Alibi (8 page)

One night, while she was standing at the bus stop, her pager went off. It was Sticks.

He sure do got some nerve, where the hell has he been the last couple of months.
Daisy couldn’t help but to think of everything she had had to go through since Sticks had paid her that two grand. She had
tried calling him, but he never answered her call or called her back. She had really needed him when her mother died. She
just knew he’d help bury her mother. But he was missing in action and it had been two months since then. She went over to
the pay phone and dialed his number back.

“Hey, Daisy, where you at? I’m over here at the Honey Dipper, but they said you don’t work here no more.”

“I don’t, I work over at the Honey Pot now. Calvin moved me. Why?”

“’Cause my mans and ’em is having a bachelor party and I need you.”

“I know you don’t need me. Shoot, you don’t even bother to call to see if I’m dead or alive,” said Daisy, ready to hang up
the phone.

“Dais, it ain’t like that. I just been busy. Look, I got like two thousand dollars for you and another girl, that’s a thousand
apiece,” said Sticks, trying to sound convincing.

Daisy heard him say two thousand dollars and her ears shot straight up off the side of her head. “How many girls you say you
want?”

“Just two of y’all.”

Daisy’s brain started to overpower the e-pills from earlier and she put on her thinking cap. A new girl named Trixie who was
working at the Honey Pot with her.
Maybe she’d like to come and make a couple hundred.
Daisy couldn’t help but think to herself that she would be walking away with that two, or at least as close to that two as
possible. Sure enough, Trixie was more than down; for $350 in her pocket, she was ready to do whatever Daisy needed her to.
Unfortunately, Trixie had no idea that she and Daisy were walking into a trap when they walked through the door of the hotel
room. Trixie and Daisy were repeatedly raped and sodomized by the bachelor party attendees. Both girls had been given champagne
when they first got there. Gobbling it down and holding out her glass for more, Daisy never realized that she was being drugged.
She was lucky she woke up at all after being slipped a mickey. When she woke up the next morning, she looked around the empty
hotel room. Trixie was lying on the other full-size mattress that was side by side to hers. She looked at the clock: 10:38
A.M
. Daisy had one hundred and one things to do before getting to the Honey Pot. She tried to stand, and her head began to spin.
She sat back down. She reached over to the table and grabbed a Polaroid picture that was upside down.

Ohmigod,
she whispered to herself as she looked at the photo of her body squished between two men. There was another photo of her
giving head while having sex with someone else doggie style and Trixie doing the same, and then Trixie and Daisy doing men
together, each other, etcetera, etcetera, etcetera. She looked around the room for her pocketbook. Quickly she fumbled through
the purse.
The money, where’s the money
? She thought carefully back to the night before.
Sticks paid me, right?
He had paid her before they started drinking.
But what the fuck was that he had me drinking? He drugged me, that he did for sure, and he done took back that money he gave
me.
Quickly she finished putting her clothes on and grabbed her pocketbook. She looked at Trixie.
Should I wake her or let her sleep?
Daisy decided to leave her asleep. She walked out of the hotel room and made her way down the hall to the elevator. She had
collected all the Polaroid pictures left around the room and quickly flicked through them as tears began to drop down her
face. She couldn’t believe that Sticks would rape her like that. Pass her around like she wasn’t nothing and drug her up so
she couldn’t resist.
Shit, I know that damn Trixie is going to want the $350 I promised her. What the fuck am I going to tell her? She’s gonna
be mad.
Daisy didn’t even want to think about that argument. She would just have to deal with her later. Fortunately for Daisy, though
she didn’t know it at the time, the mickey they had slipped Trixie had left her in a real bad way.

Several hours later, housekeeping found Trixie walking the hallways naked and unable to identify herself. She seemed to be
humming a nursery rhyme and had no idea who she was, where she was, the day of the week, the month, or what year it was. The
hotel manager called 911 and an ambulance came for her and took her away. By the time Daisy got to the Honey Pot, the news
of Trixie was all the girls were talking about.

“She was in some hotel and was drugged up, raped, and sodomized.”

“I heard they say she’s never going to come back right, like she’s all messed up in the head.”

