Willow was a young, naΓ―ve, innocent girl who had just been out of high school for a year when the unexpected happened to her, something that changed her happy-go-lucky life into a living hell.
From the time she became aware of her sexuality and was trying to come to some conclusions about herself and her sexual orientation, she lived an uncertain life. She knew sexual attraction was supposed to be a boy-girl thing and was considered normal; however, it was not this way for Willow. She was drawn to girls. This made her uncomfortable being around girls because of the urges she felt inside, even to the point of becoming sexually aroused with thoughts of being with a girl naked and enjoying one another's bodies. Her parents often asked her why she didn't date as the other girls did. So, under such pressure Willow decided to try to be attracted to boys.
Willow was a beautiful will-of-the-wisp girl with orange-red hair, green eyes, and fair complexion with some freckles on her face and arms. Her body was slim but well defined with small, pert breasts, narrow waist, and small but rounded hips that flowed into sculptured long, shapely legs. Willow easily had the interest of boys and was asked out on many dates both in high school and where she worked.
Willow, however, politely rejected any and all suitors with a polite
no thank you
, but in time because of parental and peer pressure, she decided to date boys just to get them from asking her why she didn't date, and some of her girlfriends even tried to fix her up with dates except for those friends with whom she had close, intimate relationships. Therefore, when one of her fellow workers at
Bloomingdale's Department
store at
Thousand Oaks, Los Angeles
, asked her out to dinner and a movie, Willow reluctantly said
yes
despite her misgivings and deep seated lack of real interest.
Dale was a tall, good-looking young man who had a good sense of humor and was always polite towards others. At six feet two inches tall, Dale stood just about a head over Willow's five feet three inches. Dale weighed one hundred eighty-five pounds to Willow's one hundred fifteen pounds, so physically they weren't a match, but then, most men were much taller and heavier than Willow.
Like the tree after which Willow was named she was slender, graceful, and lithe, having the fragility of a willow tree's slender limbs and small leaves that easily flutter in the wind. She had a personality to match. She was an introvert who much of the time was withdrawn and quiet, but in public or on the job Willow was attentive and friendly. Everyone who knew her liked her.
The date went smoothly, and Willow finally relaxed as the evening progressed. However, that was to change drastically. Dale was driving Willow home when he was pulled over by the police. Dale looked into his rearview mirror and saw the officer walking towards the car with a flashlight in his hand. Dale had no idea why he had been pulled over.
The officer motioned to Dale to roll down his window, and then he pointed a beam of light onto Dale and then moved it around the inside of the car, shining the light on Willow, too.
"Is there anything wrong, officer? I don't think I was speeding," Dale asked as he tried to keep his voice under control.
The officer replied, "Do you know you have a tail light out?"
Dale sighed with relief and answered, "No, no I didn't, but I'll get it fixed."
Dale thought things were over and the officer would let them go on their way. However,
he asked for Dale's driver's license and car registration.
Now Dale was nervous as he took out his wallet and showed the officer his driver's license. The officer shined his flashlight on the license, looked at the photo ID, and then at Dale. Satisfied, the officer handed Dale his wallet back, but then he said, "Let me see your registration permit."
This was a usual, standard procedure since there were so many cars stolen in LA.
Dale reached over Willow's lap, who by now was trembling, and opened the glove compartment, and while he was rifling around at the bottom for the registration permit, a very small, brown bag fell onto the floor of the car by Willow's feet.
From experience the officer had a good idea what was in the small packet.
Now, things were going to change drastically, something that would change their lives forever. The police officer said to Dale, "Hand me the little bag and step out of the car and go around to the front. You, too, Miss."
Willow had no idea what was going on. However, even though she was shaking inside and feeling light-headed, she did as the officer told her.
As Dale and Willow walked to the front of his car to stand with their hands on the hood, the police officer reached into the car and picked up the small, folded, brown bag that had fallen out of the glove compartment. Looking at it, he was fairly certain he knew what it was. He opened the bag, lifted a small amount of white powder on the underside of his little fingernail, and stuck it into the bag. He brought the powder to his mouth and tasted it. It had a familiar taste, and knew it was heroin.
The officer took the one bag and four more bindles of heroin he found in the glove compartment and walked towards Dale and Willow who were still standing at the front of his car.
"You two are under arrest for drug possession," he told Dale and Willow.
He took them by their arms, led them to the rear door on the driver's side, and put them into the back seat, putting his hand on the top of their heads so they wouldn't bump them against the top of the door opening.
Willow was shaking all over and felt weak in her knees. Never in her wildest dreams did she ever think something like this would happen to her. She had never done a bad thing in her life, and she was innocent then.
After closing the back door, the police officer got behind the wheel and called dispatch, telling his location and that he was coming in with two drug offenders.
"Drug offenders?" thought Willow, tears rolling down her cheeks. "I've never used drugs in my life, not even smoking marijuana. "
She turned to Dale and asked bitingly, "How could you do this to me?"
Dale said, "I'm sorry, Willow. I forgot I had the drugs in my glove compartment."
"You're sorry? What good is sorry now?" Willow said bitterly.
Thus, Dale and Willow were brought up on charges of drug possession, were taken to trial, and given the minimum sentence of five years in prison for the possession and dealing of heroin on the street. Willow's defense lawyer argued that she was innocent and didn't know the drugs were in Dale's car. However, drug laws are strict in
California
and sentencing is just about mandatory. Therefore, Willow was sent to the
California Institution for Woman, Corona
, in
San Bernardino County
to serve out her sentence.