“We don’t have pimps up in here …. They call us renegades,” Kat announced proudly. “’Cause we don’t get down wit they program. ’Cause we won’t be a part of nobody’s stable … Shit, I know how ta pimp myself, I don’t need no middle man pimpin’ me. Dat’s fa them weak bitches who need to feel wanted or a part of somethin’. Fuck dat, ’cause when my pussy gets sore from fuckin’, I’ma give it a break. And ain’t no nigga gonna beat me or press me ta fuck when I don’t feel like it!”

Goldie yawned and stretched. “I’m tired!” she mumbled.

“Me, too!” Kat agreed, as she got up and proceeded to her room. “I’ll see y’all when I wake up, if I wake up.”

“Later,” Tender managed to say.

“Nite! Nite!” Goldie cracked. She turned to Tender. “See, I told you she got some shit wit her. And it ain’t all good.” She paused. “Dat’s enuff excitement fa da day. I’m goin’ ta bed.”

“Good night, Goldie,” Tender said. “Good lookin’ out! Thanks fa everything.”

Tender tucked herself into the bed. In her corner of the room, Goldie got on her knees. She touched the crucifix that she was wearing around her neck, and silently said a long prayer, like she did every night. She paused in front of a picture of her mother on her night table. She made the sign of the cross. Then she went into a drawer and pulled out a navy blue diary. She opened its lock and made quick notes in it. She wrote her confessions. She hoped this would cleanse her of her sins.

CHAPTER 3

CHAPTER
3

GLORIA, VENA QUI (Gloria, c’mere)” Ms. Cruz called out to her daughter, as she entered the apartment, returning home from school. Though Ms. Cruz spoke fluent English, she preferred to speak in her native tongue whenever possible.

Gloria detected a sense of urgency in her mother’s voice. She yelled back, “Comin’, Ma.” And she wondered what was wrong. Before making her way back to her mother’s room, she stopped and put some leftovers from last night’s dinner in the oven. She was starving.

Gloria walked past the living room, as she glanced in at her mother’s shrine to the Virgin mother Mary and Jesus Christ. The off-white living room walls were bare except for a huge, beautifully painted picture of a Caucasian, blue-eyed Jesus, with sunrays from the heavens descending brightly upon him. Next to that was an equally beautiful picture of the Virgin Mary. She was Ms. Cruz’s shinning example of purity. This was all that a woman should strive for. Accompanying the two portraits were numerous burning candles, holy water and blessed beads.