The light from the tv was the only light in the room. The flickering light reflected off the framed pictures and the cracked mirror like the light from a motion picture in a grand cinema palace, except that the room was tiny, cramped, dark, dirty and hot on a steamy July evening. Mikey was glued to the small, fuzzy image on the black and white set as if she might fade into the picture if she concentrated hard enough.
The apartment door opened. She failed to notice, even ignoring the uncomfortable sweat that practically soaked her t-shirt. If her concentration was distracted she would have to return to the life she was born into.
Her mother had brought a man with her. Mikey forced herself to shut it out and focus on the image only inches from her face. In the back of her mind, however, she knew that this meant they would have money to buy food for the rest of the week, unless her mother wasted it on a high.
They were speaking with each other. Mikey could hear them off in the distance. Curiosity made it difficult to shut them out completely. She was doing it, letting herself be absorbed into the existence of the television world, until her mother spoke her name and it snapped her out of the trance.
“She’s my daughter,” her mother said in an offhand way.
Mikey was in their world now, listening to them with the same intensity she had been concentrating on the tv, but she refused to look at them or even give the appearance that she might want to be social with this new man her mother had.
“Come on now. Take your pants off,” her mother told him. “I’ll suck you good then you can fuck me any way you like.”
The man didn’t answer. Mikey heard his pants being undone and she was sure it was by her mother’s hands.
“Is she a virgin?” he asked.
“Of course she’s virgin.”
“I want to fuck her,” the man’s deep voice said, distinctly in Mikey’s direction.
She lifted her head from her knees, but didn’t turn her head in his direction. She tried to see him out of the corner of her eyes. The room was dark but she could see them faintly. He looked like any other man her mother had ever brought home. He was tall and strong looking with short, sandy hair. He wore jeans and a pullover shirt.
“What do you want her for? I got tits. She ain’t got no tits.” Her mother looked no different than she ever did, either. She was still skinny and plain looking. She was wearing her only pair of jeans and a black halter top, which she lifted to expose her chest.
She put his hand on her tit and pushed out her chest as if to make it bigger than it was. The man squeezed it.
“It’s a nice tit, too. But I still want her.” He pointed at Mikey. She looked up at him with a mixture of confusion and fear.
“She’s not for sale. You can fuck me,” her mother demanded.
The man produced a handful of cash. “I’ll give you a hundred dollars for her.”
Her mother hesitated, her eyes widening at the sight of so much money. “You got a deal.” She took the money out of his hand and stuffed it down her pants.