Five. December 22nd

I'm done, I've had it, I'm finished with making less than nothing for my babies. I'm done with those god-awful human beings, I'm done with that scum of the Earth, Shaniqua. Trixie Jean thought as she left Casa D's for the last time. Shaniqua had done it for the last time and she was sick of it, she spilled an entire plate of food on Trixie Jean

"Whoops!" She gasped in a fake tone
Trixie Jean glared dead into Shaniqua's eyes, "Bless your heart". She said through clenched teeth. Ain't nothing worse than blessin somebodies heart.

That was Trixie Jeans last day at Casa D's and her first night working at Isabelle's.

Later than night Trixie Jean stared blankly at herself as she spread on lipstick and rouge. She looked down at her body. Her boobs: covered in glitter and sparkles, her ass: covered in tassels like some kind of costume. It wasn't a costume, it was her new uniform. She looked like some sort of trailer trash, but a girls gotta do what a girls gotta do.

"You alright baby? I know the first night can be hard" A lady called Lollipop whispered in Trixie Jeans ear. 

"Uh....I think I'm alright -Wait....I can't do this" Trixie Jean turned to make a dash for it but Lollipop stopped her.

"Here baby, this should help" Lollipop slipped a few pink pills with smiley faces on them into Trixie Jeans hand. Trixie Jean took them without hesitation. I reckon this is my life now, poppin pills and shaking my tits like I ain't never been to church.

Trixie Jeans eyes widened. The beats of the music all of a sudden became louder, she walked out onto the stage with only a pole in the middle of it.

The faces blurred together. The beats pulsated through every inch of Trixie Jeans body. Trixie Jean felt like her eyes were coming out of her head. She was hot, so hot. She felt like her skin was melting off of her. The faces in the audience became snakes, wielding apples at her like she was Eve. She took all the apples, she had to grab them. Suddenly the ground was disappearing, she felt like she was in quick sand and she couldn't get out. Her throat felt tight. She couldn't breathe, the air felt like honey. Thick and suffocating. She looked up and saw the lights: red, purple, pink, blue, all blending together. And then...darkness.

Trixie Jean woke up, she saw the machines hooked up to her.

"What the fuck...." She muttered.

"Ohhhh! Looks like psychos up!" She heard Janie's voice.

"Where are the babies, what happened" Trixie Jean whispered gaining more strength.

"Babies are fine, over at the orphanage with the nuns. Trixie Jean I should be asking you the same thing!  Last night, at Isabelle's! You were fine then all of a sudden you were dripping wet with sweat and grabbing at those dollar bills like you ain't ever seen a penny. Then you took off your hooker bra and tried to strangle yourself with the straps!" Trixie Jean reached for her throat, it burned. "Then we dragged you off the stage and cut the straps, and you just started vomitin all over the place, swear to God turned white as snow, thats when we took you to the hospital. You almost died Trixie Jean, what the fuck were you thinkin? Tryin pills like that without me" Janie let out a laugh.

"I don't remember that at all, all I remember is that lady giving me those pills-" 

"OH, You mean that ecstasy!"

"I guess..." Trixie Jean blushed in embarrassment "So I guess I'm fired?"

"HAH! You wish baby, no the crowd loved it. All that strangling kinky shit, they eat it up like a moth to a flame. You made almost $250 before you passed out! We gotta keep up with all this shit, get you some more of them pills, get you some whips or somethin...."

Trixie Jean sighed, What the fuck have I gotten myself into?

Four

It was a cold Thursday morning, unusually cold, and real rainy. One of them sleep in your bed all days, but Trixie Jean hadn't got no time to spend in bed. There had been some thunderstorms in the past week but it wasn't really on Trixie Jeans mind. What was on her mind was Sweet Pea. Sweet Pea had come down with the sickness. Sweet Pea didn't have no kind of flu vaccination, why should she? She was just a baby after all. They got the real strong immunity systems. But Trixie Jean just couldn't get her poor baby off her mind even when she was workin' at Casa D's. A lady came in, Violet was her name. Violet was one of them girls who looks real spoiled, dresses like some sort of model in the Macy's ads, but she looks sad.
"You need some coffee sweetie?" Trixie Jean was only a few years older than Violet but that few years felt like centuries to her, in that few years Trixie Jean had been through 4 jobs, had two babies, worked infinite hours, and spent countless nights awake with her babies fussin'.
"Yes...yes. please. now." Violet pulled off her big movie star glasses to reveal red-stained eyes and bags that Trixie Jean knew from having two youngins. But Violets bags under her eyes were from a different kind of staying up all night, Violet was hungover as anything. Trixie Jean giggled to herself, the days of going out with the girls, spendin all kinds of time drinking and kissing boys. Trixie Jean missed those days sometimes: where her biggest care in the world was where she was going that night, but now Trixie Jean had responsibility, Trixie Jean had babies. Violet seemed like she could either be really sweet or just be a plain bitch. Trixie Jean wasn't really sure...she didn't have time to be sure, she had customers to attend to and babies to worry about.

