HIM: “I’m paying for you. I want to drive around. If you don’t like it I’ll get another girl.”
HER: “No, No, it’s okay. I’ll go.”
Two hours later; bloody, wet and tired; a police car found her. Her eyes were vacant, looking straight ahead, putting one foot in front of the other. They picked her up and asked what had happened. They got no reply. The officers gave up trying to communicate with her and radioed in. The dispatcher advised a hospital visit. They took her to emergency and admitted her.
She was there for a week. One long safe week. She ate three meals a day. Social Services brought cigarettes and magazines. As she was recuperating, she realized that if it wasn’t for her “boy” friend, she wouldn’t have been out that night. Ever since she had moved in with him, she never had money; was almost always out on the streets working late. She could never have a decent meal; could never go out with the girls; he always needed this and that. He was supposed to pay half the rent but he only did it for the first while. There was always an excuse. He needed a phone to keep in touch with her. Never mind that she didn’t have one. He needed a leather coat one month, gym fees the next. She just gave up asking for anything.
The more she thought about how things were with him and her, the more she realized it was mostly her work and his play. When she left the hospital she went to a women’s shelter until she could figure out what she wanted.
He found her and came to “get her”. He gave her supreme shit for taking an extended holiday. He never asked her how she was. He demanded money and told her she had to go to work double-time; the rent was due and the telephone was cut off. He didn’t have any groceries. She looked at him wondering what she had ever seen in him. Smiling, she went back into the shelter.
HIM: “Hey, where the fuck are you going. I told you I’m here to take you back. I’ll forgive everything.”
HER: “Oh, yeah, asshole, you forgive me. Well, I won’t forgive you! As for your stupid bills, get a job and grow up. I’m going to!”
THE END
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