A Girl Named Vodka

Chapter One

Bitch! You think you grown huh, I can't wait until yo ass move out! " Is what my mom yelled at me during my study hour, I try my best to stay focused on school so I can follow my dreams unlike Patricia. I replied, " What the fuck are you talking about, what I do now!" " You's a fucking hoe Vodka that's what”. Normally when my mom says things like that she's upset because she catches one of her bum ass niggas watching or coming onto me, knowing damn well I'm not sexually active yet. I don’t care about cursing Patricia’s ass out because she's been treating me this way since I was 12 years old maybe even younger. I think my mom is jealous of me because of my perfect physique and Intelligence. Since the age of 12 years old I've always had an elegant coke body shape with perky titties. I stand 5"0 120lbs caramel complected, bowlegged, curvy hips, flat stomach, pretty round titties, fat ass, hazel brown eyes and curly shoulder length hair. Meanwhile Patricia is bald head ass is skinny from head to toe, and that’s probably why she has so much animosity towards me. Word on the street is my mom use to be one the rawest red bone bitches running the streets, from North to the Eastside of Memphis, until a couple years before she was pregnant with, she was strung out on cocaine and Xanax. My mom started doing cocaine and Xan heavily in 2000. I remember on my 5th birthday, which was Christmas Eve, my mom was so high that during the time everyone was singing happy birthday to me she tried to blow out my candles, fell and knocked the entire food table down and busted her head on a chair. I was so fucking embarrassed; she had grandma whole house smelling like strong liquor. The bitch loved vodka so much she named me Vodka, but I pronounce it Vodkay, Kay for short. She drank Vodka so much during her pregnancy with me that I was born premature, ten weeks early and nearly died. I was born 4lbs and 3oz at 2am in my mom's toilet. I don't know If she left me there to die or if she was too drunk to realize she had just had a baby. Luckily my dad had just came over to pick up a pack that he kept over there. My Dad was the only person I felt like genuinely loved me, even though my grandma help take care of me my whole life. Patricia uses to be a fun, caring and protective mother until she started fucking dope fiends. My mom was so fucked up in the head she sold everything that had value for cocaine. One time she sold the bike that my dad bought me for Christmas to buy Xanax and liquor for her boyfriend. I loved that bike so much it was a pearl pink bus bike with a glitter finish around the handlebar. It came with a pastel pink wick basket attached to the front of it. From that day forward my mom had always reminded me of that lady Wanda from the movie Holiday Heart, a dope head, crack fiend, nappy wig wearing ass drunk who can't take care of responsibility. The day she sold my bike daddy was so mad he beat three nigga's asses just to get my bike back. I hate the way she puts my dad's life in danger due to her addictions and careless decisions. Monte really kept us on our toes, well me at least because Patricia always finds ways to take advantage of him. He's the only person I felt the need to make proud besides Grandma Bena. I attend Southwind High finishing my Senior year. When I graduate high school in 2020, I plan on moving to Georgia to attend a HBCU to study Criminal Justice and pledge Alpha Kappa Alpha. I currently live in Memphis, TN at the Peppertree Apartments were fiends, drugs dealers, unsupervised kids and police roam the streets from morning to night. We've lived here since I was 3 years old, I think. I only remember us living in here, not one memory of the fancy house people claimed was so luxury. I heard my mom use to be on her bossed-up shit, mini mansion, luxury cars, jewelry, the finest champagne, and host a party every chance she gets. My daddy had showed Patricia the game before I was born so she could provide for herself and me Of course but like most drug dealers she got high off her own supply and was in major debt with the high end suppliers. She literally had to give up everything she owned to pay off the people she owed including our four-bedroom, three-bathroom, four car garage, pool in the back, playground set my dad had spent 2k on, 7 acres of land with electric gate around the property. Momma showed me the house about six years ago, and when she did, I felt a weird energy come from her body. She felt stupid and was disgusted at herself for letting cocaine, liquor, and pills rip her out of her dream home. My Dad had given up on Patricia at this point. Patricia was born into poverty in Jamaica Queens New York, where her journey had just begun. My great grandparents were smuggled into the states from the Dominican Republic in 1957 when my grandma was only two years old. They had to leave Dominican Republic because there was little to no way of providing for their family and the crime rate was through the roof. After two years of living in the states with no identification my great grandparents found work and a stable place to live. My great grandfather worked 12 hours a day at a bodega on the corner of 143rd Ave stocking and cleaning. My great grandma worked under the table pay at a local grocery store owned by Africans who were once illegal themselves. The Cubans who owned the bodega my great grandfather