The police woman finally got her story. The girl and ten other young girls were brought to this country three months ago. They were promised high paying jobs as hotel maids and would be allowed to attend school. They could send some money back to their families. Instead, the guy who brought them here turned them into prostitutes. The guy and his friends taught them how to be 'very good' prostitutes. She turned as many as ten tricks a day. And there were needle marks in her arm and between her toes.
She wouldn't tell us her pimp's name. She wasn't sure she knew it -- she only called him Big Daddy. And if she told us how to find him, he would punish her and all the other girls. Every time one of them did something wrong, they all got punished. And then she would not be given any more heroin. She pronounced it 'hero win'. She had watched one of the other girls die from withdrawal. And seen her body dumped in the river.
We booked her on prostitution charges.
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She was convicted. I mean, how could she not be?
Instead of jail time, the judge took the recommendation from me and the police woman and sent her to a halfway house that treated heroin addicts. I looked in on her twice and she seemed to be coming along. She kicked her addiction and soon looked like a pretty young girl. I'm sure she wasn't so pretty on the inside. Just another victim of the sex trade.
I forgot about her until one day four years later. I was a guest lecturer at the local college.
At the end of the class, a beautiful Asian girl came up to me.
In perfect English, she said, "Hello Lieutenant Zemora. I don't know if you remember me. I am Thuong, but I go by Honey now. I am studying to be a nurse. You saved my life."
And then she stood on tiptoes and kissed me on the cheek.
I sponsored her and attended the ceremony when she became a naturalized citizen. I ended up walking Honey down the aisle and giving her away when she was married. Her husband was Thai and owned a small grocery store. He knows about her past. It doesn't matter to him. I was godfather to their first son. She has five children now -- three sons and two daughters. All of them are A students. She is head of pediatric nursing in the hospital. She is thinking of running for city council woman. Her prostitution record had been sealed by the sentencing judge.
And we have been good friends for over twenty years now.
