Thank you for beta'ing, MsSchneeheide!
Warning: Abuse in flashbacks and present time, racist slurs, and mentions of female genital mutilation.
"Nuh-uh. No way is this bitch eighteen!" one sex worker comments to another as Maritza passes them.
"Mm-hm, she lyin'."
Maritza flips them off and walks away. She heads to where two girls are sitting at the piano, taking turns playing it, probably to create a romantic and peaceful atmosphere. The white one has her blonde hair straightened and she's wearing a blue crop top paired with a leather miniskirt while the Asian sits next to her, dressed in a schoolgirl outfit with pigtails sitting high on her head. They don't look much taller than her, and she feels like they might be less judgemental.
"You believe I'm eighteen, right?"
The golden-haired chick takes her fingers off the keys. "Well, I dunno. Are you?"
"Yeah...but some of the putas are gossiping about me. Sayin' I'm probably just here to lure in the pedophiles."
"Right, you're the new whore...well, you look young and you're incredibly tiny, so that's probably why."
"Your point is?" Maritza asks her quickly. "Lots of people look younger than their real age...like Salma Hayek is forty, but at thirty-five or so, she was able to play a twenty-something college student in both Frida and In the Time of the Butterflies. She's my height, too. So there."
"I don't even know who that is," Pennsatucky states in passing.
"Of course you don't, because you're white and don't need the representation of Hispanic actresses because most Caucasians got their starts in the media as babies, but Salma looks a lot like...her." Maritza points at the Arabian hooker who's resting beside them, but not really looking in their direction. She's in a gold, sparkly dress and has her hair in a tight bun. A few small tattoos of butterflies, hearts, and flowers are scattered on her arms and cleavage.
"Oh, I see," Pennsatucky says and then strides away from them.
"Ignorant dumbass," the blonde mutters. "Yeah, you got a point there...uh, Salma's lovely, no doubt! She was my celeb crush. So maybe you really do have the same anti-aging genes as her."
Maritza nods eagerly. "Mm-hm! I was blessed with beauty and youth. May I stay that way for all eternity!"
"Hear, hear!" the girls agree and raise invisible glasses.
"Hey, up and at 'em, Queen Nefertitty!" a bald guy commands her. He gives her a light kick and Maritza jumps. She knows she's seen him before. "Get your Cleopatra wig brushed immediately! Client's coming in fifteen minutes! We can't have lazy cunts here."
"Mmm, what...oh, I'm sorry, Hellman..." she mumbles in an Egyptian accent as she sits up.
"Keep playing, Melanie, give Eri a short break here." He leans down to Maritza's ear and places his hand on the back of her head. "Tonight, my sexy little maid, we're gonna play cop and prisoner, we'll see if my baton fits in your mouth or in that tight little pussy of yours." Maritza forces down a gag and nods. "Maybe even some sodomy if I'm up to it, which I always am."
"Yes, sir."
"Ah, good girl." He slithers his fingers through her hair and kisses her neck while squeezing one of her butt cheeks with his free hand. She tries not to squirm, and then he's gone. She's afraid to fight back since she feels so tiny in his presence.
"God, he's a creep. You alright?" the Salma look-alike asks. "It's a stupid question, I know, but I was concerned for you. What's your name?"
Maritza shrugs. "I'll be okay, I suppose. I won't be here for long...just until we're out of the shelter and off the streets for good. I'm Yessica, pero, they call me Lolita."
Melanie groans. "Ew, you're gonna get all the child rapists."
"Everyone here is a gross weirdo, there's not much of a difference," Eri says. "I'm really Brook, but they gave me the name Eri because it means blessing in Japanese."
"Yeah, they never use our actual names. It's how they demean us. We call each other by the names we were given at birth in secret. Do you want to guess mine?" Queen Nefertitty asks.
"Alma?" Maritza asks almost right away.
"Not even close," she says through a dry chuckle. "Shani."
"Oh, sorry, you just remind me a lot of Salma Hayek. She's half Mexican, half Lebanese."
"Is she pretty?"
