Red Light Wives

by Mary Monroe

  “I’d never seen them before and they had on masks,” I lied. I looked away from the policeman because I didn’t like the indifferent look on his face.

  My mind went off on its own. It didn’t matter what I said. I knew it would do no good. I’d given a lot of thought to what I’d experienced. I’d been lucky that all I’d given up was the money, the beer, and a clumsy blow job. It was times like this that I really missed my mother. She had always soothed me when I was in pain by buying me something nice. She had rewarded me with a new bike when I was seven after I’d been hit by a car. She would take me on shopping sprees at the mall every time one of the neighborhood bullies harassed me. There was not a time I could remember that I didn’t get some type of reward from somebody to help me get over some trauma. Until now.

  The policeman cleared his throat to get my attention back. “You said you’d never seen them before, is that right?” he mumbled.

  “That’s right.” I nodded.

  “Well, if the perpetrators had on masks, how would you know that?”

  “Wh…what?” I stammered. It wasn’t bad enough that I was already flustered. But now I was being grilled like I was the one who had committed a crime.

  The policeman massaged his forehead with his thumb and gave me an exasperated look. “Do you want to tell me what really happened, ma’am?”

  “I just told you,” I wailed, getting angry all over again. I knew what he was thinking. A few of the cashiers in the ’hood plucked money from the cash registers, robbing their employers blind. Then they staged phony robberies to cover the thefts. One of the problems with that was these same thieves blabbed to the wrong people and now even the cops knew about that scam. “Look, sir, this is my daddy’s liquor store. If you think I’d steal from my own daddy, you got another think coming. Now if you don’t want to take this report give me your badge and precinct number so I can call up your supervisor and tell him to send somebody out here who can do the job!” I was proud of the fact that I had enough courage to stand up to an authority figure when I had to. But I knew enough about rogue cops to know that that could get me into trouble, or killed, too. And since the cop and I were alone I decided that it would be in my best interest for me to be a little more docile. “Uh…if you don’t mind, I’d like to finish this up so I can call my daddy,” I said in a meek voice, looking at the cop’s shiny black boots.

  “I’m just doing my job, ma’am. I didn’t mean to upset you.”

  “Well, I didn’t make this up and I hope you believe me.”

  “I do believe you, Miss Bell. I apologize if I implied otherwise. Like I said, I’m just doing my job.” The cop paused and gave me a quick, weak smile. “Well, if you can think of anything else, please give us another call. I suggest you close up and call it a day. You’ve been through enough.” With a sniff the officer snapped his notebook shut, tipped his hat, and strolled out of the store, whistling like he was on his way to a ball game.

  Before I could lock up and leave, Hai Suk, the old Chinese woman who owned the nail shop next door, entered the store clutching a fistful of bills. She padded across the floor on her tiptoes like she always did. “Five quick pick, cash value. I feel lucky today,” she said, slapping the money onto the counter. Her grin disappeared and she gave me a concerned look. Her eyes were already so narrow I wondered how she could see. But she narrowed them some more and looked at me long and hard. “Trudy, you don’t look too good.”

  “We just got robbed.” I sighed, placing five lottery tickets into her dried hand.

  “Again?” Hai Suk sighed, shaking her head. “So sorry, so sorry. Last week was my turn. Not much money so crook take nail drill and cell phone, too.” Hai Suk turned her head to the side and tapped a faint bruise below her fish-like eye. “Doctor say if robber hit me one inch higher I maybe lose eye.”

  “You want anything else, Miss Suk? I’m going to close up and go home now.” I sighed. It felt like I was breathing through a tube.

  The old lady shook her head, her coarse gray and black hair dangling about her parched yellow face like a vine. “I see you next time, Trudy.”

  “No, you won’t,” I announced proudly, feeling like I’d just returned from the dead. I was even able to smile now. “I’m starting a new job on Monday.”

  “Good for you.” Hai Suk waved her hand in the air, then fanned her face with the lottery tickets. She bobbed her head so hard her eyes watered. “I don’t like to work so hard. Did I tell you about…”

  I held up my hand and flashed a smile. “I don’t mean to be rude, but I really do have to close up and leave,” I said as gently as I could. Hai Suk was like so many of the people I knew. She liked to share her business with the world and she liked to take her time doing it.

  Well, this was one day that I didn’t have the time to listen to anybody else’s problems. I had enough of my own to keep me occupied. As far as I was concerned my ordeal was not over yet. The police had come and gone and had been of little or no use. The boy who had robbed me admitted that he had been watching the place. He could have been peeping from behind a tree right now for all I knew, waiting to pounce again.

  Hai Suk gave me a grin and a nod. “I understand, Trudy. I just want to say I hope next job is better.”

  “It will be,” I said, clicking off the lights and snatching open the door to let the old woman out. “I’ll still come by your shop to get my nails done,” I promised.

  I stared out the door for a few minutes, wondering if it was safe for me to leave. I had some serious concerns because the boy who had robbed me knew about James and me. If he knew that much, then it was possible that he knew where I lived. I had never seen him before. At least I didn’t think so. I let out a deep breath and with it went some of my anger and fear. I had to move forward with my life and put this behind me. And standing there in that darkened liquor store that’s just what I decided to do.

  I didn’t know if my next job was going to be better, but I knew it would be safer. And I’d make more money so I’d be able to give myself the material rewards I so desperately wanted. Not that any of that mattered to Daddy, though. He’d been upset ever since I’d started going on interviews three weeks ago.

  Having to go home and deal with a grumpy old man after being robbed and sexually assaulted was the last thing I wanted to do. But I didn’t have a choice in the matter and that was part of the frustration I’d been feeling lately.

  Changing jobs was one choice I was glad I’d finally made. I had already decided that even if my new position turned out to be the job from hell, I would make the best of it.

  As soon as I got a job offer Daddy fussed about it so much he had chest pains. He thought that that, and a slew of his other ailments, would make me change my mind.

  “What if I need to get to the hospital?” he had asked when I told him I’d accepted the job I’d been offered.

  “Miss Plummer from across the street said she’d keep an eye on you,” I told him. “She used to be a nurse.”

  “And how do you plan to get to San Jose?” he asked, wheezing louder and harder than usual. “That’s twenty-miles from South Bay City. You know I need the car to get around in,” he whined.

  “I’ll take the bus until I can afford a car of my own,” I told him.

  “San Jose is a big city. It ain’t no safe place for no woman to be roamin’ around.”

  “I’ve been to San Jose dozens of times, Daddy, and nobody has ever bothered me. The only place I’ve ever been bothered is right here….”

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  Copyright © 2004 by Mary Monroe

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  ISBN: 978-0-7582-6270-7