A Second Chance

By Dawn Natelle

This should make up for the long gaps between chapters before: Dawn

THURSDAY, June 9, 2016

On Wednesday night Gary got over 100 new members for the Hobo Army. However there were also several women who prayed at the paintings that evening.

Three young streetwalkers were out early on Wednesday night, and with a lack of customers at the early hour and the normally slack day for that business, they wandered quite a way from their normal downtown beat. They were about to turn around when a street person approached. Normally they ignored his type. No money.

But this fellow mentioned that there was a free dinner at the church just a few more blocks to the west. They decided to go, even though in an hour or so they would start craving a dose of drugs from their pimp, and he wasn’t likely to be happy if they hadn’t brought in any cash.

The little church was cute and well looked after. They ambled in. There was a man in the lobby who approached them. The girls expected to be asked to leave, but instead the man welcomed them sincerely and told them that there was a meal going on downstairs, but would they like to pray at the painting first? They all looked up, and were drawn to the painting, and the man gently led them all to prayer rails.

They prayed for nearly a half hour, and finally rose. They were all in tears, ruining the thick mascara they wore. They were approached by a young woman named Pastor Helen, who led them to a washroom. Minutes later, they exited, with mascara and all other makeup removed.

As they went down the back stairs and entered the dining hall, one of the Hobo Army said “Hubba, hubba” at their scanty outfits.

“Jason Knight,” Pastor Helen scolded. “These young ladies are our guests, and should be treated as such.”

“Sorry, Pastor Helen,” the man said contritely. “May I escort you to the serving line?”

Jason seemed chastised, and Pastor Helen watched as he politely led the women through the line and then to a table before returning to his duties, while keeping an eye out on the other diners to make sure that no unwelcome men approached the table.

When the women had eaten, Pastor Helen returned to them and sat down as they ate their desserts. “I can’t believe it,” the busty redhead said. “I don’t feel any urges for a dose of coke.”

“And you won’t, ever again,” Pastor Helen said. “Now I have been talking with Gary, our property manager, and we have come up with an idea. I assume none of you want to go back to your former life. Is that right?”

“Yes ma’am,” the woman said. “My name is Temptat … no, it is Jane. This is Sunshine,” she gestured to the tall blonde who corrected her by saying “Beth Anne,” and this is “Running Dove.” The third girl was a First Nation’s member, and slightly chubby compared to the others. “They let me keep my real name,” she said.

“Well ladies, it turns out that we have a place for you to stay tonight. I recently married, and moved out of my house to be with my husband, although a lot of my stuff is still there. You can stay there. There are two beds, and the sofa.”

--- -- --- --

Carlos Murrez was properly pissed off. Three of his girls had not come back to the house this morning. It was 3 a.m., and by now they should be in major withdrawal and crying for a dose. In the past clients had occasionally given coke to the girls to make them more compliant, but for the past month Carlos had added opiates to their doses, which should have pretty much disabled them by now. Yet they were not at the house. He would have to go looking for them.

Carlos checked the trackers. He had put these on the phones of all three. None of them were answering either voice or texts. At least all three were in the same direction so he headed that way.

He parked on the street outside a tiny house. He looked in and saw movement behind the drapes. It was clearly Running Dove, perhaps making a trip to the washroom. He got out of the car and walked towards the house, his anger growing as he went. What the hell had happened to half of his stable of whores that led them to this cute little house far from their normal track?

Carlos took a first step up to the porch and his hand extended to try the door when a voice spoke out. “Can I help you, sir?” It was Jason Knight. “I don’t think this is what you are looking for,” said another voice approaching from the other direction.

“Those are my girls, and I’m taking them back to the house,” Carlos said angrily.

“I don’t think you look old enough to be their father,” a third voice said. Carlos spun around, and saw that man standing a few feet from him, while a fourth man was nearer the road, on a cell phone. All four men were dressed identically, with navy t-shirts and beige trousers.

“They work for me, smartass,” Carlos retorted. “I’m taking them back with me.”