"Very!" Maritza exclaims.
"Oh, that's good then, thank you. Did Vee put your hair in dreadlocks?" Shani wants to know. "You look cute like that."
"Yeah. Thanks!"
"You're welcome!"
"Who did your tattoos? They're neat."
"Melanie," Shani answers as the madam passes them. They all nod at Vee, acknowledging her. She sends them a sly grin back. "She loves drawing on my skin with Sharpie, so it's not like permanent or anything, and it didn't hurt."
"Cool!"
Melanie pauses in her piano playing and Brook takes over. "You can stick with us, Yessica."
"Gracias. So I suppose you ain't Melanie?"
"Nah, it's Nicky."
"Oh, they should've let you keep that! Like, I'm sayin' that about all of your names, but N-I-K-K-I sounds like this ho I knew in high school."
Nicky scoffs. "I'm a lesbian. I don't spell it like that. N-I-C-K-Y."
"Seriously, the boy way? No offense...but are you trans?"
"No, I am one hundred percent woman. Kind of a soft butch, though. I hate the K-K-I, I prefer C-K-Y, got a problem with that?"
"Not at all, I've just never heard of a girl with the dude version of it. Sorry."
"It's cool."
"I swear I've seen y'all on missing persons posters," Maritza blurts out suddenly. "It ain't like you're kidnapped. You're free to leave anytime, I heard. Seriously, just go home...your parents must be worried sick about you!"
Nicky starts laughing hysterically and Shani joins in. "That was a good one," Shani mutters.
"You are totally one hundred percent wrong," Brook comments.
"Yeah, you got any other jokes for us?" Nicky asks through a few giggles. "This one is a riot, Michelle!" she comments as a Hispanic girl in nothing but a blue vest, a pink thong, and a beanie comes up to them. "Oops, I mean Julieta..." she mumbles when a pimp glares in their direction.
"Oh, sí, what'd she say?"
"That's what I wanna know too," Maritza says.
"None of us had good parents growing up," Nicky responds to both of them. She gestures to Maritza. "Yessica here thought we did, and that they'd actually care that we're not out in regular society." Nicky focuses her attention on Maritza. "We can't go back to the lives we once had! It would be way too shameful to face the one woman who actually gave a shit about me, she was like my mom...and I used to have a thing for my babysitter when I was a kid, but she left the position because my father couldn't keep his dick out of his brain when talking to her. So...it's not her fault for feeling uncomfortable around him, but she did walk away from me. I'm twenty-three and it still stings fourteen years later. Also my other favorite babysitter who was also a lesbian and taught me everything I needed to know about pleasuring chicks when I was fifteen. I dunno what happened to her, but she is long gone. Probably became a drug dealer. Anyways, she forgot about me."
"Yeah, and I came to the United States homeless just before my twenty-first birthday and that's how I met Nicky," Shani chimes in. "I didn't know what else to do for money...and I went through female genital mutilation when I was twelve. My whole family allowed it...then my cousin caught me kissing a girl and tattled on me a few years later. I had to leave Egypt forever. I visited Queens before at age seven, stayed with some people for a while until they turned awful, and I had to be sent back when I started 'disobeying'."
"As for me, I was in college and kinda got conned into being an escort," Brook adds. "My boyfriend made it sound enticing, he got off on me fucking other people...they take away any shred of humanity you have left, they strip you of both your clothes and your dignity."
"Mm-hm, and my mom kicked me out because I missed curfew one night in high school. I was hanging out with a bad crowd at the time, too...my friend Alison and I cut ties, then we lost touch, and now I'm here," Michelle explains.
"That's horrible, I'm so sorry," Maritza tells them sympathetically. She feels queasy about the thought of Shani being tortured in her most sensitive area.
"Dalilah, you stupid sharmoota, get over here! You know I'm calling you a bitch!" the fat man called Dixon growls. "I didn't say to stop your music, Melanie and Eri!"
After sharing a long, passionate kiss with Nicky, Shani does what he says. "Ooh, I hope she's not gonna get in trouble for that public display of affection," Maritza says as Nicky begins playing the piano again.
