Chapter Two: How Many Have Ya Done?

"Get your filthy ass out this truck now, mother fucker," Daisy ordered a trembling young man, holding her gun to his temple. The man slid out of the driver's seat, breathing heavily, as Daisy scrutinized the house she had once run freely around with her friend. "When did all the sheds get built, I wonder," she murmured aloud.

"P . . . P . . . Please don't kill me," the young man cried.

Daisy rolled her eyes and hit him in the face with the revolver. "Shut the fuck up an' start walkin'," she said sternly, giving him a shove in the rear with her boot. She pushed him along, up the dirt driveway into the Firefly farm and stopping on the porch. Using the gun, Daisy rapped on the door, causing the man to whimper. The door opened slowly. A woman with long blonde curls came into view.

Daisy smiled at the woman and pulled the waist of her shorts down to reveal a black-and-gray tattoo of a skull and crossbones just above her private parts. The other woman grinned back and mimicked her, pulling down the top of her jeans to show the exact same tattoo on her own body. They stared at each other for a moment before erupting into delighted shrieks and screams, joining hands and dancing in a circle around the now visibly sobbing young man. The girls began to giggle and jumped up and down in excitement.

"Daisy!" the woman screamed.

"Vera!" Daisy shrieked.

"I'm not Vera no more, I'm Baby now," Baby Firefly said in a sing song voice, embracing her friend and laughing delightedly.

"And I've never gone by nothin' else but Daisy since your Mama first called me that!"

"How many have y' done?" they asked each other in unison.

"What on Earth is goin' on out here?" an older woman asked as she came out to the porch, dressed in a thin pink cotton robe and high heels.

"It's Daisy, Mama!" Baby told her mother with a huge smile.

Daisy shrieked and threw herself into Mama Firefly's ample arms. "I've come home, Mama," she said into the mounds of bleach-blonde hair.

"Little Daisy, it can't be really you, cain it?" Mama asked incredulously, holding the woman at arm's length so she could get a good look at her.

"It's me, Mama, and look, I even brought Ver . . . I mean, Baby, a present!" Daisy said, giving the young man a good kick in the ribs.

"Why ain't that nice, dear," Mama said as Baby inspected her "present." "Why don't you come in and we'll get all comfy-like and talk? We sure have missed you, honey!" The older woman led Daisy into the house, heading towards the living room. Baby followed along behind them, pulling her present by the hair.

"I'm gonna go settle this un an' then I'll be back," Baby announced, kicking the young man in the thigh.

Mama waved her away, focusing her attention onto Daisy. "Now tell me, Daisy-girl, what's happened t' you since you went away?"

"Nothin' much, Mama. I went to that home Gran sent me to and first chance I got, I hightailed it outta there. I've been t' almost every state, now. Had fun in all of 'em!"

The three women exchanged knowing grins.

"So why'd y' come back, sweetheart?" Mama asked.

"'Cause I got in some trouble. This guy I was fuckin', he and I got this pair of girls, 'bout sixteen or seventeen years old, and we had 'em tied up in the corner of the motel we was stayin' at. Gash . . . he's the one I was with . . . he decided to untie one of 'em, he liked to fuck 'em and feel 'em thrash against him, y' know? Anyway, the dumbass let her get loose an' she got away. Police chased us in our car an' everything. Gash lost control of th' car or some shit and it crashed into a tree in th' woods. I ran like nobody's business. Gash got caught, I kept goin'."

"Ain't y' scared he's gonna tell where you've gone?" Baby asked.

Daisy shook her head. "Nope. That fucker don't know my real name. Never told 'im my last name, either. I told 'im I'm from Montana. Made up some stupid ringmarole 'bout livin' on a cattle ranch an' everything."

A door opened and Rufus, Jr. walked in, carrying a big box of car parts. He set the box down on an old table and turned around, ready to walk right back out when he caught sight of the three women on the couch. His brow furrowed in confusion for a moment before he pointed at Daisy.

"Daisy? That you?"

She grinned and tossed her brown waves as she leapt up from the couch and skipped over for R.J. to pull her up into a great bear hug.

"When the hell'd you get back?" R.J. asked, looking her up and down appreciatively. "You sure have filled out!"

"Quit sayin' things like that or I'm gonna start callin' you Rufy again."

"I don't think I'd mind if y' did," he said in response, rubbing his chin and grinning at her.

She smacked him on his muscular arm and went back to the couch, giving Mama Firefly a wink. The older woman smiled and gazed over at her son thoughtfully.