Lost in Middle America

by Colin Conway

  “You didn’t wait for me,” Lobo said.

  “I was hungry,” she said.

  “I don’t care.”

  “Well, neither did I,” she said before sticking a forkful of pie into her mouth. She made a cooing sound over the flavor.

  Lobo slapped the table, the noise bringing silence to the small restaurant. Rosie ignored his display of outrage and took another bite of pie.

  The pimp leaned back and crossed his arms.

  “Why are you acting out, Rosie? What have I done to offend you?”

  She continued to eat her pie, just watching him. She tilted her head to the side as she waited for him to figure it out.

  Lobo hadn’t seen Rosie behave this way before, but he had seen it occur in other whores. It was as old as time itself. The green-eyed monster finally reared its ugly head. He quickly did the roll call and there was only one woman who would illicit that type of reaction.

  “It’s Violet, isn’t it?”

  She blinked several times before shoving another piece of pie into her mouth. This time she didn’t coo.

  “Yeah, I see it. That’s it. Baby, you know I have to pay special attention to the new girl. If I don’t, she can break. Haven’t you ever heard that a team is only as strong as its weakest link? My junior high school football coach use to say that shit all the time. It never made any sense to me until I was a pimp. Then it made all the sense in the world. Violet is our weakest link. Therefore, I must pay special attention to her until I strengthen her. As the Bible says, iron strengthens iron.”

  Rosie dropped her plastic fork on the table. “That’s bullshit.”

  He spread his hands out in front of him. “She speaks.”

  “You’re with her because she’s the youngest and prettiest.”

  “Youth ain’t nothing that can’t be taken away and beauty changes daily, you know that. She’s weak, Rosie, and you are my strongest. Sometimes that means you get the least, because I can count on you the most.”

  Rosie stared at Lobo.

  “Unless you’re telling me I can’t. Are you telling me I need to start looking at some other girl to be my confidant, to be my best girl? It sure as hell ain’t going to be Violet, but maybe Edith can step back into that role? Or maybe one of the other girls wants the opportunity to step up and be my lieutenant?”

  Rosie bared her teeth. “You wouldn’t dare.”

  Lobo pointed a finger at Rosie. “Don’t try me, bitch. You know I would and I would do it just to spite you. You earned your way to number one, but I can take it away like that.” Lobo snapped his fingers. “Don’t ever think you own me. Remember the whipping I gave you when we started?”

  Rosie’s eyes softened.

  “You’ve never forgotten that, have you? Me neither. I didn’t want to do that to you, but you needed it. You were like a strong-willed horse that needed to be broken. I had to do it and I hated every moment of it. But I will do it again, if it’s needed, to keep you with me. You belong to me, Rosie, don’t forget it. But you can be replaced as bottom bitch if you can’t remember how things operate.”

  Rosie lowered her head and nodded.

  “Don’t you ever come to lunch and eat before I get here. Do you understand?”

  “Yes.”

  “I outta whip you with the belt for that alone.”

  Rosie closed her eyes to the memory.

  Lobo stuck a French fry in his mouth and unwrapped his hamburger. “Now, what was so damned important that you needed to parley with me at lunch?”

  “The feds are going to shut down National Union.”

  Lobo held the hamburger in front of his open mouth. He slowly closed his mouth and lowered the burger without ever taking a bite.

  “Say that again.”

  “The feds are going to shut down National Union. They’re auditing the bank now. They’ve been doing it for several days. If they close the branch, anyone who has money in there will have to go through the government to get it back. It’s the same with someone who puts their treasures in a safe-deposit box.”

  “How do you know all this?” Lobo asked and took a bite of his burger.

  “Edith learned about it from a woman. She told me and we talked with the woman.”

  “A woman?”

  “She’s an auditor for the government. She drinks at the same place Edith does. I followed her back to her office after she left the bar. She collected her things and then got in her car and left.”

  “Where’d she go?”

  “How would I know? I don’t have a car.”

  Lobo took a bite of his burger.

  “Isn’t that interesting?”

  He nodded while he chewed.

  “Are you going to get your treasures out?”

  He shrugged.

  “Are you glad I told you?”

  “Of course, I am. That’s what you’re supposed to do. You’re supposed to look after my best interests. I’ll give Edith my thanks when I see her next.”

  “There’s something else.”

  Lobo took another bite and chewed. “What’s that?”

  “Violet knew about the bank for a couple days.”

  He raised his eyebrows while he swallowed.

  Rosie hesitated, then added, “For some reason, she chose not to tell you.”

  “Why are you stirring the pot, bitch?”

  Rosie looked down.

  “I’ll take care of Violet. You keep an eye out for that auditor woman. Call me when you see her next.”

  She liked the big man named Robert. He had picked her up every other night for the past two weeks and spent a couple hours with her each time.

  He always rented a nice room and stocked it with a bottle of wine. He paid her well for the time and never pressed her to do anything beyond the normal. He was a sweet man with a low voice. When he spoke to her, it was in soft, pleasant tones and his eyes were always kind.

  They had just finished making love, that’s what he had called it, and she lay on her back staring at the ceiling.