"Oh, she won't, men love lesbian activity here," Michelle assures her. "It probably gave him a huge-ass boner watching them. It's a better alternative than having to suck off one of these sick perverts."
"What does her made-up name mean?"
"Weak in Arabic...she was more terrified than anyone to receive pleasure. She's a virgin, you know, because of her..." Brook gestures to her own crotch. "Nobody wants to make her bleed during sex, since that's gross...maybe just Humps is into it, though."
"Oh, and Donuts would be as well." Nicky points to a guy who Pennsatucky is giving a blow job to out in the open. "Disgusting motherfuckers, I'll do my best to keep 'em away from my girl."
Maritza makes a face and turns away. "Ugh..."
"I didn't wanna say this before in front of Shani, but I had this unrequited love in high school. See, we were friends with benefits and I let her cheat on her boyfriend with me. I actually thought she was gonna be my companion for life, but nope! She was straight as uncooked spaghetti noodles. She fuckin' broke my heart!" A flash of hurt goes through Nicky's eyes, but it doesn't last for long. "Then, someone else came along to mend it. My love, the beautiful lady who completes me. Shani." Nicky sighs dreamily and Maritza grins at her.
"Aw, I'm sorry about that girl when you were younger, but at least you got Shani!" Maritza tells Nicky.
"Yep!" Nicky glances down at the pentagrams sketched in black on Maritza's hands and arms. "You a Wiccan?"
"I am...is that okay here?"
"Of course! They accept all religions! Just don't start speaking in foreign tongues and levitating and shit, or one of these Evangelical pimps is gonna try to perform an exorcism on you...because they'll think you're trying to curse 'em or hex the customers."
Maritza rolls her eyes. "Ha, ha."
She'd almost told Nicky it wasn't really funny, but she doesn't.
"I'll beat the devil out of ya, stupid whore!" Dean yells at Blanca. She shrieks as he grabs her up off the couch and wrestles her to the ground. "You wanna be my little temptation, that's fine! You wanna sin and go against God? That's cool, too, but don't you fucking dare let Raiza watch that Mexican garbage again!"
"Stop it, Daddy, I can't hear Dora and you're hurting Mommy! Please, I'll be good so you don't get mad!" Raiza sobs as Maritza takes her out of the room and goes back in to try protecting their mother.
"Lolita!" Humps snaps his fingers and she blinks back budding tears. "Come!" He makes the sign for oral sex, with his tongue wiggling between his index and middle finger. "Time to give Lee Burley a BJ and massage his dick! Maybe a lap dance too, but that's up to him. You should offer. He's the drummer for Death Maiden, so you better please him good."
"Alex's cocksucker dad, shit," Nicky grumbles. "Last I heard, he was a flat broke, washed-up musician. Hope he's making bank now."
"Melanie, shut your trap if you know what's good for you!" Humps snaps at her. "Fuckin' dumb blonde dyke. You're not even hot enough for me to rape."
"Gotta go," Maritza says somberly. Her heart cracks at his nasty words toward Nicky, but she knows better than to stick up for her new friend. He could give her a horrible beating that she may not recover from. "Hasta luego, chicas."
See you later, girls
They wave goodbye at her as Humps drags her out. Her hands are stiff and shaky at this point and she doesn't know how she can give any of the customers hand jobs. She flexes her fingers to loosen them up and then braces herself.
"Take those sunglasses off, Bianca, you're not a hoodlum!" Millie reprimands her as soon as she gets through the door and greets the old woman with a polite hello.
Blanca exhales sharply. "Okay, sorry." She does as Millie has demanded of her and then starts washing the floors while whistling a merry tune to herself. It had hurt to put her eyeliner on over her injury this morning, so she ended up just sticking with eyeshadow and mascara. She dips a sponge in a bucket of soapy water, wrings it out, and scrubs in circles until her arms get weak and she has to take a break.
