Four - She Wanted, Home

The underbelly of society was tangible and it had a repulsive odor

The door made a sad creaking noise as it slowly opened. A young Black woman no more than eighteen years old of African descent stepped from the darkness and into shadows lit by a dim street lamp. A 'taste of the sun' was given meaning. Barely visible from where I stood a few steps down the young woman appeared rather tall. And as dimly as she was lit she spoke with a brightness in her voice. "He's in here." She sensed I was searching for someone.

I gave a final look over my shoulder to what seemed like a sleepy street then I quickly rose the final few steps. The woman motioned me inside, closed and locked the weather weakened door for all the good it would do. Anyone who wanted in could easily get by the defenses of the rotting portal. It was evident that neither lifestyle nor safety were high on the occupant's priority. Merely surviving was the most attained in this place of residence.

"Come." Her words were soft but I felt an anger in her. "He is asleep."

We stopped in the hauntingly lit 'waiting room' where men would wait their turn. Their turn to violate. I was able to view the woman's silhouette. She was a beautiful, tall, dark skinned woman with an elegant gait when she walked. It was November and still she did not wear shoes or socks inside, I guess there was no need. To say she looked out of place in the apartment would be a cry of the obvious.

"You seek a man?" The woman searched me for signs of acknowledgment. I nodded in agreement not really wanting to speak for the moment. "Wait here." She added, I guess wanting to protect the person she was referring to.

I waited in the disgusting room but no way I would sit. The smell of the room overwhelmed me and I gagged. I could imagine the violations that would have occurred here. I now understood my father with increasing clarity. The underbelly of society was tangible and it had a repulsive odor.

I had known my father, Jimmy for only a few short years. He's the reason I am still living, breathing, and excelling at life! A loving father, a great husband to Allyson, my step mother, and he was absolutely crazy about my grandmother, Mama. As crazy as it sounds, he actually brought my mother and father, Dana and Brad back together from a disastrous break up. Did I mention he has a wicked left hand. Well, he uses it for two things; amazing on the piano and his favorite knock out punch, the left cross. He joked about the left cross, but something tells me he wasn't kidding.

Jimmy kept this part of his life shrouded in mystery. Briefly mention but he definitely had not explained it fully in his highlight package at the doctor's office. The explanation could never have covered this, where less than desirable places were consuming humans. But that is exactly the reason he came here and who would want to tell their daughter about this?

If I knew anything about my biological father it is his heart. He loved people and had a built in 'help button' for those in need. He could not turn away and that's the reason I am standing in a 'waiting room' inside an apartment on the outskirts of the red light district in Brussels.

Knowing the reason I am here is only part of the equation and part of a much larger challenge, for sure. Now that I am there, in the waiting room, I realized life would never be the same. I feel the same tug at my heart to help as mightily as my dad.

The woman returned to the disgusting room. And spoke softly as if we were in a library. "He is awake now." Then led me through the apartment and up a another flight of stairs.

There, my dad lightly chuckled, "Kiddo?" And smiled while wincing from his pain. Oh, he looked bad. I knew my dad was tough, and nothing ever phased him except his ex-girlfriend, my mother. But that's another story. Hah!

"Dad!" I made my way to Jimmy laying in the bed with a tiny bedside lamp lighting his face like an Alfred Hitchcock movie. "What are you doing here? It's not the friendliest neighborhood." I joked.

He could barely smile through the pain and pointed to the young woman then faded back into his much needed slumber.

"Come." She motioned for me to follow her to yet another room. "He is weak." Yeah, I get the feeling he needed a hospital more than that bed of....ew, forget it, not going to think about that.

"I am Aja." She spoke with the same elegance as she walked. "Please sit."

"Jordan." I spoke softly matching the Aja's tone. I couldn't get over how beautiful and how calm she was with a man hanging onto life in her bed.

"He is your father." Aja wanted to share what she knew of my dad. "He is a real man." She took a seat directly across the small table from me in the tiny kitchen. "I met him first in my homeland." She spoke humbly. "He caught up to, 'the trader'." Aja breathed heavily through her nose. "Thief, stealing women and teenaged girls for....for this. Pig!"

She got up, paced the kitchen, and made her way back to her chair. "The thief returned after finding out my friends and I were returned, thanks to your father." Her nostrils flared. "The Trader scooped us up again and here we are. Giving ourselves to men." Aja drew in a breath and withdrew it through pursed lips.

I'm stunned, sitting silently without movement listening to every word with intent and compassion. Aja's description is gripping and terrifying. Giving me a much deeper understanding of my father and his work.

Aja spoke with passion. "We were ripped from our homes and into a life of misery and pain without hope of ever seeing family again!" This was the anger I felt from the her when I arrived.

"Your father, must have heard of the Trader bringing more women from my village." Her eyes opened wide. "But the Trader was not alone when your father confronted him. There were six who beat him right in the middle of the street. Usually the police come by and simply collect the ones left to rot. I could not let that happen to him." Aja appeared shakened but resilient in the aftermath of what she witnessed.