Three.

It was a Monday, that meant free waffles from six to seven at Casa D's. Trixie Jean hated few things in her life; she just wasn't that kind of person, but she sure did hate that terrible hour on Mondays. The radio was blarin some awful something. Trixie Jean hated WTF (the local radio station). She just didn't really get it, it was too many types of music she didn't like. All Trixie Jean could think about was her babies, Baby Boy had been havin a cough and Trixie Jean was worried. Every time Trixie Jean served someone she always thought about her babies, "Is this going to be them in 25 years?", "Are they going to be smarter than them?", "Will I still be working here in 25 years?" This morning Trixie Jean was serving a man called Devon Tresp, god be damned if her babies ended up anything like this guy. He was silent, and spoke strange, just generally an odd fella.
"Oh...um hello there" Devon spoke softly,
"Hi, you need anything sugar?" Trixie Jean replied in her sweet demeanor.
Devon looked like Trixie Jean had a third eye on her forehead. What? Was nobody cordial in Europe or wherever he was from? Usually Trixie Jean wasn't so critical about everything but recently things had changed. Trixie Jean didn't know if Janie's complainin had gotten to her or if it was just natural, but it seemed like every where she looked all she saw was dirt and scum: the walls covered in graffiti,the sewer rats always scurrying next to buildings, and the stains all along the walls of the hallway of the Castle Apartments. Only God knows what those stains were from. Trixie Jean yearned for beauty, she wanted to live in one of those places in the magazines, a sweet cottage just for her and her babies, and maybe one next door for Janie and Strummer. Lord knows that girl could use some fresh air. Trixie Jean knew it was stupid, to think that one day she could live in one of those places that look like you livin in a picture. But maybe, just maybe she could save up her money...who was she kidding though? She was a waitress at a minimum wage job with two babies to raise. Trixie Jean sighed, a girl could dream couldn't she?

Two.

    It was a Sunday. Trixie Jean loved Sunday's, not because she was religious or nothing, but because Janie Jones and Strummer came over every Sunday for a brunch. It wasn't anything fancy or nothing, but it was nice.
    Strummer sat in the corner playing with Sweet Pea and Baby Boy while Janie Jones and Trixie Jean made biscuits next to the sweltering stove.
    "What the FUCK is that??" Jani Jones screeched. It was Trixie Jeans upstairs neighbor Talus Fugue. Trixie Jean didn't mind Talus one bit, he was a nice man, he was kind of an odd one, but Trixie Jean didn't have no means for judging. Talus would practice his violin all the time upstairs, it was soothing to Trixie Jean, but janie didn't have no time for extra noise.
     "I'm going up there, this is ridiculous, it is a Sunday morning, the Lords day" Janie demanded
      "Awww Janie, don't be causing a fuss. Its Sunday, we have our babies and we have biscuit, a little violin ain't no problem" Trixie Jean new Janie wasn't religious or nothing like that, she just liked conflict, always had. Back in the old days, the pre baby days, Janie was known for starting a good fight drunk or sober, since she had Strummer she'd gotten better...but she always had that fighting spirit.
        Janie Jones marched out of the door and Trixie Jean hurried after her gathering her babies as she scurried. Janie Jones was already at Talus's apartment, she banged on the door hard as she could til he answered.
        "Ummm...yes?" he asked nervously
        "You must have some fucking nerve playing your god damn violin music on a Sunday morning!" she barked and stomped away.
         "I'm so sorry" Trixie Jean fumbled, "She gets angry sometimes, ain't your fault or nothing" Trixie Jean was always making excuses, for Janie, for her babies, for everything.
          "It's okay..." Talus mumbled and shut the door in Trixie Jean's face.
Later that day Trixie Jean walked down Poplar with her babies. She could hear the old man's boombox playing Bob Dylan's "Simple Twist of Fate". Trixie Jean loved Bob Dylan, his lyrics spoke for her in a way she could never say. Trixie Jean bent down and handed him 50 cents, it was 50 cents she couldn't spare but Bob Dylan just did that to her. He made her a better person.
        The old man shouted, "What will come will come.  Even if I shroud it all in silence." Trixie Jean didn't know the quote, but she was sure it was from some old play. She started to think about what it meant. But then Baby Boy spit up all on himself.
        Trixie Jean was tired and her baby was a mess, she walked back to the apartments, back to 4D. She was tired as bones and all she wanted was to get in her bed with her babies and listen to Blood on the Tracks. It was a Dylan kind of day.