Through a window, Blanca sees a man with a leaf blower in the yard. He turns around to reveal a tattoo of a red devil on his upper left shoulder. Diablo looks over at Blanca, and she averts her gaze bashfully. An excited shock vibrates through her whole body. She can't believe he works here too, of all places, but this will definitely make her job a hundred times easier. Sneaking another look, Blanca finds him staring at her. He gives her a nod with a faint smile. She wraps her arms around her waist and grins back at him.
"Well, don't quit! I'm not paying you to just sit there. What are you looking at?"
She stops herself from giggling out loud. "Nothin'...just being on my hands and knees can get tiring. I don't think this spot will ever come out."
"Then move onto something else. Enough dawdling. I need you to run an errand for me. Fetch some bread at the market. I want it with my soup. I'll go with you. I need to make sure you get the right kind."
"I'm sorry...I can't drive," Blanca confesses. "We'd have to take the bus."
Millie throws her a stern look. "You never mentioned that. It's one of the requirements to have a license."
"Your daughter said you had round-the-clock nurses and that I was to only make you soup from the pantry."
"Oh, Margaret doesn't know squat about what I want. She thinks I like the Wheel of Fortune show, but I don't. Well, I'll get bread from one of my more capable caregivers." Millie scoffs. "No way am I taking dirty public transport. Ugh!"
"It's not too bad, I promise," Blanca mumbles. "Or we could ask my buddy out there to take us?" She tilts her head toward where Diablo is doing some gardening in the yard.
"Dario is your friend?"
"Yeah. He'll do anything for me."
"I can't stand his tattoos, but Patty recommended him because of the splendid job he did on trimming her shrubs. Hm...I guess we ought to request this favor of him. You positive he isn't a gangster, though?"
"Yes. He's a good boy." Blanca can't hide her beam this time. "Er, man, I should say. He's never hurt anyone. We've been pretty much tight since we were teenagers."
Millie sighs. "Alright. Help me into my wheelchair, Bianca, make it quick. I don't have all day."
"Yes, ma'am."
Moments later, Blanca wheels Millie out of the house and onto the porch. She shakes her head at the sight of there being no ramp. "Dario, could you help me take her to the car?" She doesn't want to use his nickname in front of her boss since it won't sound professional. "Ella quiere un poco de pan. Do you mind driving us, too?"
She wants some bread.
"Por supuesto que sí." Diablo stops his work and ambles over to them. "I'll get you there."
Of course, yeah.
"Gracias."
"Espera, ¿trabajas aquí?" he wonders aloud.
Wait, you work here?
"Sí, como su criada."
Yes, as her maid.
"Y yo soy el jardinero. ¿Qué pasó aquí?" He points to his own eye with deep concern clouding his face.
And I'm the gardener. What happened here?
"Ayer, un ex empleado de Martin Van Buren High School irrumpió en la cocina y comenzó a vomitar insultos raciales sobre Karla, así que la defendí y él me golpeó. Antes de preguntar, sí, le puse hielo para mantener la hinchazón baja."
Yesterday, an ex-employee at Martin Van Buren High School stormed into the kitchen and started spewing racial slurs about Karla, so I stood up for her and he punched me. Before you ask, yes, I put ice on it to keep the swelling down.
"¿Qué demonios le pasa a la gente?" he asks rhetorically. "Lo siento mucho. Me alegra que le hayas puesto hielo. ¿Todavía duele?"
What the fuck is wrong with people? I'm so sorry. I'm glad you put ice on it. Does it still hurt?
"Un poco, pero no demasiado."
A little, but not too bad.
"Speak English! It's incredibly disrespectful when you're conversing in a different language around me." Millie scolds them as Diablo takes her out of her wheelchair and carries her to her dark red car. She doesn't even thank him. Blanca follows, pushing the wheelchair ahead of her down the path to Millie's vehicle.
She opens the backseat door and Diablo helps the old woman in. He closes the door and then he and Blanca take the wheelchair to the trunk. She unlocks it with Millie's keys and Diablo lifts the wheelchair into the trunk.
