Shit! Susan tore up the pari-mutual tickets and tossed them on the ground. She had been so sure that Indian Fog was going to win that she had bet her last $200 on the horse. Dead last for Christ's sake! The goddamn glue bag had come in dead last. At 7 to 1 she would have been sitting pretty, but now she was in deep trouble. The money she'd just lost was the week's grocery money. The cupboards were bare when her husband had gone for a snack and he had given her $300 to stock the shelves. When he got home tonight he was going to expect to see something and there was no way she was going to be able to explain that she'd lost the money at the track.
"What the hell am I going to do?" she asked herself.
She had borrowed money from everyone she knew to support her gambling habit and now even her own mother was refusing to help her. To make things even worse she owed her bookie $1800 and for three weeks now she had been promising him that she would pay up; he was beginning to lose his patience and was starting to make threatening noises.
A sudden sharp cry brought her attention back to the present; she looked down and saw that little Andy had spit out his pacifier. Sweet Jesus, she had forgotten that she had him with her. She put his pacifier back in his mouth, rearranged his blankets, and started pushing his stroller toward the exit. She heard a 'wolf whistle' and turned her head to see two young men watching her with apparent interest.
"Asshole" she thought, "I'm a young mother pushing her baby in a stroller, not a goddamn hooker looking to get laid."
Susan continued on toward the exit and as she pushed little Andy in his stroller she allowed her mind to dwell on her predicament. She had to get some food in the house by the time Brian got home, but how in the world was she going to do it? A voice broke her train of thought, "Hey Momma, looking good!"
She looked to her left and saw a young black man at the public phone. He smiled at her and gave her a little wave. God, she thought, what is with these guys? It must be something to do with her being a young mother with a baby in tow; God knows I don't get this much attention when I'm out without the baby.
Susan was almost to the exit when the thought hit her with the force of a sledgehammer blow. No, she said to herself, I couldn't do that! But an inner voice said, "it would solve your problem." Then several voices in her head started to argue, "It would only be this once", "But I'm not that kind of girl", "If you don't, what will you tell Brian tonight?" "But I've never done anything like that before. What about little Andy?" "Little Andy is too young to know what is going on", "But I might get caught", "Brian won't be home before six-thirty, and if you don't do it, where will the food come from?"
Susan bit her lower lip and then, making up her mind, she swung the stroller around and headed back the way she came. The young black man was still by the phone and she pushed the stroller up to him; taking a deep breath she said, "Do you really think I'm looking good?"
The young man was caught off guard by the question, but he quickly recovered and with the bravado of youth he replied, "Good enough to eat, and then some."
Susan took another deep breath and plunged on, "Good enough that you would pay $100 for some of it?"
The young man gave her a big smile and said, "In a heart beat lady, in a heart beat!"
Susan told him to wait for her over by the exit and she went looking for the two who had whistled at her. When she found them she followed the same scenario that she had used on the black man. It was easier the second time and after a few minutes talking they had each agreed to pay her for her favors. When she approached the exit with the two men in tow she found that the young black man was waiting for her with another black man, "I told Gene her about you", he said, "And he thinks maybe he'd like some of what you got."
