she climbed to her feet. Lady went under the box spring and collected the bulk of the money.

  “And, I’m calling the police,” she chuckled at the thought of the two thousand dollar ‘crime stoppers’ reward she could claim for reporting the murder.

  No, never trust a crack head. Indeed.

  Chapter 9

  When Tywanna’s feet landed outside of her window she too headed for the bus depot. Only this one was where the school buses were parked. She traveled to the back of the lot where the older buses that were no longer in service were parked.

  She had her own bus that served as a home away from home. This is where she would retreat to escape the flow of child molesters her mother brought home. The bus had been cleaned and made tidy for overnight visits.