“Yeah, and look what it got me. I ended up being young, pregnant, and on my own. My life ain’t easy, Yoshi.”

“Well, neither is mine. No offense, Auntie, but I ain’t trying to get caught up with none of these niggaz on some kid shit. I’m strictly about my bread. By hook or crook, I gotta get it how I get it. If stripping is what’s gonna pay my bills, then that’s what I’m gonna do.”

Vivian shook her head sadly. “Yoshi, you can’t make a career out of stripping. Take it from someone who knows. It’ll only be a matter of time before your breasts begin to sag a little, or your ass isn’t as firm as it used to be. Then what are you gonna do? You’re the shit now, but that’s until something younger comes along.”

“Well, by then I’ll have my own club,” Yoshi said, as if she was being witty.

Vivian touched Yoshi’s face. “Baby, how you gonna run an establishment with no type of skills? It takes more to run a club than overseeing the employees. There’s a whole flip side to the coin that you’re not seeing.”

“Listen, Aunt Viv, I’m running in the fast lane and I ain’t gonna slow down until I reap all the benefits of life. If this stripping shit was to dry up today or tomorrow, I’m still gonna get money.”

“How, by continuing to sleep around the way you do?” Vivian asked, a bit more sharply than she had intended.

“You don’t know what I do!” Yoshi snapped.

“Yoshi,” Vivian looked at her seriously, “who do you think you’re talking to? The streets talk, mami. Your name is ringing in the hood.”

“Auntie, you need to stop listening to what people say. These muthafuckas don’t have anything better to do but gossip.”

“I know what you’ve been up to, but you’re grown, so I’m not always on you about it.”

“Auntie…”

“No, Yoshi. Just listen to me for a minute. You are a beautiful and intelligent girl. You have your youth and your health. Why throw it away running around like a piece of trash?”

“I don’t have to listen to this shit.” Yoshi tried to walk off, but Vivian grabbed her by the arm.

“That’s your problem, Yoshi. You never wanna listen. Baby,” she stroked Yoshi’s cheek, “I see girls like you every day at the clinic. Beautiful young women of color, poisoned by these streets, and too bullheaded to know their own worth. I don’t want that to happen to you.”

“That’s not gonna happen to me.”