The Story of Jennifer part 1

*names have been changed for protection*


It was 1955 when she left home. Jennifer was only 12 years old.  It wasn't that her parents were abusive, they were just absent.  She stole $300 and hopped a bus from her home in Kentucky to Las Vegas. Sin City.  She had dreams to be a singer.  Times were different.  Her ticket across the country cost her $35.  With her suitcase in hand and her few prized possessions in her purse, she boarded the bus and left.

It took almost a week to get to Vegas.  They made several stops along the way, and for the first couple of days the person sitting next to her would change several times.  But once they got past any urban areas, it was a straight trip there.  She had managed to end with the seat next to her empty, and propped her bags up against the window to use as a pillow and stretched out over the empty space.  She had her journal, a book, Anne of Green Gables, and her bible.  She read and prayed that she was making the right choice.  Everything about it felt right, she felt free.  But she was worried about how she would make do if there were an emergency.  Even though her parents traveled almost constantly for work, there was always a neighbor or family member that could be called if anything went awry.  Halfway across the country, it finally began to sink in what she had done.

When Jennifer got to Vegas, she immediately went to the payphone in the bus station and dialed information.  She asked for the number to the nearest women's home.  With luck it was only a couple miles away.  She shared a ride with an older couple she had spoken with briefly on the bus and their adult children, who had come to pick them up.  When she got out, she tried to pay them for their courtesy, but the elderly woman looked at her and said, "My dear, you will need it more than we do. God speed child."

Jennifer quickly got settled into a single room.  It was $10 per week for a small 8'x10' room with a single bed that squeaked and sunk, a sink, a small set of dressers, and a space to hang clothes.  Jennifer's $10 covered her room, meals, and laundry.  There was a shared bathroom at the end of the hall that only had hot water from 5 am until noon, and three meals a day were served in the kitchen.  The woman,Grace, who ran the house was kind, and accepted Jennifer's story about being 16 years old.  Grace took a special liking to Jennifer, and while she was strict with the other girls under the care of her home, gave Jennifer special privileges, such as an extra serving at dinner, or a sweet that Grace would leave tucked into her laundry.

Jennifer was introduced to worldly ways very quickly.  Several of the girls that lived in the women's hotel were prostitutes.  Constantly trying to convince Jennifer to join them.  She knew of prostitutes, but being so young, had no idea exactly what sex was.  She turned them down and away for months, and Grace would come at them like a rabid mother bear when she caught them trying to corrupt her surrogate daughter, but Jennifer's money was running out quickly.  She knew she had to find some work to provide for herself.

Jennifer walked the streets of Vegas, going into restaurant after shop, where ever there was a help wanted sign in the window, but so many of them wanted a girl with experience, and one with a few more years.  One clothing shop owner was so crass as to state that he wouldn't trust someone her age behind the cash register, she would probably steal from him. As her 13th birthday passed, and Grace had baked her a cake that had 17 candles on it, Jennifer prayed asking God what she was going to do. She did not want to become a lady of the night, she hadn't even had her first kiss yet, but with each passing day it seemed as though her options were quickly fading away.  Grace had reduced her rent to $5 per week in exchange for helping her with the girl's laundry, but it wasn't even to sustain her forever.  With each passing day, the prostitutes fell upon Jennifer's need like vultures on a carcass, mocking her insolvency and baiting her each day to join them in the night.

Jennifer was down to her last $5.  After that week, she would be out of money, and either be out on the streets, or be reduced to begging Grace, who had already been so kind, to be beyond generous and allow her to stay at the women's hotel gratis, however, Jennifer knew that not only would her pride not allow this, but however big Grace's heart, she could not afford to allow Jennifer to stay for free.


to be continued...