CHAPTER TWO - Nairobi Cocktail, The Sleaze

 

For a week, Naliaka was borderline invalid. She spoke little. She thought a lot. She worried even more, about everything. Queen became a constant presence. At first, her presence made Naliaka tense because she did not know what to say. With relief, she realised she was not expected to say anything. She held Naliaka’s skinny hand, rubbed it reassuringly. She hugged her when she wept and heaved. She looked at Naliaka’s gawky face with passion, a passion Naliaka had never experienced before.

For a week, Naliaka hardly left the bedroom. For that week, Queen brought her three meals, three times a day, at the right time. For a week, she made Naliaka come out of the house to get some sunshine for half an hour, sitting silently beside her. For a week, Naliaka got a massage from one of the other girls. None of them asked her any questions.

When she was alone, Naliaka often looked through the window, into the vast manicured compound. She saw several girls, some of whom gave her the massages she had come to look forward to. Often, she would see men drive in, all in big cars. They would walk into the house and leave after some time.

She may have been naïve in the ways of the world, but she knew there was something sinister about the home she was living in. The girls, different shapes, sizes and colours, all wore very skimpy clothes and a lot of makeup. The men, all in suits, would walk in a hurry and walk out slowly, dragging their feet, like they did not want to leave. She would squint her eyes and see their satisfied smiles. Sometimes, Queen walked them to the car and waved them off until they disappeared out of the high gate.  

Naliaka was fascinated by the heavy makeup and the skimpy clothes she saw on the girls. She had never worn any makeup. None of her clothes, all picked from cheap second-hand markets, had been above her knees. Whenever she spotted the women, she would look at her reflection on the mirror, study her face with a disapproving frown, run a hand over her face and bald head and try to imagine what she would look like with makeup.

Queen found her standing by the window watching the girls sitting on stones, soaking in the sun. Naliaka jumped when the door opened, wondering if she had lost sense of time and it was already lunch time. But Queen was not carrying food. Instead, on one hand she held up a pair of jeans and a tiny blue top and a pair of red doll shoes on the other hand.  

“Naliaka how are you this morning?” Naliaka smiled shyly and sat on the bed. Queen placed the clothes next to her. “You look much better, and prettier. The week has been good to you. It is about time you got out of that hideous nightdress.” For a week, Naliaka had been changing from one long nightdress into another, all provided by Queen's maid. She had not been wearing underwear because she had not carried any, and she was too afraid to ask for any.

“Change into this.” She patted the clothes and a toiletry bag. “Some underwear for you as well. I am sure I got the sizes right. Three panties and three bras. I will get you more.”

“Thank you.” She took the stuff, looking down with embarrassment.

“Have your shower and change into that. You and I are going for shopping. We need to get you some acceptable clothes.”

For hours, Queen and Naliaka shopped. They were in a mall, moving from shop to shop. Queen picked all the clothes, all short and tight. Naliaka tried them all. Naliaka wanted to protest about the length and the tightness, to tell Queen how she had never worn anything short. She had not protested, too overwhelmed by the number of clothes, shoes and underwear that were now hers.

So she had tried everything handed to her. Sometimes Queen nodded, sometimes she shook her head. She got a makeup set, one Queen said she would be shown how to use by the other girls.

“Why do I need this?” Naliaka finally asked.  She had asked more in embarrassment than anything else. They were having lunch at the mall, beside them were bags over bags of shopping.

            “Because, Naliaka, I need you to start working…”

            She stopped chewing a fry and shifted on her seat. “Working? Where?”

            Queen gave her a long look as she continued chewing. She found it hard to believe that Naliaka had stayed with her for a week and still remained ignorant about what went on in the house.

“Working for me…”

“Doing what?” She whispered involuntarily and roughly scratched her bald head.   

Queen cleared her throat and used a serviette to wipe her mouth. “You have no idea what happens in my house?” Naliaka shrugged. She could have said she did, but she needed to hear it. Queen had laughed. “My goodness, where did you grow up?” It was a rhetorical question, but Naliaka had answered “Nyathuna.”

            “Sex does not happen in Nyathuna?” Queen asked, resuming her eating.