I continued listening to her struggle feeling for her. "I dragged your father to my bed. He wakes now and then." Again Aja walked from the table but this time returned with a cellphone. "He said if his daughter showed...give her this." The beautiful tall woman handed me dad's mainframe cellphone. I recognized it from the doctor's office in Pasadena. It was a slick and powerful computer disguised as a simple cellphone.

"Thank you, Aja. Anything else you can tell me?" There must be more to this story.

Aja spoke, again with the same anger. "Her name is Market. She is our boss here. She will check on her stock before the night is over." Aja looked at me as she continued. "She will know where the thief is. But she will not sell out her supplier of slaves."

I nodded, trying to give Aja a little hope. "She will tonight." Fuck, I was mad! Anger began swelling from my heart. This apartment, the fucking waiting room. How the fuck could people take a person from their home, put that person here and make them do...fuck! I will make this woman, Market speak and maybe more. I don't know. And that fucking Trader? He is toast!

Aja bright eyes had a look of apprehension. "This is not a game for these people. This is their livelihood. They will not be easily persuaded by a young woman. They use young women." I look young for my age, granted. I was of small stature, yes, duh. I hated being dismissed because of what I look like or how young I was though easily let it slide with Aja.

I had one important question for the beautiful young woman. "You want to go home?"

"More than anything." Aja responded quickly.

"Let your boss in tonight. I will have the Trader by morning." I am confident I can do these things. "Until she arrives, I will check the information in my father's cellphone."

There was a knock at the door. My head shot up but Aja remained calm. "It will just be a customer. I am not open." She made her way down to the front door. I listened from the top of the stairs. Aja spoke French with the person at the door, who swore at her in response, before I heard a slap.

The door was closed and locked once again before Aja returned to me in the kitchen with a reddened cheek. "He is gone. Pig. Why are men so crazy? Sex is nothing. It is empty with a stranger. I feel nothing with these men." There was nothing to say in response because sex is just empty without mutual respect.

I looked at Aja. "Where is home for you?" Somewhere near the equator sure, I could see that.

She studied me before answering. "I see you are sincere. My home is this nice village in Ghana. Beautiful! My neighbors are good people. The farmers are hard working. Very peaceful before the Trader came two years ago. We heard of girls go missing...never thought it would be us. But it happened. Now home is only a memory. Home, is gone." You think I was pissed before? Hearing Aja speak of her home as a distant dream tore at my heart.

Time to devise a plan. A long term plan and Aja would be the first to hear it. "Life is about to change for you."

"I will not go back alone. We are five here from my village maybe more after seeing the Trader. I do not leave without my neighbors." Aja would not leave a friend behind making me revisit my plan.

"I wouldn't think of leaving them, Aja. In fact, I say we take all the women back home and make this street a distant memory instead!" I gave Aja a smile that seemed to light the heart of the woman across the table from me. Now what the fuck is my plan? I will have to go with my dad on this one... fly by the seat of my pants. Fuck I hated that! The plan better crystallize and fast!

I could see tears in Aja's eyes but she dared not cry. Enough tears have been spilled. She wanted her happiness back. She wanted, home.

Just then a text alert came through on Jimmy's cellphone. "Windy?" Aja shrugged her shoulders not knowing anyone by that name.

Windy: Where the hell are you?

Jordan: Brussels

Windy: No shit! You're a freaking genius, its been 24 hrs!

Jordan: Banged up.

Windy: Bad?

Jordan: Yeah.

Windy: Wait, who the hell is this? I can tell.

Jordan: Not Jimmy, why the hell are you texting my dad?

There were no more texts from Windy, so I took a chance and continued to text. Someone must have some answers and Windy knew dad traveled here.

Jordan: It's me, Jordan. You know?Jimmy's daughter.

Windy: Kiddo? I knew Windy as an old friend of my dad's but he is married now. Why is she still contacting him now? No choice, I went for it.

Jordan: Dad is down.

Windy: Your dad tracked Trader there.

Jordan: Got it. Trader and his friends laid a beating on dad. Why did he not eliminate him in Ghana?

Windy: He doesn't operate like that Kiddo. He doesn't eliminate people.

Jordan: New plan. Permanent plan.

Windy: Wait, Kiddo!

"There will be no more texting Windy. Full of hot air!" I turned to Aja. "We are taking these two out of the business before morning."

Willing to do whatever it would take to help bring an end to this life of hers, Aja asked. "What are you going to do?"

"Kill Trader and his friends." Think I was pissed? I stood.

"No! No killing!" Aja stood to confront me. She was an intimidating figure.

"See, I knew you would fight for what you believed in!" I pointed to the tall beautiful woman. "I knew you weren't just another pretty face!"

Aja's demeanor changed from defiant to one of joy. "You said I was pretty! Hah!" She smiled like a flower blossoming.

I had to correct Aja. "I said you weren't just another pretty face."

"What?" I confused her.

Of course I explained! "You are absolutely gorgeous, Aja!" I smiled at the woman from Ghana. "Are all the women from your village so beautiful?"

Her smile grew bigger. "Yes we are! And we're strong too! I worked hard every day. I want to do that again!" Aja was now allowing herself to dream as she flexed her arms displaying the hard work done.