“I believe they have all quit,” Jason said. “They no longer work for you.”

The men argued for a few more minutes and suddenly the door opened. “Go home Carlos,” Beth Ann said. “We no longer want anything to do with you.”

“Maybe you can quit me,” Carlos said with a smile as he reached into his pocket. “But can you quit Miss Cocaine here?” He held up a small plastic baggie with the white rock in it.

“We have been cured,” Jane added. “Your drugs have no allure for us. We have been given a second chance, and we are not going to blow it.”

“You’re coming with me, and that is final,” Carlo said, reaching out to grab his most lucrative streetwalker by the wrist. But before he could touch Jane another hand grabbed his and pulled it away. It was Jason.

“I’m afraid I can’t let you do that,” Jason said. “I’m going to have to ask you to leave. Now.”

“Who’s going to make me go,” Carlos said. “You four and what army?”

“This army,” a voice said. It was Gary, and there were another 15 men with him, with more coming down the street from the church.

“Dammit,” Carlos said, and he pulled a Bowie knife from his belt, waving it dangerously. The men all backed off a bit.

“Come with me,” Carlos said, making another grab for Jane, who danced back. Carlos moved to follow, when the second guard stepped forward, shouting “No.”

The knife flashed, and red could be seen on the shirt of the man. The blow was not deep though, when an 18-inch pipe came swooping down and wacked the pimp’s wrist hard enough that everyone could hear bones cracking. Carlos screamed, and dropped the knife as he fell. The stabbed man also fell to his knees, and one of the other men who had come from the shed approached him. Gary recognized him as Wally Smythe. He was a registered practical nurse who had gotten hooked on drugs at the hospital before being fired. He was the best person to look after the injured man.

Just then Officer Steve and Pastor Helen arrived from their house down the street. The constable handcuffed the man, who screamed anew when the cuff was placed on his injured wrist.

An EMT is on the way, he told the men, while Pastor Helen slipped into the house where the three women were clearly distraught over the incident. A moment later a police cruiser stopped, and Officer Velma Cierra came up to get briefed by Officer Steve. Perfect, he thought. The man is a pimp and it will be a woman who takes him in.

The ambulance pulled up, and took the stabbed man and Wally to the hospital. One EMT asked Steve is he wanted a second unit sent for the man screaming on the ground. “No. Take these to the hospital. I don’t want them travelling together, and we need to do some things first. Come back when you finish with these, and meet us over at the church.”

“Okay,” the EMT said. “You better take that cuff off. It might damage the wrist more.”

“Will do,” Steve said sadly. He had wanted to keep the man in pain, but now that the EMT had warned him he was forced to comply, or face charges of police brutality. He unlocked that cuff, and then attached it to his own right hand. Carlos was hauled to his feet. Gary ordered eight men to stand guard over the house, plus two more to escort Pastor Helen back when she was done. The rest of the men formed a circle surrounding Carlos and Steve, with Officer Velma walking 10 feet behind, with her hand on her service revolver holster.

In the church Carlos was led to the lobby, and made to look up at the painting. He stood there for ten minutes, chuckling to himself. It was not the reaction his captors had expected. He was moved closer until he was right at the front of the painting. He continued to laugh.

Pastor Helen arrived, and was surprised to find the pimp defiant, not contrite. She dropped to her knees in front of the painting, and then swiftly rose.

“It didn’t work,” she said. “He is very upset. He says that he cures by going into a person’s heart, and using love. The man has no heart, no love. He cannot be cured at this time. He has to open his heart first.”

“Ha, ha,” Carlos boasted. “So your little plan failed, didn’t it? I have heard of this painting, and yet it has no power over me … Auggggghhh.” He screamed as Officer Cierra ‘accidently’ brushed into his damaged wrist. It did serve to shut him up. She was also less than gentle as she moved the handcuff from Steve and attached it to herself.

“I’ll take your cruiser,” Steve said. “You take this trash to the hospital in the ambulance. I think I hear it outside. I want to check out that ‘house’ he was talking about.”