"Ugh, ella es muy quisquillosa," Blanca complains. "Quiero esto, quiero eso. Bianca, dame sopa, caliéntala en una sartén, no en un microondas. Bianca, vísteme de otra cosa que no sea rosa, báñame y haz el agua a la perfección, cambia mis pañales apestosos...Bianca esto y Bianca aquello. La perra ni siquiera puede decir mi nombre correctamente. Botches it up every time."
Ugh, she's so nitpicky. I want this, I want that. Bianca, feed me soup, heat it in a pan, not a microwave. Bianca, dress me in anything but pink, bathe me and make the water just right, change my stinky diapers...Bianca this and Bianca that. The bitch can't even get my name right.
"Oh, Dios, lo siento," Diablo tells her. "Eso es tan estúpido. Bianca, really?"
Oh jeez, I'm sorry. That's so stupid.
Blanca nods with a scowl. "Sí. Lo leyó mal y prefiere llamarme Bianca."
She read it wrong and prefers to call me Bianca.
Diablo chuckles while rolling his eyes. "Wow."
Blanca shrugs. "Not like I give a fuck. Los blancos han estado jodiendo nuestros nombres desde el principio de los tiempos. Además, ella es vieja."
White people been fucking up our names since the beginning of time. Besides, she's old.
Diablo points at her. "Verdad."
True.
They laugh in harmony. "Ohh...quiero ir a Nueva York," Blanca says randomly. "La ciudad. Eso sería divertido, viajar."
I wanna go to New York. The city. That would be fun, traveling.
"Sí," he agrees. "Tal vez podríamos traer a los niños por un fin de semana."
Maybe we could bring the kids for one weekend.
Blanca smiles at him. "Sounds like a plan." They're still gazing at each other when Millie raps on the window that's facing them.
"What are you two doing? Come on! No time to waste."
With a dark look, Blanca closes the trunk and Diablo snickers. He opens the passenger door for her and she gets in. He goes around the car to sit behind the wheel and then steps on the gas pedal.
"Quiero aprender a conducir," Blanca murmurs.
I wanna learn how to drive.
"Te daré lecciones," Diablo says kindly and pats her hand that's resting on the seat divider.
I'll give you lessons.
"No more of that foreign talk! Stop it immediately," Millie reprimands them.
"He was just offering me driving lessons," Blanca informs her without glancing over her shoulder. "Thanks, D."
"No problem, B."
She presses her lips together to keep from cackling, and he seems to be doing this as well. There's so much chemistry between them and she loves speaking Spanish with him.
"Hello, sugar," Lee Burley greets Maritza as she saunters into his dark, messy basement with Humps. Lee wolf-whistles while leering at her. He's middle-aged, already sporting gray hair that sticks out of his skull and crossbones patterned bandanna and matches his mustache. He's dressed entirely in leather and he smells like heroin. She has to keep reassuring herself that no one has any idea that she's only sixteen and these men aren't really pedophiles, they think she's eighteen. "You've got a rack as big as my daughter's. Fuck yeah, I've got a boner already." Humps sniggers and Lee leans back in his chair, spreading his legs out. He leans down and pats the floor. "Well, what are you waiting for? Get down to the floor and crawl to me on your hands and knees, I'm hard!" Along with her nightmares about the baby mouse she had to eat, his disgusting wrinkled white dick will be in them too. She can't bear to even look at it.
Humps pushes her forward and she nearly trips on air. "You ready for me to make your wildest fantasies come true?" Maritza asks as seductively as she can without sounding too frightened. She watches Humps make his exit.
"Oh, yeah, Lolita." He takes off his pants and slides on a condom. Maritza breathes out a trembling sigh of relief. "Mm, I bet you taste good. I haven't had young teen pussy in a long time. You still in high school?" He licks his lips and she keeps herself moving toward him.
Maritza shakes her head no. "Graduated this summer," she answers him quickly.
"Nice. Alright, suck my meat and balls, señorita. Then I want you to sing in Spanish for me while rubbing yourself all over my cock, got it? I need to feel your tits while you're doing that."
"Okay." Her voice seems to be getting softer by the second.