            Naliaka looked at Queen with her big eyes, her face going red.

            “Well, I run a pleasure house, if I could be so blunt. Those girls you see in the house entertain men and they get paid for their effort.”

Naliaka sat back, pressing her back on the seat. She looked around to see if anyone else had heard Queen. “You want me to be a prostitute…” She finally said, squaring up to Queen.

“Aha, so you do know about these things.” She put more fries in her mouth using her fingers, ignoring the fork.

Naliaka shook her head, eyes shining with tears. “I can’t. My mom…”

“Naliaka, your mom is dead, remember? She is dead, and I am sorry about that. She left you with nothing. With no one. I am offering to help you as you help me…”

“I…I …” The tears running down her face were really hot. She wiped them with the back of her hand along with the snort. Queen handed her a serviette, one Naliaka used to wipe off her hand. 

“Look, I am not forcing you to do anything you do not want to do. You are certainly welcome to walk out any time you want but I have a question for you, do you have an option on how you will survive?” Queen sounded angry. Naliaka cringed. “I mean, you just lost your mother, how else are you going to fend for yourself?” Silence. “I am giving you a way to improve your life. You are a beautiful girl, even though you do not seem to know that. Pretty soon, men are going to want to do things to you, whether you stay with me or not. You are vulnerable because you do not have anyone to rely on. Men will lie to you that they will help you, marry you, educate you, but all they want to do is get inside your pants. You will try to resist because you are a nice, innocent girl, but when hunger strikes, you will give in. At least I can help you do it the best way possible. The men who come here do not misbehave, but out there, men will beat you, they will rape you and refuse to pay you. I am your best option, my dear.”

            This, Naliaka thought bitterly, were not the plan she had for her life, not that she had any plan. The plan would have however, included school. She didn’t realize she had said the last part loudly.

            “School? How are you going to pay for school? Do you have money?” Queen scoffed.

            She shook her head, and that was the cue for more tears. And snort. Queen did not seem affected by the tears. She had continued chewing on her food.

            “Why do you want to go to school?” She finally asked when Naliaka calmed down.

            When Naliaka sobbed for an answer, Queen asked the same question, second time did not encourage a non-answer.

            “So I can get a job…”

            “What do you want to study? How are your grades in school?”

            Naliaka had never thought that deep into her plan out of poverty, so she shrugged. As for her grades, she was an average student who would never be a doctor or a lawyer or an engineer.

            “Do you even have a passion for anything? A career you are working towards?” This, Queen said in snide. “Clearly you do not, otherwise you would already know what you want to be, and what you are interested in is getting out of poverty. What I am offering you can help you, unless, of course, you want to find a job as a domestic worker, or a farm worker, in which case, I can assure you poverty will remain your sidekick.”

            By this time, Naliaka had stopped crying, leaving her eyes red and puffed. Her nose was running, she took another serviette and blew her nose.

            “More often than not, there is always a price on sex, especially for vulnerable young girls like you. You can choose to be ahead of the game by using your body to get what you want, or you will join a million other women in the world who feel short-changed because they were faithful to their men but all they get for their troubles is unfaithfulness and disrespect, and being stuck at home with spoilt children as the man pursues other women and a life.”

            Queen had used that speech many times. More often than not, it worked like a charm because many of the girls who came to her were from abusive relationships, they already hated men. Other girls were like Naliaka, clueless and lost and willing to take any advice that seemed to come from an expert. Naliaka had grown up surrounded by poverty. She had made peace with it. Losing her mother was, to her, the last straw. She had lost all energy to think. She hated the thought of having sex for money, she was happy to let someone think for her. Prior to meeting Queen, she had never thought about sex, or what it could, or not bring her. Her mother had warned her against premature sex. She had warned her against being friends with girls who looked like they were already having sex. Prostitutes, she had called them. Look at my life now, she thought with a sigh.  

“If you really want to go back to school, I cannot stop you, but you would have to work for the money. We can work out something if I think you are worth the investment.” Queen pointed at Naliaka’s half-eaten food. “Come on, eat. We need to get going.”

