“Oh, sorry,” I mumbled, removing the one garbage bag I had lugged up on top of the fuzzy patchwork quilt. The shorter girl looked like she should be in middle school. Her baby had suddenly gotten fussy, and she began to bounce it in her arms while she paced the room. I noticed the tall girl’s belly as soon as she took off her coat. It seemed to stick out as far as she was tall. I didn’t know whether to introduce myself or not, so I just stacked my garbage bags at the foot of my twin bed and began to put other things in the nearest draw.

“I’m Janice,” the tall one said. “That’s Tiny.”

She pointed at the younger girl, who didn’t do anything but smile.

“I’m Shivana,” I said softly, not knowing how cordial I should be around here. Women turned on women in the blink of an eye.

“You pregnant?” Janice suddenly asked, taking me off guard.

I didn’t want or need people up in my business, especially since I hadn’t yet decided that I definitely wanted to keep the baby. I needed to see how the next month would go and if I could figure out a way to make money. There was no use in me being pregnant one day and not pregnant the next, having to explain that to a bunch of folks I didn’t know or care about. I wasn’t like the rest of these girls. I wasn’t going to be here past the season.

“No,” I lied. They both looked shocked, though Tiny had yet to say a word.

“How you get in here if you ain’t knocked up?” Janice asked so loud I’m sure the whole floor heard her.

“This was the only place for me to go,” I said, making it up as I went along. I’m sure the sisters were too sanctified to gossip. They would tell any girl who came to them with questions about another girl to go somewhere and sit down.

“Oh, I ain’t know they did that here,” Janice said. “Well, it’s just me and Tiny in here, and we got keys to the room so you ain’t gotta worry about your stuff.”

I didn’t trust no damn body.

“Might as well tell you, puta man like to wake up hollerin’ every night,” Janice said, pointing to Tiny and the baby she had started to change. The room reeked with the stench of the child’s shit. A playful stab at her son was all it took to get Tiny animated.