The ambulance left, and Steve asked Pastor Helen which of the three girls would be in the best condition to accompany them to the whorehouse. She suggested that Jane has suffered the least trauma, and that the other two would be fine together, knowing that the Army was surrounding their new home.

Jane led them to an ancient and dilapidated house downtown. She had a key to the door, and let them in, then roused the others in the house. There were three young hookers and an older woman. When they learned that Carlos had been taken to hospital, and then to jail, they wailed. They had gotten a dose earlier when they came in from their work, but what would happen tomorrow?

Gary and another man arrived soon after Steve had called him, and he took Pastor Helen, Jane and the four women back to the church, where Helen hoped that the painting could heal them. Meanwhile the other night shift officer arrived at the house, and Steve and he started going through the house seeking evidence.

They found five handguns, large quantities of drugs, a safe, over $10,000 in cash. After an hour, Gary returned with the older woman of the house. Her name was Miriam, and she had been Carlos’s first whore after running away from home in Toronto 28 years earlier as a 14-year-old.

“Do you think you can help us with this,” Steve asked Miriam.

“Gladly,” the woman said. “I’ll do anything to get that bastard put away. Do you need to get into the safe? I know the combination. He thought my addiction made me safe. I can also show you his ledgers, and what the entries mean. I was responsible for writing most of them.”

The safe contained almost $100,000 and more drugs. But that was not as important as the ledger books that made it clear that Carlos would be sent away for a long, long time.

---- - --- -- ---

Rachael woke up knowing nothing about what happened in her old house earlier that morning. She went to the bakery, and then to school where absolutely no learning seemed to happen. It never does in mid-June. With their project completed, the four girls helped the boys out with their animations. There were a pile of cels to color in on the computers before the animated characters could be loaded onto the video, and the girls joined in on that tedious task.

At lunch Rachael flitted around the cafeteria, collecting film night money since the students hadn’t been in school since Tuesday. She found that there were four couples where one or both of their parents had said they couldn’t attend Rocky Horror. Of course this just made the movie more appealing to all the others. And other parents remembered seeing Rocky Horror in their youth, and were glad to see their kids following in their footsteps. At any rate, it meant that Rachael didn’t have to worry about there being space for Darla and Doug. The latter had paid his money when she stopped into the bakery in the morning, as he was still helping out on Thursday and Friday mornings, and all day Saturday. Kyle Stoner was only working Saturday’s since Mike had started.

Mike and Rachael had developed a tradition of having a pizza after work on Thursdays, so she could head to movie night without going home. This week Bobby begged to stay for pizza, and Rachael was unable to deny the puppy eyes he made. Geoff decided to get takeout food for himself, Maria and Grandpa. On the way they picked up Grandma to make it an adult’s only night.

Mike would take Bobby home, since he didn’t have his bike at the bakery. Rachael got to the library at about 6:30, and started setting up the room. Today, with a few empty spaces due to the no-shows, she arranged the chairs in pairs along the walls, leaving a large open space in the middle so the students could dance to the Time Warp when that came up in the movie. At a quarter to seven Darla showed up with her ‘cousin-in-law’ Robert. They joined in with moving the chairs. Less than two minutes later Doug came in, gently kissed Darla on the cheek, and gave her a single red rose.

“See Mr. Robert Jackson,” Rachael chastised. “That is how you treat a lady.” Darla just got redder and redder, and Doug led her to a pair of chairs where they would sit.

The movie started right at 7, with Carly warning that none of the audience participation that was so famous for Rocky Horror showings would be allowed. This had been said before, when Rachael had collected money, so there wasn’t much disappointment.

“This is the library, not a theatre, and we aren’t paying enough for a major cleanup,” Carly said. “I know this is the last movie of the year, but we hope to do this for another two years, so we don’t want to piss the librarians off. They did say that we can dance The Time Warp, so that’s why there is space in the middle of the room.”

“I don’t know that dance,” one girl in the audience complained.

“Don’t worry, they tell you how in movie,” Carly said. “Just hop up with the rest and follow along. It’s pretty easy. Larissa and I had the CD yesterday and we played it like four times.”