When she closes her eyes, it's a little better. She gags a few times when he shoves himself in her mouth and keeps his hand firmly on the back of her head. "You like it rough, huh? Yeah, sexy, keep that tongue going." He groans. "Oh, that's right. I love your mouth, especially with slut lipstick on it...can't wait to hear you sing."
He's sweaty and gross as he fondles her later and she feels just as dirty as him afterward. For all of this, she only gets twenty dollars.
"Thank you," she mumbles as she stuffs the cash in her bra.
"Sorry it ain't much, but my concerts aren't as huge as they used to be. You sing better than I do."
"Gracias. That's...thanks...in Spanish."
"You can sleep in my bed, señorita. We'll have a good ol' time." He grips her hand and kisses it. She squirms inside, but does her best to not show too much discomfort.
"Um...I apologize, but I don't do nothin' here for free. I've got other clients to visit..."
"Right, probably the best idea, since I had a one-night-stand with this chick and got her pregnant after my band played. Can't deal with that bullshit again."
"You should be making millions with that hot little voice of yours. I heard it from upstairs."
Maritza turns around to face a white boy not much older than herself. He doesn't look half bad. "Really?"
"Yeah."
"Thank you, but I'm kinda shy."
"What's up, I'm Ian, his son." He gestures to Lee, who's getting dressed again.
"It's nice to meet you." They shake hands. "I'm Lolita."
"Oooh, sexy. I wanna fuck you." Ian pushes Maritza against the wall and starts making out with her.
"Wait, wait, do you got dinero?"
"Of course, much more than my dad here. I'm a goddamn drug dealer. Now shut up, I wanna get busy." She lets him take off her undergarments and tries not to think about the fact that his father is watching them while masturbating. Ian rolls a condom on his penis.
It's only then, when he's hovering over her, ramming deep inside her, that she realizes this may be Flaca's boyfriend. She hasn't mentioned him much, but through the dim lighting, Maritza thinks she recognizes him from the pictures on Flaca's desk. "Stop!" she tells him strongly through her pants and gasps for air. "Stop, you got a girlfriend? I don't do cheating, lying assholes."
"It's just sex. You're a whore, this is your job. I don't feel anything for you except lust."
"You need to break up with her if you wanna screw around. Or at least let her get some sweet revenge."
"We're in an open relationship. She's cool with it." Ian continues having his way with her and she fakes her orgasm. He's not really that good and she wants to push him off her, but she needs the money. He may not even be Flaca's boyfriend-Ian is a common name for a guy. He could have a twin. She just hopes that Flaca will never find out and that they'd broken up if he was actually her significant other at one time.
"Look, there's Proof of Evolution," a teenaged blonde girl snottily points out in a bad Boston accent as Blanca walks by her table with a tray full of food and milkshakes at Friendly's where she's sitting with a bunch of kids. "She looks even uglier with that hairnet at school." Her group bursts into raucous laughter and one of the other blonde girls hi-fives her.
"Oh, man, Badison, good one," a boy next to her compliments her.
"Yeah, you're so funny!" an Asian girl chimes in.
"Thanks, Charlene, Anders. I do my best." Badison puts her hand between a white Skinhead couple's faces, stopping them from kissing. "Brandy, Brent, get a room if you ain't gonna join in on this."
"No way, I wanna see this cunt go down right here, right now," Brandy says.
"Me too," Brent agrees. "Lousy clumsy idiot dropped my parents' order."
"You know I can hear you, right?" Blanca asks them in a loud voice, trying to embarrass them, but they ignore her. "I apologized to them, young man. It was an accident, okay? I didn't mean-"
"Oh for the love of Hitler, shut up!"
"Thank you, Helen!"
The bald girl grins at the brunette who has just spoken. "You're very welcome, Jennifer!"
"Excuse me, you all should be ashamed of yourselves!" Blanca snaps.
"Lady, nobody here has any respect for you. It's because you're like a monkey playing dress-up with human makeup and clothes. Go back to the jungle where you belong, Mexicunt freakazoid."