They ate in silence. They drove home in silence.

           

***

            For another two days, Naliaka stayed in her room. But there were changes. Queen no longer brought her meals. Instead, the maid delivered them. The massages stopped. Only once did she seen Queen, through the window, as the latter drove out. The changes bothered her, she turned to chewing on her nails in anxiety. Over and over, she replayed her conversation with Queen and as much as she hated to admit it, Queen was offering her a solution, a solution she did not have. A solution that made dark sense.

The day she saw Queen drive out, she decided to see if indeed she was allowed to walk out any time she wanted. She slipped into the same pair of jeans, same shoes she had worn during the shopping, a new tee-shirt and a sweater she carried in her hand. She tiptoed to ground floor, ignored the girls who went quiet as she passed them and walked to the gate.

Her heart was racing and beating louder with each step she got nearer the gate.

“I want to go out.” She told the security man who shrugged and opened the gate in silence. Naliaka hesitated. She had expected some sort of confrontation. Her walk beyond the gate was slower. There was too much heat, and it was slowing her down. She covered her bald head with the sweater, the same way she had covered it when she first met Queen.

The main road was coming closer and closer and her walks were getting slower and slower, more from indecision. When she got to the road, she looked both ways, then walked to her right. She had no idea how far or how long she walked for, but she stopped suddenly and retraced her steps. With a pinch of shame, she realised she did not want to be out there. She wanted her comfortable bed and three tasty meals a day. She wanted to belong, and right now, she did not have much choice of the places she could belong to.

When she had dared to walk out of the gate, she had hoped she would have the guts to walk away for good and find her way, on her own. She had known it was a silly idea, but she had walked anyway. She was a minor with no family. Her mother’s family was somewhere in Mumias but even if she were to try finding them, Mumias was big. She did not know the family name. She had no money on her. Not a single cent. She did not know her father or anything about him. She had no friends. The only person she had was Queen.

 In the same silence, the security guard opened the gate for her. She was relieved to find the compound empty of the girls. She lay in bed, fully dressed and took in her room and the furniture and the red and grey colours. The carpet was soft and grey. She sat on the bed and let her feet sink into the softness of the carpet. Everything in the room, in the house, was a far cry, and much better, than anything she had ever had in her life. She got up, undressed and took a shower, feeling a new sense of deliberation.

She looked through the window and saw some girls sitting on the grass, all of them holding a bottle of soda. They were laughing loudly. They looked happy. She wanted to be able to laugh like that. They saw her walk out of the door and waved at her, cheered as she approached. She smiled shyly.

So it did not seem like she would be returning to school? She decided she did not care much. Pragmatism was her new black. She could not afford school, but what she was being offered was better than sleeping hungry and outside. Also, because pragmatism was her new black, she knew Queen had no intention of paying her school fees even though two days ago she had sounded like she was open to the idea.

All the girls gave her high five, asked how she was feeling and welcomed her to join them. One of them offered their soda. “I know where to get them, you drink that.”

She did not know their names, but she remembered Jane who had accompanied Queen to pick her up. Julia was easy to memorise because she was the clear alpha. Everyone seemed to be competing for her attention. Julia was older, and she was a big woman. That did not stop her from wearing the tiny clothes. She wore a pair of shorts. As she sat down, her tummy turned into several folds. Her shorts exposed cellulite that shocked Naliaka at first, and when she laughed, her whole body shook. 

Julia looked like somebody’s beautiful mother, not a prostitute.

“So how are you now?” Julia turned to Naliaka. Everyone else did the same.

“I am well. I feel much better.”

“Good. Because you need to start working, otherwise your ass will be thrown out.”

The other girls laughed uncomfortably, but they nodded their heads in agreement. Naliaka looked at the grass.

“I shall not mince my words so you will excuse me if I sound too blunt.” Julia said, taking Naliaka’s hand. “I believe you already know what we do here?” Naliaka nodded. “Good. I am telling you this because as good as Queen has been to you, she is not a charitable organisation, and she will soon run out of patience. In fact, you should know how lucky you have been – occupying a room by yourself while the rest of us are squeezed into the rest. You even got her to bring you meals to your room…”

“Queen does not serve anyone…” One of the other girls cut in.

