Kat was a risk-taker by nature. Win, lose or draw, she was willing to deal with the consequences of whatever, come what may. And although she was the baby of the family, she was her own woman. Nobody could tell her anything. Stripping was her life. She never had to condition herself to enjoy it, she took to it naturally. Lost in the sauce, she was content with being right where she was. In the mix of all the action.

“… Tonya got drama. She done lived the life of a forty-year-old woman,” Kat said to her sister. “Ain’t no right in that. So don’t gimme no lectures about right and wrong, good vs. evil. Only God can judge me. The girl need money fast. Ain’t nobody lookin’ out fa her. I’ma show her how to take care of herself.”

“How? By strippin’?” Jackie said. “There’s other ways to help her, you know? That’s if you really care? If you really wanna help? Katrina, don’t turn her on to the strip game. Don’t turn her on to nuttin’ bad. You don’t want that on ya conscience or in the book of deeds when you go meet ya maker. If anything, you should be tryin’ to dissuade her from that life. What if you had a daughter? Would you want someone showin’ ya child somethin’ so negative?”

Ever since Jackie’s girlfriend, Candy, got killed some years ago by some obsessed trick she was dating, she decided to do all she could to discourage anyone from stripping and tricking. Jackie took her friend’s fate as a sign from God. He was telling her to get the hell out the strip club scene. So she turned over a new leaf and got baptized. In her heart she knew it could have been her in a coffin, at the rate she was going.

“Jackie, you know what?” Kat stated angrily. “It’s time fa you to roll out. You fuckin’ up my whole vibe early in the morning. I ain’t got time fa dis. I ain’t arguin’ wit you. You don’t like what I do? Fine, keep it movin’! Stay da fuck away from me and outta my business …”

In the midst of this heated debate, Tonya stood dumbfounded. She was the topic of conversation, yet she was powerless to stop it. This was bigger than her.

“From now on, you can come get ya son yaself from Mommy’s house,” Jackie spat as she gathered herself and prepared to leave. But before she did, she turned to young Tonya and said, “Keep ya dignity! If you don’t stand for somethin’, you’ll fall fa anything. I’ll pray for you too. ’Cause only God knows what you’re about to get yaself into …”