“That mickey shit can fuck you up. I know this one girl, she real retarded now ’cause of that shit, and she was raped too.
I wonder who did that to her?” said another girl, turning to see Daisy walk into the room. “Oh, hi, Daisy. Did you hear what
happened to Trixie?”

“Yeah,” said Daisy, “I heard. It’s just unbelievable.” Daisy didn’t want the other girls to know she had taken Trixie to the
hotel for Sticks’s little get-together. She didn’t want anyone to know she had anything to do with Trixie’s condition at all.
Rape and sodomy were criminal activity, and Daisy wanted nothing to do with a criminal investigation.
Damn, did anybody see us leave together last night? Shit, I hope not. What if Trixie phoned a friend and told them she was
with me? Damn, damn, damn, I’ll be suspect number one before the night is out.
With that cloud of gray news hanging over her head, Daisy just couldn’t seem to get right. All night, she was off her marker.
Truth was, she just didn’t feel like working. It was too much, the night before, Sticks beatin’ her for her two thousand dollars
and then Trixie being drugged lay a little too heavy on her mind.

Quitting time couldn’t come fast enough. Daisy was the first one out the door. Walking down the street to the bus stop, Daisy
was so lost in her own translation of last night’s events she wasn’t paying attention and bumped into a passerby.

Her pocketbook fell to the ground and some of the contents fell out. In particular, Sticks’s photo gallery collection.
Damn,
she thought as she quickly bent to pick her purse off the ground.

“Oh, I’m sorry. Here, let me help,” said a kind voice, as the passerby bent to pick up one of the Polaroids that was lying
face down.

“That’s okay,” said Daisy as she slapped the Polaroid back down on the ground and picked up the photo herself. “I don’t need
any help. Thank you,” she said, making eye contact with a fine-looking brother, wearing a business suit at that.

“I’m so sorry. I was looking at my cell phone and I wasn’t paying any attention to where I was going. Can you forgive me?”
he politely asked.

“It was nothing. Of course, I’m fine. Thank you,” she said as she adjusted her pocketbook over her shoulder.

“I’m Reggie Carter,” he said as he extended his hand to her.

“I’m Daisy, Daisy Fothergill,” she answered as she took his hand in hers.

“You know, I was just getting ready to go over to this tiny coffee shop and get a bite to eat. Would you like to join me?”
he asked, looking every bit a nerd, glasses and all.

“Umm, no, no thank you. I must be getting on my way. But the offer is very kind of you.”

“Well, maybe if you don’t want to grab some coffee or a bite to eat now, maybe another time?” he politely asked, very much
hoping to be able to share her company.

“Ummm, why not,” Daisy said after carefully thinking it over. He seemed nice, well groomed, even though he wasn’t very stylish.
He was attractive, tall, brown, and seemed to be well educated.

“So, what do you do for a living?” he asked.

Daisy didn’t have a response. For the first time in her life she felt shame at her occupation. She looked down at the Polaroid
sticking out of her pocketbook and pushed it back down into the side of the purse.

“Ummm, I’m a receptionist for a physical therapy center,” she said, lying through her teeth, knowing damn right well she gave
out naked massages and whatever else came her way all day and night long.

“Oh, wow, that’s great. I’m a home line of credit specialist for a mortgage company. You wouldn’t need a line of credit, would
you?”

“I don’t own a home.”

“Ooops, can’t help you!” He laughed with her.

“Well, here’s my contact information,” she said after writing down her telephone number.

“Thanks, maybe we’ll get together for dinner one night this week?”

“Sure, that sounds nice, just give me a call,” she said as she realized her bus was approaching the bus stop.

“Take care,” he said as she hurried to the corner stop.

“You too,” she hollered back.

He looked at her number. She seemed really nice, attractive, and the plus side was that she had a day job. He had been looking
for a nice woman he could make some moves with for quite some time now. Little did he know, she was far from a housewife,
but she definitely had some moves he’d be interested in. He decided he wouldn’t waste time and would be wining and dining
her before the week was out.

I
t was like a dream come true. Reggie Carter was a knight in shining armor and had been sent from the angels above to love
Daisy, and you couldn’t tell her otherwise. Every day he wanted to see her, every night he was by her side. He even changed
his cell phone number, tired of other women calling.