“Exactly. Also, she doesn’t have to be good to you, there are enough women who would like to be under her wings, but she can only house twelve at a go.”

            Naliaka sighed. She used her free hand to scratch her head. She was still looking at the grass.

            “There is something about you – perhaps it is the innocence. We do not get your sort. It must be the same reason Queen has a soft spot for you. You seem like a nice girl, not like these mad women I live with…”

They all laughed. Naliaka looked up at them and smiled.

“You are so beautiful too.” Naliaka blushed. Being told she was beautiful seemed like something she was going to have to get used to. “Sorry your mom died. Perhaps she would have paid for your college, and you would have ended up being one of those girls who sit in boardrooms among men, tough as the men, making big decisions, driving big cars and all that. But Naliaka, life is not fair, and you are here, alone, with only Queen as your saviour. You need to decide if you want to do as Queen wants you to or not, otherwise…”

The other girls were nodding with agreement. One of them was blowing gum loudly. Another one was clearing their throat as loudly.

After a moment of silence, Naliaka looked up at Julia and asked, “How is it?”

“What, the sex?” Naliaka nodded. “It is just sex. It is the same sex you have with a boyfriend behind the bush, same sex you have with an abusive husband…it is just sex. The advantage with what we do, we get paid for our troubles…”

“But I have never had sex…” She didn’t understand why she felt shame in that admission.

All the girls splattered their drinks. There was a short silence, then prolonged laughter that sent all of them on the ground. Naliaka’s face was red with embarrassment, but she giggled.

“This is way too funny…” Julia was the first to recover.

“It is not funny…it is scary…”

“You are a very beautiful girl, especially when you smile…” Julia said, suddenly serious but like the other girls, wiping tears from her face. “Wow, how old are you?”

            “Sixteen, going seventeen…”

            “How did you survive without having sex? I can’t believe it. At your age, I had five years’ experience in sex, and I had my first child…”

            “You have children? Where are they?”

            Julia’s face dropped. “With their bastard father. He is rich, and abusive. He beat me up every day of our four years of marriage, and he raped me every one of those days…”

            “How can your husband rape you?”

            “Oh yes he can. The minute you are unwilling to have sex, whether it is a husband or the parish priest, that is rape. I hated him. I wanted to kill him, and twice I came close to stabbing him in his sleep…”

            Naliaka was happy the conversation was no longer about her but she shifted in discomfort. She knew about abusive marriages. She used to have neighbours having vicious fights that ended with bad injuries. Her mother would take the opportunity to tell anyone within earshot the reason she was happy to be single was because she did not have to live with an abusive partner.

            “Why didn’t you? Kill him, I mean?”

            “He may be a bastard, but he is the father of my children and to give the devil his due, he is actually quite human with them. Why he hated me so much is a mystery to me. Anyway, I would not dare kill him unless I was getting his money in the event of his death. Unfortunately we are not legally married. And his family hated me as much, if not more.  

            “He raped me every day,” she whispered, as if to herself. “The strange thing was, he still cheated on me. I do not know how he managed to have so much sex, considering he was quite bad at it.” She laughed. The other girls chuckled.

“The fool brought women to our matrimonial bed…can you imagine the disrespect?” Naliaka was not sure if Julia knew she was crying. “He made me watch as he had sex with other women. That was the worst part, especially because it made me want to sleep with him when I watched him with other women. He seemed a better man when he was on top of other women, not the brute who treated me like a stray bitch when it was my turn.”

            Naliaka did not grow up hugging people, but she hugged Julia, tight. The other girls joined.

 “I am sorry…how did you come here?”

“Purely by chance. One time, I was determined to kill him in a moment of madness. I stole his gun and followed him here. At first, I thought he was sleeping with Queen, but something was not right. As I waited for him to leave the house so I could shoot him, I watched several men drive in, and out. It was easy to work out what happened here. After he left, I drove in and offered my services…”

“What?”

