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Episode 5

The driver she found out was a woman, who also sympathised to Ada’s made up story of how she was attacked and robbed. From the conversations with the ladies, she discovered that she was indeed in the United States and that she had been left stranded in Alamogordo.
She was given a dress and a pair of slippers by the lady who had offered her a lift while the other gave her two hundred dollars.

Once she had been dropped off and the ladies had left. It dawned on her, she had no idea where she was nor did she know anybody in the place. There were a lot of people going about their business and she just stood there confused. She thought within herself that it will be safer for her if she just moved along with the crowd to avoid drawing attention to her.

She had no idea where she was going but she kept on walking. There were a lot of tourists around and they were too busy with their sightseeing to notice her. She was very hungry but she was scared to get anything for herself. She only had two hundred dollars and she wanted to keep it that way. She had walked for hours and it was getting dark. She scanned the area looking for somewhere she could spend the night but everywhere was open. She took a turn into another street and she found the perfect spot. It was secluded and it was very dark so someone couldn’t see you. She walked over and sat down and brought her knees to her chin.

She started to sob as she rocked herself from side to side. She let the tears flow as she thought about her life, her dreams, family, friends and everything that led her to this point.

“This is our spot, you need to leave now” she heard someone say. She looked up to see two scantily dressed ladies watching her with keen interest.

One of the ladies was black and the other Hispanic. She wanted to assure them that she wouldn’t cause any trouble but she couldn’t seem to open her mouth and speak.

“Just leave her alone, I doubt she is any threat to us. Especially where she is, you can’t see her from across the street. Come on, let’s go” the black lady said as she pulled the other away to join another group of ladies.

Ada was beyond grateful to the kind lady but didn’t utter a word. She stared at them and watched how they left one after the other with men and after a while they seem to return and the process start all over again. She watched their movements until she fell asleep.

It was in the early hours of then morning when someone tapped her. She woke up to find the woman who had earlier been kind to her “It will soon be daylight. You need to leave this place.” She said, looking into her eyes.

“I don’t have anywhere to go.” She whispered.

“You ran away from home?”

“Yes”

“Shtt!” The lady said looking pissed.

“Now the police and your parents will be looking for you and that will cause trouble for us. I should have let Sarah chase you away”

“No, no, no. There is no police looking for me, I swear. My parents are dead and a friend of mine helped me across the border.” She replied.

The woman studied her for a while before saying “You are sure of this?”
“Yes, yes I am”
“Okay, then follow me.” She said and grabbed Ada’s arm.

The woman who later introduced herself as Nessa led her to a house. It was a boarding house of sort. Though it only accommodated prostitutes and she knew this because all the women she saw last night were in the house. It was owned by Nessa’s aunt. They walked into a room and a woman with grey hair was by the window knitting. Nessa told the woman about Ada’s situation and motioned for her to draw closer to the woman.

“What’s your name young girl?”
She looked at Nessa who nodded for her to answer.

“My name is Ada” she said nervously.

“Strange name. What’s the origin?”

“I’m from Nigeria ma”

“OK, I’m not a harsh person but at the same time, I do not want any problem. My niece has assured me that no one is looking for you and I’m going to take her word for it. I will like to warn you though that I will throw you out the minute you bring any trouble to my doorstep. Is that understood?”

“Yes…yes. Yes ma.” She stammered.

“The rent is four hundred dollars a month but you could pay a hundred dollars every week. Whatever works for you. Do you have a job?”

“Not yet ma but I will start searching for one later in the day ma.”

The woman looked at her like she didn’t believe her and after a while shrugged.

“The minute you are late with your rent, you are out. Understand?”

“Yes ma ” she replied and on impulse she reached her hands into her pocket and brought a hundred dollar bill and stretched it over to the woman “My rent for this week ma”

The woman collected the money and smiled.

“Don’t call me Ma, my name is Kris. There is only one kitchen in this house, so use it whenever you want, I will not tolerate cooking inside your room. Now Nessa take her to her room” she said and waved them away.
Ada spent the next four days searching for a job but to no avail. Her feet hurt from too much walking. She had spent her last dollar for lunch. She walked around aimlessly for a while and then returned home.

“You look horrible.” Nessa said.

“I feel horrible too, no one wants to employ me. I don’t have any money and this dress that’s the only thing I have in this world just got torn.” She replied as tears rolled down her cheeks.

“Why don’t you stop being a crybaby and follow us tonight. You will make enough money for this week’s rent and for feeding and if you could save then maybe by the end of the week you can buy new clothes.”

Ada thought about what she said for a moment.

“But I can’t go out dressed like this” she said as she pointed out her dress.

“Don’t worry, I will lend you some of my clothes until you can get some for yourself.”

“Thank you.”

“You are welcome, now follow me so you can select the clothes you want.”

When it was dark, Nessa helped her apply makeup and they set out with the other girls. They stood around smoking as they waited for customers and soon enough a car pulled over.

They were two young men who looked like they weren’t even eighteen yet. They smiled at both Nessa and Ada.

“You want a friend?” Nessa asked.

“Yeah.” One answered while the other nodded. “How much for an hour?” He enquired.

“Just a hundred dollars.” She replied pushing her head and shoulders through the window at the passenger’s side.

“It will cost you another fifty dollars if you want a room.”

The two men looked across at each other and then motioned for both of them to get in the car.

The next three months seemed to be a blur for Ada, everything just kept happening fast and it seemed the world was spinning around her. Business was good and she had some savings hidden away, life was good.

She has been having feelings of sickness and nausea for some days now. She thought it was a flu but as it persisted and she started vomiting, she decided to see a doctor. Who conducted a test on her and she discovered she was pregnant. She needed no magician to tell she was carrying Nick’s child. It seemed true to his words he had left her with a gift.
She didn’t want the baby so she went to an abortion clinic where she was told it would cost a thousand dollars for the procedure.

“Do I look like I have one grand for an abortion!!!?” She screamed at the doctor.

“You need to understand ma’am that at the stage you are in, it’s really risky and —”

“Please spare me the crap!” She cut in.

“…You can keep your foolish procedure. I’m not going to spend one grand on this fetus I don’t even want. Maybe I will dump it by the roadside or at an orphanage. But one thing for sure is that you are not getting any money from me.” She finished and stormed out of the clinic.


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