Hard Candy

'She said so. You work for her, right?'

'Wrong.'

'Oh.'

I waited. She sipped the cognac.

'You got money?' I asked her.

'I can get some. How much…?'

'Not for me. For cab fare. I'll drop you off near a good corner. Go where you want to go. I won't be coming after you.'

She went quiet again. I lit another cigarette. 'What's the rest, Elvira?' I asked her.

'I don't believe you,' she said in a quiet, subdued voice. 'She never tells the truth.'

'It's not her talking.'

'And I know about you, Mr. Burke.'

'Say what you have to say, little girl. I got things to do. And you're not my friend.'

'Can I have one of your cigarettes?' Stalling, like a kid who doesn't want to tell you she did something bad.

I gave her one. Fired a wooden match before she could try the dashboard lighter.

She took a deep drag. 'I know what you do,' she said.

'That right?'

'Yes, that's right. Danielle told me.'

'I don't know any Danielle.'

'I don't know what her street name was. We're not allowed to use street names in the family. She was a hooker. You came and took her away. A long time ago.'

'Away from what?'

'Her old man. And you brought her home. To a big house on Long Island. Her father paid you to do it.'

I shrugged.

'I know you. I know things you know and I know things you don't know.'

Her mother's rap, a few years early. 'I haven't heard one yet.'

She dragged on the cigarette, a soft glow lighting her face for a second. Calm now. Watching me.

'Her old man's name was Dice. A sweet mac- he never made his girls turn hard tricks or anything. Let them go shopping whenever they wanted. You were waiting for them when they came back to the hotel room. You must've had a passkey or something. You pointed a big gun right in Dice's face. Told him you were taking the girl. There was another guy with you. Big guy- he didn't say anything. Dice tried to talk to you and you started whaling on him with the gun. Danielle said she could hear the bones break in his face. She'll never forget it. You took all her old man's money and jewelry. Then you put her in a car and drove her to Long Island.'

I shrugged again.

'Why'd you do that?'

'You think it's right to fuck fourteen-year-old girls?'

'Her father did. The man who paid you the money to bring her back. He loved to do it. In the basement. Danielle told me he had a special room for it. She only has one nipple- he burned the other one off. To teach her not to run away again.'

I didn't say anything. Shuffling the memory cards. Going right past Dice and the sleazy hotel room. Looking for that address on Long Island. The world was still black &white, but a piece was out of place.

'And Train saved her?' I asked.

'Train saved us all. Men like Danielle's father. Powerful men. They're always after him. It's not that they don't understand. They know. And they hate him. Our family too. They hate us all. And they use men like you to do their dirty work for them.'

'How'd he save you?'

'You think you're smart, don't you? You think you know everything. You don't know everything. We're saving for a place. Our place. Not in this miserable country. Where we can be free. We're in a war. You make sacrifices in a war. Not everyone will be able to go, but that's all right.'

'And you all live in that house in Brooklyn? Raising money for your new country? You sell flowers on the street? Phony magazine subscriptions? Blowjobs in parked cars? What?'

'Whatever we do, that's okay. It would never be as bad as what people did to us.'

'Sure.'

'Sure. You don't know. You're a mercenary. That's what Train calls you. You only serve yourself- you have no honor. Your god is cash.'

'That house must be pretty crowded, what with Train saving the world and all.'

'We don't all live in the house. Some of the older ones, the best ones…if they show the commitment, prove themselves…they work other places. For our family. Outriders. The special people. I'll be one someday.'

'Danielle's an outrider?'

'No. She lives with us. Outriders are special. I only met one. She went to prison for seven years for the family. And she never said a word. That was her commitment. That proved her true.'

'So how come this family let you go?'

'It was a test. I know it was a test. We have to act for ourselves. Train isn't running a mission or a runaway shelter. It's only for those who are worthy. I had to find my own way back.'

'Which is why you're running this game on me?'

'It's not a game. I thought if you knew what we really did, you wouldn't bring me back again.'

'I don't know any Danielle.'

'You know me. Maybe you're a good man inside. You wouldn't fuck me when I asked you. Maybe you really thought Danielle's father was sincere.'

'I don't think anybody's sincere.'

'Yes you do. My mother thinks she knows you. Maybe I know you better. And you don't know her.'

'But you…you know a lot.'

'Don't mock me. You know why my mother wanted me back?'

'To fuck you in the basement?'

'Bastard! You know what my mother is?'

'Your mother's a whore. She was a whore before you were born.'

'No. Danielle was a whore. My mother…I was on the street when Train found me. I was turning tricks in cars. Like you said. Cars just like this one. My mother didn't care. I was too old then. Fourteen. Too old. When I was a little girl, my mother trained me. I thought ice cream was the stuff that shoots out of men's pricks when they come. My mother would hold my face between her legs while one of her customers fucked me behind. I used to scream right into her cunt. And the pictures. I still shake when flashbulbs go off near me. I had so many daddies. I knew how to make nice for them. My mother taught me. But once these grew'- flicking her hand at her breasts- 'I was too old for the games. And my mother…she can be fourteen herself. She can be anything a man wants.'

'No she can't.'

'Oh yes. You don't know her. She can change. Like a demon. You know why she wants me back? To sell me. I'm hers, she said. Not Train's. I'd die first.'

'So you don't turn tricks for. Train?'

'Even if I did, it wouldn't be the same. Nothing's just for Train, it's for us. All of us. Together. It's my life. She doesn't own me.'

'How old are you?'

'Seventeen.'

'How old, Elvira?'

'Okay, fifteen. I'll be sixteen soon. I was born on Christmas Day.'

I lit another smoke. 'I'll take you to that cabstand,' I told her.

'And you won't bring me back to her?'