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.
“Get on the bed,” she shouted and started toward Mikey. She tried to run past her mother but she grabbed her.
“No ... no,” Mikey begged. She struggled, but she was not strong enough to get away.
“Quiet down,” her mother scolded as she dragged Mikey to the bed, which was in the corner of the small, darkened apartment. There were no blankets on the twin size bed, only a pillow and a yellowing sheet.
Mikey had watched her mother go to this bed many times with many different men. She was never really sure what they were doing, but she was sure she didn’t want it to happen to her.
Her mother tossed her on the bed and held her down. Across the room, the strange man was undressing, watching the two of them with a grim look on his face. Mikey gave up struggling as she looked back at him and laid still as if paralyzed. The muscles of his bare chest rippled beneath his glistening, sweaty skin.
“Get undressed,” her mother demanded. Mikey didn’t move and she repeated it forcefully. Mikey started to remove her t-shirt, but slowly. When she had to pull it over her head she did it quickly so the man wouldn’t be out of her sight.
She began to tremble with nervous excitement, although she curiously didn’t feel any fear. Her breath was quick and shallow. She had kind of known in the back of her mind this was going to happen to one day and somehow, despite her distrust of this stranger, she wanted it to happen.
“Do it just like me. You do it good, too,” her mother said as she helped Mikey remove her jeans and her white cotton panties. Finally she was completely naked in the center of the bed, trembling like a frightened puppy, staring up at the man who came closer. He, too, was completely naked and his body, like Mikey’s, was covered with sweat.
Her eyes were drawn to the object between his legs. This was the first time she had ever seen one up close. She stared at it with wide eyed fascination. It looked huge. How was he going to put it inside her like she had seen those men put their’s inside her mother? Mikey had put her finger in there and there wasn’t much room. This was going to kill her. She began to breathe harder.
Her mother watched silently as the man put his strong hands around Mikey’s skinny thighs and pried them apart. Mikey did not resist. He touched her pussy and pushed a finger in. Mikey flinched, but did not try to get away. She was very dry.