The basis for this story is autobiographical, but I do make changes with names of individuals and some of the content to make the story flow more smoothly such as entering the minds of characters to reveal possible thoughts leading up to their actions.
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Dolly was born and lived in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, in an area above city center that is called the Hill District.
Now by that name one might think this is a very exclusive and wealthy part of the city just as one thinks of Nob Hill in San Francisco, California, knowing it is a very wealthy part of the city that is on the top of many steep hills that overlook the Golden Gate Bridge which spans the cliffs on both sides of beautiful San Francisco Bay, a gateway to the Pacific Ocean.
While it may sound as if it would be somewhat like Nob Hill in San Francisco, the Hill District is anything but one of the ritzy and wealthy residences in Pittsburgh. In fact, it is just the opposite. Wylie Avenue, the main street that cuts through the middle of the Hill District, is located on one of the many hills that surround the heart of the city that rises up from what is known today as The Golden Triangle where three rivers meet, the Monongahela, the Allegheny, and the Ohio which is formed by the two rivers.
Wylie Avenue had, and still might have, a number of night clubs that catered mainly to blacks, and these night clubs were the half-way stops between New York City and Chicago for famous, black entertainers such as Billy Eckstein, Lena Horne, The Step Brothers, Ertha Kitt, and many more. They also were often frequented by Joe Louis, the Brown Bomber, who won the heavy weight championship of the world by knocking out Joe Schmeling in 124 seconds of the first round. Therefore, in many ways the clubs on Wylie Avenue were like the clubs that used to be in Harlem in New York City such as the famous Cotton Club.
Within this community on the Hill of the poor is a community divided into two sections known as The Village, and these are Terrace Village 1 and Terrace Village 2. Together they comprise groups of redbrick tenement houses with four units and six apartments in each that are collectively called The Projects, and the divisions even extend according to race since there are groups of buildings for the whites and groups of buildings for the blacks, but the irony of this is the fact the children went to the same schools where they intermingled without much difficulty, no more and even less than all white schools or all black schools.
Dolly lived in Terrace Village 2 in Apartment 412 on the second floor fronting Wadsworth Avenue. This is her story.
She had lived in the Projects since she was three and grew up with rock 'n' roll, the blues, jazz, collard greens, ochre, and soul food.
In such a racially mixed living environment, Dolly also soon learned in her life it wasn't the color of ones skin that was important but the kind of person who was in it.
Dolly and her family were just one of many who shared a lifestyle of being poor. However, life wasn't too unkind for the residents in The Projects because everyone lived under the same set of circumstances, and since all were poor, nobody thought otherwise outside their lifestyle. It was hard enough just trying to make ends meet from day to day than worrying about and dreaming of a better life.
When food in the house was down to the last can of soup or one often ate lettuce sandwiches or syrup bread, food was more a necessity than a luxury.
Growing up in such surroundings, Dolly wanted to better herself, and while in high school she hoped to become a teacher. She was even a member of Future Teachers of America Club along with her friend Nitasha who also wanted to be a teacher.
Neither one had the means to go on to a four year college, so they applied to and were accepted into a two year pre-education curriculum at Oakland Community College. Dolly and Nitasha thought if they successfully completed the two years and made good grades, they might be eligible for scholarships to either The University of Pittsburgh or Carnegie Mellon; although, they hoped it would be Pitt.
The inseperable duo also got jobs as waitresses at a rather fancy restaurant that was below ground in one of three tall, aluminum buildings that comprise "Gateway Center," just up from The Point where the confluence of the three rivers come together.
So there the two were: both eighteen years old, high school graduates, students enrolled in a community college to begin their studying to become teachers, and waitresses at the same down town restaurant where the tips were really good to earn money to help pay their way through school. Neither of their mothers had the money to help pay their tuition, so their future rested on their shoulders.
Nitasha had very dark, black skin. She had beautiful dark eyes; dark, curly hair; full, sensual lips; well-developed, pert breasts; a firm, young body; and a beautiful smile that lit up her face.
This was in sharp contrast to Dolly's natural, platinum blonde hair; pale blue eyes; very fair skin; naturally rosy cheeks; cherry red lips; and large breasts.
Dolly was tall due to her rather long legs while Nitasha was shorter of the two, about five feet five inches.
So, despite their hardships, life for Dolly and Nitasha went fairly well except for the fact that in junior and senior high there had been three girls who were also inseparable as were Dolly and Nitasha. They were Claudette, Neesha, and Wanda, and it seemed one of their goals in life was to make life as miserable for Dolly and Nitasha as possible. This ongoing confrontation eventually came to a head while Dolly and Nitasha attended Oakland Community College.
Of course, after graduating from high school at eighteen, Dolly was glad to have the three girls who had given her and Nitasha so much trouble throughout their school years out of their lives, and the two looked forward to their schooling at the community college. What Dolly and Nitasha didn't know was the fact the three black girls, Claudette, Neesha, and Wanda, who had made their lives miserable in junior and senior high, were also going to the community college. And all three of them were nineteen years old because they had been held back a year because of poor grades and missing so much school. That was one reason these three became such close friends. Their being older brought them into their close friendship, and they also had chips on their shoulders that were definitely hard to knock off. However, all three girls were intelligent, so they knew they had to go straight and make good grades if they were going to graduate from high school. And along the way they, too, decided to enter Oakland Community College in the secretarial curriculum.
After graduation from high school, both Dolly and Nitasha were so glad to be rid of the Three Wicked Sisters of the West as they called them. However, as the Wicked Witch of the West in the movie the "Wizard of OZ" kept showing up at unsuspected times, bringing trouble with her, Claudette, Neesha, and Wanda were going to show up in an unsuspected time and place for Nitasha and Dolly.
It was on the very first day in their last class of the afternoon which was an athletics class to study and train in aerobics. This was the last, and only, day-class given, but there were night classes, too. This was scheduled to be the last class of daytime classes so the girls could get showers before going home or to wherever they had to be.
On the first day of class Dolly and Nitasha had gotten to the gym earlier than necessary so they would be ready. They were already in their exercise outfits, waiting for the other girls to show up as well as their Coach Miss Robinson. How surprised and shocked they were to see Claudette, Neesha, and Wanda come through the doorway into the gymnasium.
"Oh, shit, Dolly," Nitasha whispered dejectedly to her. "Look who's here? The Wicked Sisters of the West!"
Dolly looked in the direction where Nitasha had nodded her head. When she saw the three girls and saw them looking back at her and Nitasha with the same smirking looks on their faces, Dolly was crestfallen and felt queasy in her stomach.
"Oh, damn. You're right, Nitasha. Of all people. I thought we were through with them after graduation. It's as if they followed us her intentionally," Dolly said.
"Well, don't pay them any mind, Dolly," Nitasha assured her. "We'll go our way, and they can go their way."
"Okay, Nitasha. You're right. There's not much we can do about it excpet give them plenty of space and hope we don't run into them too often, especially in having the same classes together," Dolly replied.