"Yeah, tell her, Miss Kasey Sankey!" Badison says and she and her friends clap and cheer. Kasey flips her hair and bats her eyes.
Blanca frowns. Their hurtful language is slicing into her heart, but she wills herself not to let it show on her face. "I'm not gonna put up with this bullshit. You can take it up with my boss if you've got issues with me. You need to learn some respect for adults and stop being racist." She continues on her way, but instantly stumbles over Kasey's stuck-out foot and then Jennifer's. She again, drops everything as she lands on her hands and knees to prevent herself from having a bad fall. She winces in pain as she feels the broken shards cutting into her palms and scraping her skin, making her bleed. A lump crawls up her throat and her chest feels constricted. She sniffles as tears cloud her vision.
"Ohhh!" they all shout and then start guffawing. "Well, someone had to do it," Badison adds. "That'll teach you not to tattle!"
"What the hell, woman? You dropped our whole meal!" Anders hollers.
Blanca wipes her eyes free of moisture and gets herself up. "Good. You can thank your friends." She speedily walks all the way across the restaurant to the backroom where Diane is elbows deep in paperwork. Blanca shuts the door behind her. "I'm quitting. I'm fucking done. I'm sorry, but it's just too much." She buries her face in her hands and whimpers as she sinks down to the ground.
"You can't quit, hon, you need this job. You said it yourself, you're strapped for cash. We're also short-staffed. You were the only one who actually showed up tonight, even though it's Thanksgiving in literally twenty-seven minutes from now." Diane joins her on the floor. "Brenda and the others said they needed to prep their family dinners and dining room tables tomorrow morning and get a good night's sleep."
"Well, Karla and Ramón are doing just about everything for the holiday, I'm only supplying wine and Maritza's making pumpkin pie." Blanca starts crying and curls up closer to Diane. "I'm-I'm so stressed!" Blanca chokes out.
The older lady simply hugs her and strokes her hair. "It's gonna be all right, sweet girl. You're doing so good, mama."
Blanca rests her head in Diane's lap. "No, I'm not, I can't even ignore a crowd of bigoted kids who were bullying me, I tried standing up for myself, but..." Blanca sniffles as tears rain down her cheeks. "Two of the girls jutted their feet out and tripped me on purpose!"
"What the hell?" Diane asks through gritted teeth. "The nerve of those rotten bastards! I'm so sorry, I truly am."
"They...they all hurled out such awful hate speech...I suppose I am hideous with all my scars...and now my latest wound!" She hadn't meant to mention her scars, so she hopes Diane won't ask for more information.
"I have scars of my own, too," Diane informs her gently. "When I was sixteen, I was forced into an arranged marriage. My parents set me up with this Nazi who...it doesn't matter anymore, he's dead now, has been for a long time, but...just because you've been beaten, it doesn't mean you're frail or repulsive. It's more like you're a survivor. You're beautiful and strong, Blanca. I want you to commit that to memory, okay?"
Blanca nods. "Gracias. Okay..."
"Now, wait here while I kick these idiots out of my restaurant for the rest of their miserable lives after making them clean what they made you spill off the tray."
"Alright. Thank you so much!"
"You're welcome."
Blanca watches Diane make her way toward the horrible punks. "You'll neaten up this area and you'll do it now!"
"It was your waitress's fault!" Charlene shouts, and her voice echoes through the empty place.
"Yeah, she's a brainless klutz!" Badison adds.
"She said two of you tripped her. You've got until I close at midnight to make this table and floor spotless, and then you'll be banned from this place forever. I don't let this sort of shit happen in my restaurant! Now, my husband is a police officer and I know you'll do as I say, otherwise I'll have you arrested for violence and disrupting the peace."
Blanca smiles as she gets herself some Band-Aids from the first aid kit. Even though racism exists and she'd been attacked, she's pretty satisfied in all of her jobs now. Diane and Red have her back in foodservice and she has the best co-worker in Diablo at old Millie's residence.
She can get through anything with people on her side.
Thank you for reading and reviewing, Juliette45 and MsSchneeheide!