eleven

I just don't know what the hell I'm doing anymore, Trixie Jean sighed as she looked at herself in the cracked bathroom mirror. More and more Trixie Jean had been feeling this way. She didn't even know who she was anymore, what kind of life was she making? Sile N'Brohin was dead, stabbed they say. The detective. he was dead too. Not that Trixie Jean ever had much care for him.  Now Trixie Jean didn't know Sile that well but still, a death like that, before his time, it shakes you. Trixie Jean didn't deal with death so well, ever since the accident she didn't want to see no kind of death ever again. And workin at Isabelle's, it just didn't feel right to Trixie Jean anymore, she didn't even know what she had become. Trixie Jean knew what she had to do. She had to get out. Like she was in a trance or somethin' Trixie Jean pulled out her old suitcase and began packing. The babies looked at her real confused but she just kept going. The apartment was hot and Trixie Jean was soaked with sweat but by the time she was flooded with relief, a pile of things, her life in a corner. Trixie Jean and her babies didn't have much. Trixie Jean had about two grand from tips and she sure as hell didn't know where she was going to go. She just knew she had to get out of the city, everywhere she looked she couldn't see the joy anymore. Trixie Jean got out a pen and paper and began to write. Ain't no way she was leavin town without a letter to those sweet women at the orphanage who raised her. Two hours passed. Trixie Jean was waiting at the Greyhound station, babies on her hips, luggage at her feet. She was running away, she was going to start a new life somewhere, anywhere but here. The bus arrived, Trixie Jean climbed on with all her luggage bumping into just about everything around her. Finally she was sea.ted. She got out her dinky old self phone and dialed Janie's number, she picked up on the first ring.
"Where the fuck are you?!" Janie screeched, "I haven't seen your ass in days!"
"I love you, but I'm leaving" Trixie Jean whispered, sad and full of memories of Janie
Janie's voice softened "Okay, but to where?"
"I don't know, anywhere but here"
Janie sighed, "You'll call me everyday?"
"Of course"
"I can't wait til we're sixty, our old asses sitting on a porch, drinking ice tea"
"Me neither" Trixie Jean welled with tears
"Good luck baby"
Trixie Jean put her phone away and stared out the window as the bus began to pull away. Baby Boy had just woken up and was cooin at her like he always did. Trixie Jean brought him close to her face, "We're starting a new life baby, away from this town, these people, just me and my babies" Baby Boy just smiled as the town quickly disappeared behind them

ten.

It was a hot Tuesday and Trixie Jean wasn't workin til late, so she decided to take the babies to the park. It was the third time that Trixie Jean had the late shift, she didn't mind so much but it was a little tiring. At the park there were children everywhere. Trixie Jean held Sweet Pea while Baby Boy lied in his stroller. Some little boy was sitting on the playground with his Legos, seven of them. He looked strange, like he was something different. Trixie Jean couldn't take her eyes off him. What was he thinking about?  Trixie Jean realized he was autistic. A dog got loose and ran over near him and scooped up a Lego, and God be damned if she ain't never heard a little boy scream so loud. She watched as his mother tried to soothe him. Trixie Jean's own babies were getting fussy from all the commotion. The mom scooped up her kid and held him tight. How hard it would be to have a little one like that. How difficult to not understand what your kid is thinking, how he sees things. The mom walked by and whispered to Trixie Jean, "I'm so sorry, he has a thing about sevens". Trixie Jean nodded with the understanding of motherhood, and looked down at her own babies thanking God they were healthy. Trixie Jean put the babies in her stroller and left the park. She kept thinking about that little boy and his sevens. Why seven? More importantly, why is this bothering me so much? Trixie Jean giggled to herself, My god I need some sleep.

nine.

Trixie Jean was late, as per usual. Real late. Strippin had made her even more scrambled in the brain than she was before. Couldn't even get out the house without forgetting something. Shoot, almost clean well forgot her babies the day before. She had just dropped the babies off at the orphanage and was tryin to make it to her lunch shift at Isabelle's. That had always given Trixie Jean the irks, she hated the lunch shift at Isabelle's. Ain't no kind of god fearing man at a strip club at 1:00 in the afternoon. Trixie Jean was rushin real quick when she ran smack dab into a girl, Lucy Collins. Lucy was a pretty girl, but she had that look in her eye, that look that said she had been to hell and back. Trixie Jean clean knocked the girl down. All her papers flew right out of her hands. Looked like she was writin a damn novel.
"Oh my gosh, I am so sorry!" Trixie Jean apologized
"It's okay..." Lucy muttered looking down.
God that girl was a little off, but then again who wasn't a bit off. This town, all these damn people. Everyone just needed a little happy to cheer them up.
Trixie Jean was day dreaming. That was just how she got through shakin' her you-know-whats for every pervert in town. Today it was of a vacation. Who didn't want just a nice little vacation? Hmmm Trixie Jean would love to see Fiji. You know, that place on the side of the fancy waters at the grocery store. Fiji with her babies, hmmm wouldn't that be the life. They could go swimming, see all the beautiful scenery around, and just be hap-
"Hey bitch, shake those tits this way"
Trixie Jean sighed, I guess I'll never be the vacationing type.