  “What do you want to do with your life, Violet?”

  She frowned and shook her head.

  “What’s wrong?” Robert asked.

  “It does no good to think those thoughts,” she said. “They just mess with my head.”

  “You mean hopes and dreams? I like to think of them all the time.”

  “Yeah? Well, you’re a nice guy, Robert. You’re a citizen. You get to think thoughts like that. I’m in the life, Robert. I don’t get to think that way.”

  Robert rested his head in one hand and placed his free hand on her naked stomach. She liked it when he touched her like that. It was sensitive and not sexual.

  “What’s your real name, Violet?”

  “That is my real name,” she said.

  Robert gave her a sad smile. “Oh, honey, I know for certain that isn’t your name. Some girls get to keep their names and others are given a new name by their pimp. He gave you that name and every man who comes to you is happy to call you it. But I’d like to know your real name. If you never want me to say it after you tell me, I will keep it a secret.”

  Violet turned her head to stare at Robert. His black skin reflected the light from the nightstand. “Why are you so nice?”

  “I’m not that nice,” Robert said.

  “You seem nice.”

  “I seem nice,” he said. “That I will agree with.”

  Violet sighed. “My name is Shawna.”

  “May I call you Shawna?”

  She nodded.

  “Tell me what you’d like to do. Please, Shawna. I won’t make any judgments.”

  “It’s stupid.”

  “Why?”

  “It will never come true.”

  “How do you know?”

  “Because I want to have children.”

  “You want to be a mother?”

  “But I can’t. It’s not possible.”

>   “Physically?”

  She nodded as tears welled in her eyes.

  “You can adopt,” he said.

  “What and put prostitute on the adoption form? Ain’t nobody gonna give no whore a baby.”

  Robert touched the side of her face. “That’s what you do today. That’s not who you’ll be forever.”

  Shawna wiped the tears from her eyes with the back of her hand. “It doesn’t feel that way. It feels like I’ll always be this person.”

  “People can change,” Robert said. “Trust me.”

  She laid her head on his chest and cried.

  Robert “Bigs” Elmore sat in his white Tahoe and watched her.

  Rosie stood talking with another woman for a moment before the two parted. Sam had told him the other whore’s name, but he couldn’t remember. If he thought about it hard enough, he could probably dredge it up, but he didn’t care. It was Rosie who he wanted to see.

  She still looked good.

  He wasn’t in love with her. He wasn’t a fool, but he knew a good woman when he saw her. Rosie had spirit and she knew how to earn. She was also a survivor.

  When she quit visiting him at Albion, he tried to hang himself with his bed sheet. The guards caught him too soon after he did it. They put him under a suicide watch and ordered him into therapy. For most in prison, that just puts off the inevitable, but for Bigs it saved his life. It gave him time to think about what happened and how he ended up where he did. It allowed him to focus on who put him in the cage. It also allowed him to miss certain things from the outside and one of them was Rosie.

  He dropped the truck into gear and pulled up to the curb. When the window rolled down, she stepped up and stuck her head in.

  “Hey, there,” she said before realizing who was behind the wheel. When she did, her professional smile was replaced by fear. She quickly looked up and down the street. “What are you doing here?” she asked, lowering her voice.

  “Hoping to spend some time with you.”

  “No. Ain’t going to happen.”

  “Please, Rosie.”

  “I heard what happened in Cincinnati. I don’t want no part of you.”

  “I’ve changed. I was just driving through Lima and saw you. I wanted to say hi, is all.”

  Rosie pursed her lips then leaned back to look up and down the street.

  “I’ll pay for your time, Rosie. Just to talk.”

  She made up her mind then, grabbed the handle, and climbed in.

  Bigs pulled away from the curb.

  “What are you doing in Lima, Bigs?”

  “I was visiting a friend over in Van Wert and had to drive through Lima to head home. I was going to get something to eat when I saw you. You hungry? Want to have dinner with me?”

  “No,” she said, “I don’t want to eat. Where you living now?”

  “Dayton,” he lied. It came out so smooth and easy that it surprised him.

  “You look tired.”

  “Well, you look good, kid.”

  That brought a smile to her face.

  He pulled into the lot of a Walgreens and parked.

  “There’s a lot of people here,” Rosie said.

  “It’s okay,” he said. “I ain’t trying to start nothing.”

  “You really don’t want nothin’?”

  “Nope. I just wanted to talk, to see how you were doing. You doin’ good?”

  She shrugged.

  “Is he treating you, okay?”

  Her eyes slanted.

  “I’m not trying to make trouble. You don’t have to tell me nothing. I’m just making talk. If you want, we can just sit here quiet for some time so I can look at you.

  “It’s your money.”

  The sat in silence for several minutes. Even though he kept his face passive, Bigs enjoyed watching Rosie grow more uncomfortable with each passing second.

  Finally, she said, “It’s fine.”

  “I’m glad he’s treating you fine. He should. You’re worth it.”

  She nodded, but her eyes narrowed.

  “I missed you at Albion.”

  “Listen,” she said with defensiveness in her voice, “you were going to be in there a long time.”

