“Goldie, Goldie, slow down. You sayin’ a lot at one time,” she expressed. “Now I don’t know much ’bout da Bible, but from my understandin’ we all sinners in one way or anotha. Whut’s dat verse in da Bible, ‘Ye who iz without sin, let him cast da first stone …’ Like Tupac said, ‘I wuz given dis world I didn’t make it …’ I’ma keep it real wit you, we all do what we gotta do. E’rybody doin’ them fa they own individual reasons. Dat don’t make it right, but … understand da circumstances, God gotta understand. If he’s a lovin’ God and a forgivin’ God, he’ll see what type of people we really are … I’m not a bad person, jus’ ’cause I do bad things. You think I wanna dance fa strange men, butt-naked? You think I wanna have sex fa money? Dat took a lot ta get use to. I block it out, pretend it ain’t me and I’m not there. I’m jus’ doin’ what I got to do fa now. I know it’ll get greater later ….”

“My mother … God bless her soul,” Goldie began, “taught me right from wrong. She taught to cover my private parts. And to wear loose-fitting clothes. She taught how to carry myself like a lady, the young lady dat I am. She taught how to respect myself … If she could see me now? She’d be ashamed at the whore I’ve become. She’s probably rollin’ over in her grave as we speak … I don’t even know why I was born. Why was I put on dis earth? Ta curse my mother? I wish God jus’ put me outta my misery ….”

“Goldie, stop talkin’ like dat,” Tender warned her. “You scarin’ me. Now, it ain’t dat bad. You been through a lot and I been through a lot. But we still here. We still alive and kickin’. We survivors. They can’t break us. Don’t let dis shit break ya spirit. Soon, we gone come up. We gone find a betta way. God does not place too heavy of a burden on nobody. Believe dat … We jus’ gotta hold on and weather the storm. Make it through these rainy days. We wuz put here fa a reason. What? I don’t know ….”

They both fell silent as the weight of Tender’s words began to sink in. Tender leaned against the wall, lost in thought, while Goldie’s shoulders slouched over. Her facial expression seemed to say it all: She looked defeated.