Throwaway People

You're Not Dirty

"Wake up." Kitty thought that it was the Guardia shaking her awake. "Get up, get going."

It was Jim shaking Kitty awake. He had found her asleep on the couch.

"Look, if you want to leave. You should get going." Jim told Kitty. Handing her clothes and backpack to her. "It's going to break Patty's heart if you leave, but I won't stop you. I just want you to go before she gets up."

"I thought you wanted me to stay here, out of sight." Kitty was confused. Last night they had talked about her staying here.

"We do, but this won't work if you aren't willing to cooperate with us." Jim was moving to the kitchen. "Patty wants to try to get you off the street before someone kills you. I like Patty a lot. I don't want to see her disappointed if you don't want the same thing. I'd rather see you leave now, then have you run off later."

Kitty put her clothes back into the backpack. Adjusted her robe. She put the backpack to one side. "What happens if I want to stay."

"Both Patty and I will do everything we can for you. We'd like to reunite you with your family. To do that we would need your full name." Jim took a can of from the cupboard. He opened it and poured what looked like dog food into the skillet on the stove.

"Gatita Sexa." It was the only 'full name' that Kitty knew.

"I don't think that is it." Jim said. "They call you that at Casa Sombrio, don't they?"

"Yeah, that and other names." Like basura, puta sucia, perra.

"I want you to think back. Back to before the Casa Sombrio. You must have lived somewhere else originally." Jim was fixing a pot of coffee now as the meat and potatoes in the pan simmered.

"All I really remember is the Casa Sombrio. Most of the time I was fucking the men or doing it with the other kids. If we were good we got to watch t.v. or play games."

Patty came walking into the room. She was dressed in a shirt, but no pants.

"Where the hell is my robe?" Patty saw Kitty wearing it. "Oh, so it was you."

"How you feeling kiddo?" Patty asked.

"Okay, I guess." Kitty played with the hem of her robe. "I was going to run, but Jim talked me into staying."

Patty noticed the backpack. "Going to take my robe?"

Kitty smiled. "I just grabbed the first thing I saw. I wanted to put on my clothes, but they were dirty. I don't want to be dirty anymore." Kitty wasn't smiling now. She wasn't sure why she was being so open about how she felt.

"Do you think that what you are doing for Jose makes you dirty?" Patty sat beside Kitty, taking her hand.

Kitty would normally try to pull her hand away. She didn't like being touched. When Patty took her hand, she felt suddenly connected to her. "Yes." Kitty fought back tears. Tears were weakness.

"What Jose did to you is wrong. What he does to the other kids is wrong." Patty was crying. She didn't fight the tears like Kitty did. "Jose is evil and he wants you to feel dirty."

"Why?"

"Because he wants what he can get. Jose doesn't care what he has to do to get it." Jim came over and sat three coffee cups on the dining table. "Kitty, could you get us three plates from the dish rack, and the silverware."