“I know. I do not even know why I thought it was a good idea, but I have never regretted the decision. The following day, I took my children to my sister, packed my clothes and came here. It has been three years…”

“Do you…do you see him?”

Julia shook her head. “Nope. This place is only by appointment so I am able to know when he is coming.”

“Wow…”

“I hear he has been looking for me. I have been right under his nose for three years, the stupid fool…” Everyone laughed.

Naliaka studied the other girls. None of them was shocked, she guessed they all knew each other’s stories. Now, she wanted to know all their stories.

“His brother is my client…” Julia declared. Naliaka choked. This was too much for Naliaka.

“H…how?”

“His brother is a malicious nasty piece of work, likely worse than my husband if you can believe that. But he hates his brother more than I hate him. It is our little secret and I suspect he sleeps with me to get back at his brother. He is my best tipper.”

“Doesn’t he tell the brother?”

“He wouldn’t. Remember he hates his brother? Also, he would have to explain to everybody how he knows I am here. Neither knows the other is a client here because Queen makes sure they never meet. If he brings me down, I bring him down with me. He is very useful to me – keeps me updated about our children.”

Naliaka shook her head.

Then she sighed, sat up straight and shook her body a little. “Anyway, that was how I ended up here. All these girls you see here, they have terrible stories behind them. This place,” she looked at the house. “This place is our refuge. Queen is our saviour.”

The other girls nodded.

“I do not remember how we started talking about me, but I hope my story inspires you to make the right decision. The right decision is to not keep yourself holy for a man because he will not appreciate it. It will just give him bragging rights, that he broke your virginity. But… there is an issue here… about your virginity. I do not know any prostitute who lost her virginity to a client…does Queen know that you have never had sex?”

“No she doesn’t…”

“Well, if you are going to join us, you better let her know you have never had sex. She might have a few things to help you with…” Julia paused and pinched her nose, all along staring at Naliaka in disbelief. “Gosh, I do not envy you. Virginity was a calculated punishment for women.” She sighed and rubbed Naliaka’s back. ”Good thing you only lose it once.”

***

Naliaka drew the side of the curtain in her room to look through the window, squinting at the morning sun. It was burning, too bright and too hot for that time of the day. She has never liked the sun. It left her skin itching and red. Even through the glass window, she could feel it drilling through her skin. She scratched her hand instinctively but continued to scan the compound, specifically where Queen’s car was usually parked. It was not there. But there were ten other vehicles, no doubt belonging to clients.

Where was Queen? It had been three days with no sighting of her.

Her tummy grumbled with hunger. She turned to look at the wall clock mounted high on one side of the wall; it was way past ten AM. She had overslept, again, something she had been doing a lot since moving in. At first, she had thought fatigue was responsible for her endless need to sleep, then realised it was the comfort of the bed. All her life, she had never known it was possible to be so comfortable in bed. The thin mattress she had shared with her mother had offered no such luxuries. The ones they provided in school had been worse, and one could feel wires digging into the skin.

She walked back to the bed and sat on it, slowly and gently, like one who was afraid of offending it by slumping on it. She run her hand over the soft beddings and smiled. This was a life she could get used to. She looked up at the ceiling and took in a deep breath, letting the lavender scent penetrate her lungs. Queen’s house either smelled of lavender or spicy food. Living in this comfort was pricy, but if Queen and Julia could be believed, it sounded like the exact price she would have to pay for comfort. Her choice seemed easy.

She took a shower and slipped into a pair of tights and a sleeveless top. As usual, she tiptoed down the stairs, an unnecessary act because the hallway and the stairs were carpeted and she wore no shoes. The house was quiet of live human sounds but piped music played loudly. She had worked out it was meant to muffle pleasure sounds from the bedrooms. 

She spotted Malaika sitting under a tree. Barefooted, she stepped onto the grass and walked towards Malaika. Malaika was dangling an unlit cigarette between her lips and peeling an orange with her long yellow nails. Whenever she peeled a piece, she would trap the cigarette between her index and middle finger and pop a piece of orange in her mouth. Naliaka watched her for a while, taking in the near sensual sight of the petite girl sitting with crossed legs, holding a cigarette intermittently and popping pieces of oranges like one would pop roast maize.