The movie went well, with almost all of the students dancing at least one of the three times the Time Warp song played.

As the lights came up Robert and Rachael were surprised to see Darla and Doug kissing pretty seriously for several more minutes. “Oh, oh,” Rachael said.

“Triple oh, oh,” Robert concurred. Robert helped clean up, and Doug joined in. Rachael took Darla into the washroom, and helped her fix her makeup. Her lipstick, in particular, was a mess. The last of the other girls left the room, and Rachael took advantage of the quiet to softly say: “You know we said if it got serious, you would have to tell him.”

Darla’s eyes showed blind panic. “No! Not tonight.”

“Is it getting serious?” Rachael asked.

“Yes, I guess it is. What do I say?”

“Well, let’s all go to the bakery and chat there. Is Ruby coming to pick you up?” Darla nodded yes. “She might be able to help.”

The library was clean. Rachael said that the four of them were going to the bakery, and Doug nodded. “I left my bike at the back door, chained to the gas meter. So stopping in is cool for me.”

Inside Rachael found a few pastries that she served up to the four, and soon Ruby showed up.

“I understand that Darla and you were really getting into the movie,” Ruby said, starting the dreaded conversation.

“Yeah, she is great,” Doug said. “I really, really like her.”

“I think there is something she needs to tell you,” Ruby said.

Darla paused, hesitated, and then leapt sobbing into her sister’s arms. “I can’t,” she cried.

Rachael took over: “Doug, have you ever heard of transgender?”

“Yeah, sure. It’s all over the pl …” he gasped, and clued in. “You don’t mean Darla?”

“Oh man, I was kissing a boy?” Doug said.

“No Doug, Darla is a girl. She just has a birth defect that needs to be removed when she turns 18. Are you man enough to love her?” Rachael asked.

“No, no, no,” Doug yelled, running through the bakery and out the back door.

Darla just wailed louder, and for the next 15 minutes they tried to calm her down. Finally they had, and Ruby drove them all home, dropping Rachael at her house before heading out into the country with the others.

The house was quiet when she got in, and Rachael was glad. She didn’t want to relive that scene. Not tonight.

She puttered around, reading for a bit until she felt ready for bed. She was about to kneel down when her phone beeped for a text. She looked, and saw that it was a text from Doug.

“Can you talk?”

She was still angry with him, but phoned him.

“I’m so not happy with you,” she said to his “Hello.”

“Yeah. I wasn’t too cool tonight, was I,” he said.

“The Oscar for understatement of the year goes to you,” Rachael retorted.

“It was such a shock,” Doug said. “I really was falling for Darla. She is so cool. So pretty. So not like a boy.”

“That’s because she isn’t a boy. She’s a girl. A girl who is crying her eyes out tonight. Luckily her sister is with her. I don’t know what she might do if she is alone. You are the first guy who ever kissed her, and then you ran away from her like that. They call that a trigger event in psychology.”

“Trigger? You mean she might … oh God, I have to talk to her. I messed up. All the way home one my bike I thought about her. I haven’t kissed many girls, but none of them did turned me on like she did. Am I gay?”

“Of course not, she is a girl. If she was a boy and that turned you on, you might be gay. But she is not and you are not,” Rachael said.

“Man, I have to call her. I don’t want her to do something … final.”

“Do you want to date her again?” Rachael asked.

“More than anything else in the world,” Doug answered.

“Then text her. If she won’t talk, then keep sending texts telling her how you really feel about her. And tell her you want to go out again.”

“I’ll tell her I love her,” Doug said.

“If you really do, you can,” Rachael said. “Now start dialing.” She hung up.

Dear Lord

It looked like it was going to be another lazy day today, and then at the movie night all heck breaks loose. Please help Doug say the right things, and for Darla to understand that he really cares for her, and was just freaked out. It was a lot to throw at a guy all at once after a date that had gone so well, to that point. And no matter how that all goes, look after Darla. She is on a rough path, and we didn’t make it any smoother tonight.

Amen