“I don’t need nobody calling me but you, baby.” Sure enough, that’s what he told her. She should have known something wasn’t
right then and there, but love is blind, and Reggie Carter had Daisy walking around like she was Helen Keller.

As far as she was concerned, he was turning out to be heaven sent, a real man’s man who doted on her. If she wasn’t feeling
well, you best believe Reggie would show up with every over-the-counter medication sold to man. If she had a headache, he’d
rub her head. If she said her feet hurt, he’d rub her toes. If she had to shit, he’d be right there with toilet tissue balled
up in his hand. And needing something was out of the question.

“Baby, you won’t need for nothing. You hear me, Daisy, you won’t need for nothing. Maybe want, but never need. I will take
care of you.”

Who was he and where did he come from? Daisy just couldn’t believe it. It was just too good to be true. She questioned everything
about him. Everything, even his previous relationships, wives, children, retirement plans, everything. He had a medical card
in his wallet and told her that he was the co-owner of a shoe store, on Thirtieth and Sansom streets across from the train
station. He even took her there one day and, believe it or not, his business was thriving. He said he had no previous marriages
and had no children.
He is amazing, just simply amazing.
Daisy knew she was in love, she was happy, and she was being taken care of.
Thank you, God, I just love him, he’s really perfect. Really, perfect.
She just couldn’t believe it was happening and it was happening oh so fast. He was always doing something for her. Refused
to let her take the train and even told her that he was going to get her a car, so she wouldn’t have to walk. Whenever he
was coming over, he always asked if she needed anything. And he took her to the grocery store and bought food for the apartment
every week. One day, Reggie came in with flowers and candy and it wasn’t even Valentine’s.

“Aww, baby, is this for me?” said Daisy, her arms reaching out for a large bouquet.

“Naw, baby, don’t touch that. Those right there is for my momma. Don’t worry though, I got yours right over there,” he said,
pointing to a larger-than-large bouquet that was lying on the kitchen counter. “Come on, I want to take you home to meet my
momma, baby.”

“Meet your momma? Why you didn’t tell me? My hair ain’t done or nothing.”

“Girl, you ain’t got to worry about that hair. Let me see the real hair and I’ll tell you if everything is all right.”

He pulled her pants down and she let him peek inside her panties. “Girl, you looking all right to me, come on, let’s go.”

Daisy felt like a queen. She had never ever had a man say he was taking her home to meet his momma, never. Reggie was good
to her, but it had only been three months since she met him. But it had been the most wonderful three months of her life.
Reggie was even talking about getting married and having a big wedding and everything.

“I don’t have any family. My momma died and I don’t know my father. I do have a cousin, Kimmie Sue, and my auntie Tildie.”

Daisy couldn’t help but to try to figure out who would sit on her side of the church. She could see Calvin Stringer and the
girls from the Honey Dipper and the Honey Pot.
Oh, damn, not Calvin.
And then the worst sight of all, her many, many johns, and seated in the front row, that good-for-nothing Felix.
Hell no, no way.

“What’s the matter?” asked Reggie, startling her. He was wondering why her face looked pale with thought.

“Oh, god,” she jumped, “you scared me to death.”

“So, just Cousin Kimmie Sue and your auntie Tildie, huh?”

“Yeah, that’s it.”

“Well, I got some family, so we’ll pack the church in.”

He said he wanted children and told her how important children would be to their relationship. As far as Daisy was concerned,
babies wasn’t no problem. She was fertile Myrtle when it came to having babies. Even though she didn’t have any, at twenty-one
she had terminated six pregnancies, each and every one of them, and vowed that she wouldn’t be careless ever again after the
last.

The one problem that she did foresee was figuring out how to tell Reggie that she worked in a massage parlor and was fucking
and sucking more dick on a daily basis than he could possibly imagine. Technically, she had him thinking that she was a receptionist
for Zaslow, DeSimone, and Goldstein. It was pathetic. He’d drop her off at work, watch her walk into an office building, and
figure she was at work all day. Little did he know, she’d wait in the lobby, then go catch the El line out to Kensington and
be at the Honey Pot forty minutes later, getting dicked down all day long. She’d hop in the car when he’d come to pick her
up, kiss him on the mouth, and act like it was nothing.