“Can I join you?”

Malaika looked up at Naliaka in a near boredom and nodded, pointing to the ground with her mouth before popping another piece of orange.

“Where is everybody?” Naliaka asked unnecessarily.

She spoke with the cigarette trapped between her teeth. “Busy. Wednesdays are always busy days. I just finished with a client and I have another one in two hours…”

“Oh…” Now she needed to ask how many men one slept with in a day. “I have not seen Queen for days. Is she around?”

“She is out of town.”

Malaika cut off a piece of orange and offered it to Naliaka. They chewed in silence. Malaika seemed lost in thought, Naliaka did not know what to say. She continued studying the activities of the cigarette, wondering if it would ever be lit. The day before, she had noticed all the girls, except Julia, had been smoking. She had never seen women smoke before.

“How are you doing?” Malaika finally asked after she was done with her orange.

Naliaka smiled. “Okay I guess…”

“Mh…so you will join us in the fun?” She cocked her head at Naliaka.

Naliaka shrugged. “I guess. I do not think I have a choice.”

Malaika nodded. “No, you do not. You do not want to be out there on your own. It is a jungle and it is rougher than you can ever imagine.” Malaika lazily looked at Naliaka. The almond shaped eyes should have been beautiful, and they were, but they lacked emotion. They had a glassy look that made Naliaka slightly uncomfortable. Naliaka did not return the smile, instead, she studied her nails. Julia had polished them pink the day before.

Malaika was a small girl from every angle. Four feet tall and torn between skinny and slim. She was as dark skinned as Naliaka was light skinned. She reminded Naliaka of the most popular girl in her former school – strikingly beautiful. Perfect teeth, like someone worked on them with precision. On her head was a blonde wig that should have been a mismatch against the dark skin, but it looked good on Malaika.

Her voice was hoarse. She sounded like someone who was recovering from a throat infection. Probably from the cigarettes. Naliaka watched her striking a match and finally lighting the cigarette, blowing the smoke that blew to Naliaka’s direction. She coughed but remained on the same spot. Naliaka would find out that Malaika was almost always high, either from alcohol or weed, both part of the free menu.

“I was hoping I could talk to Queen today.” Naliaka said after a long silence.

“She will be back. She is always going on and off. You enjoy your freedom for now because once they start scheduling you, there will be little rest…”

Naliaka cleared her throat. “How many men do you…you know?”

“Have sex with?” Naliaka nodded. Malaika blew a long ring of smoke, looking into the skies. “Depends. Sometimes one, sometimes four, or more…you stop counting after some time.”

Naliaka digested the answer before asking the next. “I would like to go back to school. Do you think Queen would let me?”

Malaika chuckled and pulled on her cigarette.

 “What’s funny?”

“Nothing, really. It’s up to you, but I have to tell you, this kind of work messes your head. You stop functioning like a normal human being. But hey, don’t listen to me, I never liked school anyway…” She shrugged, blowing more smoke into the air.

“So, how did you end up here?”

“Ai, this has been my life since I was ten…”

“Ten!” Naliaka screamed. “Why? How?”

“If you had a mother like mine, you wouldn’t ask. My mother, a proud Majengo Estate resident, was a prostitute. My father could be any of the hundreds of men she slept with during the time she got pregnant with me. He could be the estate drunk or the president. I like to imagine it is the latter. Anyway, when I turned ten, she started offering me for sex to her clients, she made more money that way…”

“Oh my goodness. Were you okay with it?”

Malaika shrugged. She lit another cigarette. “Okay? What, like, did I have a choice? But you know, I grew up with sex. Some man humping on top of her is most likely my earliest memory.” Malaika paused and rubbed her nose vigorously. “By the time I was five, I was curious to know what they did. Don’t forget there were many kids in my situation in the neighbourhood, and I probably lost my virginity at five to a boy the same age.”

“Wow…” No wonder everyone was shocked that she was still a virgin at her age.

“Anyway, we used to hump each other left right and centre, and by the time my mom sold my body when I was ten, I was an expert.” She laughed and coughed. A loud, bitter laughter and a cough that told of a congested chest. “I had done it with older boys and even though my mom offered me to her clients as a virgin, I was anything but.

