Fitting in

Chapter Four

7 year old Frankie's stomach growled and she felt dizzy. She entered the bar and melted into the wall looking for Carlos. She watched him drinking and playing pool for a while. No one noticed her standing in the shadows by the wall. She took a deep breath as Carlos finished his turn and headed back to his beer. She approached him and quietly said, "Hey I heard some things about you that you need to know." She spoke quietly but his friends overheard a bit and began to make sexual jokes about her. Carlos said nothing. Frankie stood there and waited to see what would happen next. Carlos stood up and nodded his head to hall that went to the bathrooms. Frankie figured she was in big trouble but she went to hallway anyway. She went past the bathrooms, to end of the hallway and leaned against the dirty wall. Carlos leaned on wall across from woman's bathroom and asked, "What?" Frankie took a deep breath and in a calm voice said, "I need a hundred bucks to tell you." Her voice was calm with no emotion but inside Frankie's heart was racing.

Carlos shook his head No and asked, "Anything else?" Frankie desperately said, "Look I heard guys talking about jumping you and then killing you. I know their names. Twenty bucks and I will tell you what I heard." Carlos looked amused tho he did not exactly smile. He calmly answered, "It is dangerous to tell things you hear. Best to head home now and forget you heard anything." Frankie said, "There is no food at home. I have not eaten hardly anything all week. I need money or I will die anyway." Carlos stared at her for a full minute before nodding and getting out a twenty dollar bill. Frankie took the money and told him the conversation she had overheard. Carlos asked, "You have that story memorized. Why?" Frankie realized he thought she was making it up. She closed her eyes and carefully told him exactly what each teen had said. When she opened her eyes he was staring at her. He rifled through his pockets until he found a business card. He said, "Read this and give it back." There was writing on the back but he turned her hand back so just the printed side showed. It was a nail salon business card. He took it back and she recited back the information spelling the street address because she was fairly certain she mispronounced it. She finished with phone number and Carlos said, "Impressive memory kid. So you really heard those guys say exactly that?" Frankie nodded. Carlos said, "You may be useful kid. What is your name and address?" Frankie panicked at that, shook her head, pushed past him and ran out of the bar.

Frankie got McDonalds and ate it as she walked home. She stopped at the corner grocery and got some Ramon, peanut butter, jelly and cheap bread. Tyrone was watching TV on the couch when she entered. He looked up and then back at the TV. Everything was hidden in her backpack so she went to the corner out of his view and tried to be invisible. After he went into the bedroom she used a small flashlight to go into the kitchen, climb up on the counter and hide the food above the cupboard. She quietly jumped down and laid down hidden by the floor length blinds. She was full and happy for the first time in a long time.

Two weeks later she was drawing on some scrap paper while Tyrone and Jaycee did whatever in the bedroom. She heard the door being picked and retreated to the furthest corner and stayed still. To her surprise it was Carlos. He scanned the room, saw her and came over and sat by her. He gave her a twenty and told her that her information had been helpful. He gave her a phone and told her to call him if she heard anything else useful. He then preceded to give her a list of the sort of things he would find useful. He left and she looked at the phone. It was a pay monthly phone and had his number in it. It was a gang name instead of Carlos but she knew it was him. For the next year she sold Carlos information. Then Carlos told her he had joined the military and was not coming back. Just like that he was gone.

Frankie learned to make money other ways as well. She was good at climbing and burglars paid her to climb onto roofs and enter houses through unlocked upper windows. She learned how to deactivate alarms so she could let them in downstairs. She would be the watch and whistle a loud warning. She would tell people when someone they were looking for came home. Jaycee kicked Tyrone out but another jerk replaced him. Jaycee moved them around running from people. At first Frankie felt bad that Jaycee got beat up but after a while she quit caring. Frankie was getting beat up by both Jaycee and her boyfriends. Plus Jaycee let men do what they wanted to Frankie for drugs. By the time she was 11 Frankie no longer went home anymore. When she was 13 she heard that Jaycee was arrested and sentenced to Prison. Frankie could have found out the details but she only cared about the basics. She was just relieved she no longer had to worry about Jaycee finding her and dragging her back to wherever she was living at the time.