Can you trade what’s solely yours and no one else’s for worldly goods?
It’s not going to be offered out of kindness. It’ll be a business deal. I’ll work for it.
Was the protection of my body, my honor, more precious than things only money could buy?
It took me only a second to answer.
Not anymore.
I made my choice.
To live.
I took the body wash and headed into the bathroom, prepared to make myself look as tempting as possible.
6
Mariposa
The heels slipped comically as I stepped out of the cab and onto the sidewalk. I had used the last of my money to splurge on a cab. In New York, a cab was the equivalent of a magical carriage.
Even though the cabbie took my money and his meter ran, he watched with humor in his eyes as I tried to navigate my way from his ride to the front of the building. It wasn’t far, but far enough when my shoes constantly slipped because my feet were too small. I wasn’t sure what was worse. Shoes that made my toes curl in or shoes that made me waddle like a duck to find a natural rhythm.
Besides, I’d never worn heels in my life. Add that to two sizes too big, and what do you have? A natural disaster on legs.
I hoped that whoever would be checking me out tonight,ifthat was the case, wouldn’t check the bottoms of my feet. I’d taken the heels off while walking to the cab, and my pads were stained black.
A whistle from behind made me turn to look. Two guys dressed in nice clothes walked past, smiling at me.
“Hey, Beautiful,” one of them said, and then he winked at me. “You smell as good as heaven. You wanna try to be my sin tonight?”
I looked behind to make sure it was me he was talking to. It was. Heat crept up my cheeks and I turned, trying to hide my smile. It was the first time I’d smiled in a long time. And not because he called me beautiful or even attempted to flirt. It was because he said Ismelledgood.
The heat from outside made the golden-boxed perfume even stronger, but it wasn’t too overbearing. It made my head float in the clouds. I wanted to bathe in the body wash twice a day and slather the cream on myself morning, noon, and night.
“Dude!” The other guy said, shoving him. “What kind of pick-up line was that? Horrible. We need to work on your skills.”
As soon as the two guys passed, I remembered why I was here, and my nerves attacked again. With shaking hands, I pulled out the gold invitation from my backpack. The card shimmered in the glow of the lights from The Club.
The Club was massive, and it seemed exclusive. Streams of beautiful people were able to walk straight in, but others were not so lucky. The line wrapped around the building, regular people like me anticipating their turn in the swanky nightclub. Music blared from inside, thumping with bass, and every so often I could smell alcohol on the slight breeze.
Taking a deep breath in, I stuck the card under my arm, and then pulled out the cellphone Harrison had let me buy for two bucks. I sent a text to Kee. Harrison had programmed her number and his into the phone.
Me:How’s it going?
A second later the phone lit up.
Kee:Who is this?
Me:Me.
Kee:Me who?
I realized my mistake.
Me:Mari
Kee:I’m so glad you have a phone now. And things are going as expected. I can’t stop seeing, you know? How are you? What are you doing?