“Queen picked me up in a bar, and I have never been happier. Being here is certainly better than being in Majengo, and the money is better, and the clients cleaner. That they are afraid of Queen is an added advantage because it means they cannot beat us up, and I got beat up a lot in my previous life.”

“How about school?”

“I made it to class eight. I have no desire to go back to school. Who needs education to make a man moan?”

Naliaka guessed that no one did.

Malaika suddenly stood up. “Telling my story is always so draining. Come on, I have some time before my next client. Let’s go and put some makeup on your pretty face. I am the official makeup artist around here. If I were to work anywhere but here, I would be a makeup artist…”

As Naliaka followed Malaika into her bedroom, she, for the first time in her life, felt privileged. She had never been abused. She had never been raped. She never had a mother who sold her to the highest bidder.

“Sit on the bed. I have been dreaming of transforming your face.  You have a very beautiful face…”

Naliaka blushed, hoping one day she would hear those words and not blush.

***

Naliaka was in the shower when Julia drew the shower curtains.  She screamed and covered her nether areas with her hands.

“What are you hiding?” Julia asked with a giggle. “There is nothing I haven’t seen. The only difference is yours are tiny.” Naliaka did not move. She was staring at Julia with enlarged pupils. “My dear, pretty soon nakedness will cease to be an issue for you. Come on, finish up. Queen just called. She will be here in half an hour and we always welcome her as a group.” Julia drew back the shower curtain and walked away, leaving behind a shaken Naliaka.

Half an hour later, Queen drove into the compound to a welcoming group of ten girls. Naliaka smiled as much as the girls, but the nerves in her tummy were making her queasy. She had worn a short blue dress. She had wanted to wear some makeup, but had only had guts to wear lip gloss.

In turn, Queen hugged and asked after each girl. Naliaka, standing at the end, was the last one. “Look at you!” Queen exclaimed, holding a blushing Naliaka at an arm’s distance to study her. “You look absolutely gorgeous. And different. And you are smiling.” She finished with a hug, one that lasted longer than the other girls. “It’s good to be back. I brought you all presents. I noticed all your underwear was getting rather old. We cannot have that…” The girls laughed as they helped her offload three suitcases from the car.

As the other girls helped each other pull the suitcases, Queen tagged at Naliaka’s dress. 

“I guess we are ready for our talk.”

Naliaka nodded shyly. “Yes we are.”

They all had lunch together, Queen recounting her three days away in Mombasa. Naliaka did not talk, neither did she laugh as loudly as the other girls, but she smiled throughout. She felt happy, and safe. She loved the laughter, the camaraderie that was obvious within the group. Queen was the queen mother, Julia her powerful assistant. She wanted to be here.

“So…what happened while I was away?” Queen asked. They were both sitting on Naliaka’s bed.

“I spoke to the girls. And I thought a lot about everything. I can do this, but I need to confess something.” Queen waited. “I am a virgin.”

Queen laughed. At first, it was a short and sharp laugh. She looked at Naliaka, like one expecting to be told the statement was a joke. Then she picked up the laugh, laughed for so long, Naliaka guessed the ribs were aching because she was holding them. “I never thought I would meet another virgin apart from me…” She finally said.

Naliaka gasped. “You are a virgin?” Queen nodded with a chuckle. It was Naliaka’s turn to laugh. “How?”

“How? Really, you are asking me that? Well, look at me. What man would want to sleep with me over you and the other girls? I am built like a brick and I have a man's face.” Naliaka shook her head in confusion. “Anyway, I am going to have to auction you to the highest bidder.”

Suddenly, Queen was all business. The rules, the most important, no talking to strangers, especially if they looked like policemen. The terms and conditions, no doing side jobs no matter what the client offered. “If you want side jobs, you leave the house.” There was clothes, they must be appealing. There was cleanliness – shower after every client. No sleeping with a client without protection, no matter what the client offered. “Those ones who insist on sex without a condom are usually up to monkey business. They are almost always sick and want to pass it on. Be warned.” There was payment. “I pay you per client, and it is good money. You do not need to know how much they pay me. Some clients will tip you, I want nothing to do with the tips. You can bank your money. Many of the girls have saved enough to enable them to leave and start businesses – anything is possible. I take care of your accommodation and food and most of your other needs, like hospital bills. Oh, you have to do a complete medical test every three months. We want a healthy people.”