One.

       The day started out with a cry, Sweet Pea always started her cryin 'round 6. Trixie Jean stumbled out of bed and across the small, dark room to her crib. Poor baby was hungry.
"Shhh," she cooed at the fussing baby, "S'alright, momma's gotchu" She soothed as she walked over to the fridge for a fresh bottle. She heard Baby Boy from his crib and walked over to see his smiling face, Baby Boy always had a big 'ole smile on his tiny little face; Sweet Pea could be fussin' and cryin' til she turned blue in the face, but Baby Boy would just be there with that big 'ole smile.
        Trixie Jean could feel the sweat pouring off her face, that damn apartment always made Trixie Jean sweat like a whore in church. A one-bedroom in the Castle Apartments was all she could afford, but Trixie Jean was just fine with that; she didn't need much space, and she always loved to hear  her babies soft sounds as she fell asleep.
        It was a quarter past six, time to get the babies off to orphanage. Trixie Jean couldn't afford no kinda day care so the sweet ladies at the orphanage always let Baby Boy and Sweet Pea stay there while Trixie Jean was working. She sure loved those sweet ladies; they had raised her since she was nothing but a little bit, dropped off on the front stoop. They always told her that she was their little gift from God, but she knew that the sweet ladies were God's gift to her.
        "Awww Sweet Pea!", the smell wafted up to her nose; that familiar smell that stuck to your senses like ants in molasses. Sweet Pea had thrown up on her shoulder. Trixie Jean stuck Sweet Pea in her bouncy chair, that damn bouncy chair was just about the only thing in the whole wide world that could keep that baby calm. Every time Sweet Pea was in it she turned into a sweet, smilin' baby, just like Baby Boy, and for a second....just one second,Trixie Jean had peace.
      Trixie Jean got her babies dressed and ready and into their double-wide stroller and she was off. First stop was the orphanage.
       "Whay hay there Miss. Trixie Jean, how you doin on this fine Wednesday mawnin? This weather treatin ya good?" Cried Mr. Diedrich, the old bumb who lived right outside the apartments on Poplar Street.
      "Why I'm just fine Mr. Diedrich, and how are you?" Trixie Jean replied
      "I'm terrible, these God damn space robots are always tryin ta get inside ma brain! They want me to let them in! But I won't, that's why I got this here helmet on," He gestured to the pasta strainer we was wearing, "to protect me from them damn space miscreants!" Old Mr. Diedrich may not have been the sanest or the cleanest man in town, but Trixie Jean had a soft spot for him from the days when he was a janitor at the orphanage; he always used to color and paint with Trixie Jean, and that was the kind of friendship you don't forget no matter whose wearing a pasta strainer on their head.
      Trixie Jean opened up the big, brown, double wide doors to the orphanage, and she kissed her babies on the forehead as she handed them over to the sweet ladies at the orphanage,
       "Now I love you, don't you ever forget that." She whispered to each of them, and with that Trixie Jean headed off to work.
      Trixie Jean worked at Casa D Waffles as a waitress, she didn't mind her job. Sometimes working with her best girl friend Janie Jones made her job seem like it was the most fun thing.
      Janie Jones and her had been best friends since they were six; Janie came to the orphanage when she was 5, they found her sleeping with the rats and bums down on Quincy way and them sweet ladies took her in without a second thought. At first Janie and Trixie used to hate each other, they would fight and play tricks on each other until one day they both realized how much they needed a friend who wasn't a homeless man or a nun.
   They would sing and dance with the mops when it was a slow day just like they were teenagers again. Just like before Trixie Jean and Janie Jones both got knocked up. Janie Jones had a baby boy named Joe, but they liked to call him "Strummer" because he could make music out of anything with a string. That baby was just three years old and already he was smart as a whip and tall as the day is long.
    That day at work was the same as any other day, wiping down tables, taking orders, picking up bills. Trixie Jean was so used to the routine that she would sometimes daze off into her own little word til 5 'o clock came around and Trixie Jean got to go see her babies. That was always what Trixie Jean yearned for.
    Everyday around two Mr. Jagger would come by the restaurant and try to talk Janie Jones and Trixie Jean into coming and dancing at Isabella's. Janie Jones was adamant about never wanting to work there, her days of promiscuity and dancing on tables ended when she had little Strummer. Sometimes Trixie Jean would fantasize about working there, she wouldn't work too many hours and she'd be making a weeks worth of pay per night dancing there, but then she would always snap back into reality; ain't no man wanna see a stripper dancing with C- Section scars, not now, not ever.