worked at gave them a small apartment in exchange of my great grandpa hard work. They lived in that apartment until my grandma Benacalese was 12 years old. At the age of 12 years old my grandma Benacalese now known as Grandma Bena had met a man that was 26 years old named Tajeed. Tajeed is a Puerto Rican who had all the connections from drugs to fake visas, identification, passports and more. Grandma Bena met Tajeed on her way from running her weekly errands. Tajeed and Benacalese had been talking every day after the first day they met. The two had become intimate and she was able to get her and her parents’ false documentation so they can get better jobs and more opportunities. Benacalese parents didn’t know she was having relations with Tajeed until her father’s boss told him. When Benacalese father found out about their relationship he immediately demanded Tajeed to stay away from her due to the age difference. Even though her dad demanded them to no longer speak they still were seeing each other because by that time they had fell in love. After months had passed Benacalese had found out she was pregnant, she was so scared to tell her parents, so she ran away with Tajeed. Instead of being upfront with them she wrote a letter saying“Hey mama and papa I know you have been wondering about my whereabouts and why I have left home, because I am pregnant, and I love Tajeed. I love you both forever but it’s time for me to start my own life and raise my kid, I do not and will not be a bourdon in your household. I love you”. Even though Benacalese was only 12 years old she still decided to leave her family and start her own. She didn’t have any worries because Tajeed had his own car, money, hustle, and apartment in Staten Island. After living with Tajeed for a few months’ things began to change, he became mentally abusive. See Benacalese never attended any school to get the proper education, she was taught by her mama and papa which wasn’t much but the basic survival skills. Tajeed would always call her dumb and illiterate because she could only read on a 2nd grade level and could barely count money. He called her useless and that he should have left her in the gutters where he found her. At this time Benacalese had just turned 13 years old, almost time to have her baby. She never knew how far along she was or the gender of her baby because they didn’t want the law to get involved on how and who got a 12-year-old pregnant. So, she just waited until it was time to give birth. Finally, Benacalese gave birth to her baby girl named Patricia Castillo on Feb.14, 1968. She gave birth to Patricia in their bathroom accompanied by Tajeed aunt and sister who was already in school to become doctors. So how Patricia became a legal citizen of the states with real documentation is because the day she was born Tajeed’s mother reported that she found a baby on her front porch wrapped in blankets. After they did all the necessary procedures they asked if she wanted to adopt the baby and she said yes. Even though she agreed to adopt Patricia, Benacalese and Tajeed still had full responsibility over her because his mother did not want to care for a baby. Patricia was able to get Medicare and go to school. By the time Benacalese was 18 years old, Patricia had just turned five she decided to get her baby and run as far away as possible from Tajeed. He had become mentally and physically abusive towards Benacalese and Patricia even threaten to kill them for ruining his life. She stole $500 and all their documents then fled. Before Benacalese moved out of state she decided to stop by to see her parents, who was excited and relieved to see her and her baby. Her parents begged her to stay but she said she could not because Tajeed was gone kill her and her baby especially after stealing from him. Benacalese said her goodbyes to her parents and caught the next bus to Memphis, TN. When Grandma Bena made it to Memphis Tn, she found the nearest homeless shelter for woman and children. They lived there for about six months and while staying there she met a woman named Mary who helped her get a job at the supermarket. After working at the supermarket, a year Grandma Bena was able to get them an apartment on the southside of Memphis. A few months later Benacalese met a man named Roberto at work. She invited him to come live with them, so she won’t have to pay a babysitter. Roberto lived with Benacalese and Patricia for two months before she found out he was a basehead. When she found out it really was not a big deal because she soon starts doing it herself. After Benacalese got hooked on cocaine she became less of a mother, Patricia started missing days out of school and went many nights without eating. By the time Patricia turned nine years old she was getting herself dressed for school and cooking her own meals whenever there was food in the house. She started to hate Grandma Bena for not taking care of her the way she used to. When Patricia turned sixteen years old, she began to grow into shape, which turned the heads of teenage boys and grown men. One day on her way to school a man driving a red droptop mustang offered her a ride and she was up for the offer. Her school was only three blocks away, so she didn’t mind accepting the ride. After passing the school Patricia let him know that her school was that way and he said,“I know baby girl, but I got some to show you right quick”.