She spoke about the clients to expect. “Most of them are straight forward sex kind of people, but we have some with weird demands. They came there because they want to do things they are too embarrassed to ask their wives to do. Most of the stuff is harmless, but if it makes you uncomfortable, you never have to do it. None of them is allowed to hit you. If they do, you must let me know immediately.”

 She was allowed a day off, once a week. Hers was going to be a Saturday. She may go wherever she wanted on her day off, but if she was to spend the night out, she would have to say exactly where she wanted to go, and she had to be back ready for work by ten AM the following day. “I will get you a phone and you must have the location on at all times.”

Three days later, Naliaka got to meet the highest bidder.

Kaggai.

Kaggai was Julia’s brother in-law.

By the time Kaggai was done with her, Naliaka hated Kaggai as much as his wife did, as much as Julia hated Kaggai's brother, possibly more.

***

Naliaka lay in foetal position on the dishevelled bed, unable to move or breathe naturally. She kept forgetting to breathe and would only do so when her brain threatened to explode from lack of oxygen. She wanted to be still. In fact, she wanted to be death still. For a few seconds, she wanted to be dead, then she decided she would not die unless she meted some kind of punishment to the man who had just abused her body so bad, leaving her bloodied, in pain and in tears.

She wanted to get out of bed, to take a shower like Queen had instructed and to change the beddings. She did not. The mere thought of moving was painful. Her wrists were bruised, she could swear they were bleeding, just like her vagina and her anus. “I am just going to tie your wrists and legs to the bed. Not tightly, it’s just for fun.” He had told her. She had not resisted because after all, Queen had hinted about the strange things some of the clients wanted from the girls. Besides, Queen had told her to be nice to him because he had paid a lot of money for her. He had used lubricant on her vagina, and her anus. He had said he would be gentle.

The overweight man had hurt her. He had been rough. Or perhaps, that was how sex was supposed to be. Painful and more painful and endless. She lay under him, eyes tightly shut, still, he had moved her legs wide apart, adjusted the scarves he had tied her legs with until he had nodded in satisfaction.

Naliaka had watched him undress. She thought he looked hideous. When his trousers came off, his belly had threatened to detach from the rest of his body. It had wobbled, then it had settled. He had lifted it to expose his manhood. She had gasped and shut her eyes. The first thing she had felt was his tummy slapping on her tiny torso, then he penetrated her. Roughly. She had whimpered. He had groaned. Then he had continued to groan more for what seemed to be a lifetime. He had humped into her vagina. Into her anus.

Kaggai had been gone for over twenty minutes. Naliaka had not moved. Even when the door opened, she lay still, but she could smell Queen.

“You poor thing, what has he done to you?” Queen spoke softly, sounding genuinely concerned. Naliaka whimpered in answer. Queen sat on the bed and placed her hand on Naliaka’s naked thigh. She cringed.

Queen, in silence, gently helped Naliaka up, to the bathroom and like she had never washed a baby, like she imagined babies were washed, so she did to Naliaka. She got herself soaked in the process, she didn’t care. The water was helping hide her anger towards Kaggai. She should not have trusted him with a virgin, with Naliaka. She should have warned him against sodomising her.

She oiled Naliaka, massaged her, examined her private parts and put ointment that sting Naliaka, but she did not react. Queen called a doctor, stayed with Naliaka until the doctor examined her and prescribed painkillers and more ointment. “She should be fine in a week or so.” The doctor said as he closed his bag.

            “I am so sorry, Naliaka.” Queen whispered when they were left alone. “If I had known he would do this, I would never have let him, even with the all the money he paid. I should have given him stricter rules, but he has never been this rough. I did not expect it. You can take the rest for two weeks. Then we can revisit.”
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