  “I don’t blame you, Rosie. You were always good to me. Even when I wasn’t good to you.”

  She blinked several times when he admitted that.

  “After you stopped seeing me, I tried to kill myself.”

  Her mouth dropped open.

  “The guards saved me. I’m glad they did. Life is worth living, you know.”

  She silently stared at him.

  “Anyway, I wanted to say thank you for taking care of me when I didn’t deserve it.”

  Wetness formed in her eyes.

  He started the truck and left the parking lot. They travelled in silence back to where he picked her up. When he pulled to the curb, he dug a wad of bills out of his pocket and handed them to her. It was double what her time was worth.

  “Do me a favor and don’t tell him you saw me, okay? It would only create problems for you and me.”

  Rosie looked at the money in her hand, then back to the big man. She climbed out without another word.

  As he drove away, Bigs thought, Damn, the words come back easier than I could have imagined.

  He walked into the office building off Main Street. It had obviously struggled with vacancy for many years so even a temporary office lease on the main floor called attention to activity.

  The little suite had windows overlooking the street and into the common hallway. There was no sign in any window detailing who the new tenant was.

  Lobo pushed the door open and entered the office. It smelled musty as if it hadn’t been occupied for some time. There were three small, gunmetal desks with computers sitting on each. Behind one of them was a redhaired woman with her head bowed over some paperwork.

  The redhead looked up at Lobo and her eyes widened. Lobo recognized it as fear which made him smile. “Hey,” he said as he sauntered deeper into the small office, his eyes sweeping it all in. Nothing hung on the walls and there were no personal effects on any of the desks.

  It was a very temporary set-up.

  “Can I help you?”

  “You Carrie?”

  The redhead’s brow furrowed.

  “I’ll take that as a yes.”

  Lobo grabbed a folding metal chair and slid it to the side of the desk that Carrie sat behind. Lobo dropped onto the chair, crossed one leg over the other, and rested his elbow on the edge of the desk. “What are you doing here?”

  “I think I should be asking you that,” Carrie said.

  “This,” Lobo said while twirling his finger, indicating the office and its furnishing, “isn’t government protocol. Something ain’t right.”

  “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

  “It’s too temporary for government work. I’ve seen the government in action my whole life. They never do brief or momentary. They move in, set-up shop, and take over. You know what I’m saying? It’s like a tick burrowing in. But you don’t look like you’ve burrowed in. Exactly the opposite. This is more for effect than anything. Like lipstick on a pig, as my momma would say.”

  “I think you need to leave,” Carrie said.

  Lobo studied Carrie’s face for a moment then said, “Something ain’t right about you, either.”

  Carrie swallowed.

  “I think it’s your face.”

  “I’m going to call the police.”

  Lobo laughed. “You see, that’s funny. I thought you were the police.”

  Carrie reached for the phone on the desk, but Lobo put his hand over hers. “Let’s keep this civil,” he said. Then he grabbed the cord with his other hand and yanked it from the phone.

  “I’ll scream,” she said.

  “Go ahead. Ain’t hardly anybody in the building and I don’t think nobody will hear you from outs
ide. Want to try?”

  Lobo screamed.

  Carrie’s eyes widened.

  He screamed a second time.

  The redhead clenched her jaw.

  “If a man screams in the middle of downtown and no one hears it, did he really scream?” The pimp chuckled. “Now, that’s some funny shit.”

  Wetness formed at the edge of Carrie’s eyes.

  “Don’t worry none, baby, I ain’t going to do nothing to you but talk. You afraid of a little chit-chat?”

  Carrie swallowed, but she remained silent. The wetness had changed to tears and a single one rolled down the side of her cheek.

  “Like I said, a lot of things ain’t adding up recently.”

  “I’m an auditor. Is that supposed to be funny?”

  “I don’t joke. What I’m saying is this—” Lobo paused in mid-sentence and leaned toward Carrie. He studied her face for a moment, then leaned back. “You know, I seen a lot of redheads in my day. Most of them have been underneath me so I’ve had ample time to study them and there ain’t been a single one didn’t have some freckles. Until you.”

  Carrie started to say something, but Lobo was too quick. He moved around the corner of the desk, grabbed her by the back of the hair. She attempted to stand, but he punched her in the stomach. She doubled over and fell back into her chair. He yanked the wig from her head exposing her dark hair.

  “What’s this?”

  Carrie moved to get away, but Lobo punched her in the face. She brought her hands up and covered her nose. Blood leaked out from under her fingers.

  He bent down near her ear. “Before you even start to lie, know that I can sniff the truth out of a bitch. You understand? It’s a science and one that I’m good at.”

  Carrie’s eyes were wide as she nodded. She started to say something, but the door to the office burst open. It was Rosie. She had been standing guard outside the building.

  “Cops!” she yelled and ran away.

  He could hear the sirens then.

  “That’s what I figured,” Lobo said.

  He slapped Carrie hard across the face before sprinting out of the office.

  “What’s that?” Rachel asked.

  Sam was seated in the corner chair of their hotel room. His feet were propped up on an ottoman and he had a file in his hands. A Caterpillar baseball hat was kicked back on his head.