Reality Bites! (Excerpt)

Excerpt from When the Dust Settled

“Here we are,” Ma proclaims nervously.
     
“I am going to check us in. Toots, you and Joey keep an eye on
the boys. I’ll be right back.” The Imperial 400 Motel is our new
home—give me a break!
     
It is a three-story motel right next to the Midway. There is a
huge neon sign in the front with a blinking smaller sign below; it
is blinking obnoxiously nonstop “vacancies.”’ The Imperial 400 is
in the heart of downtown. It is an eyesore, in my humble opinion,
a yellow brick three-story building that looked newer. The eyesore
is all the hobos sleeping next to the dumpsters in the back of the
parking lot, not to mention all the hookers working the block. It is
kind of a scary place. Why did Mom bring us here of all places?
She has a sister in town. Why didn’t she call Alice? We had our
share of streetwalkers around the projects. They never bother me,
but I really hate it when I would return home after working at the
Sandwich Factory. There is an alley that ran behind the business
all the way to Division. Park It Market sits in front of this alley.
This is where I go to buy candy. It is also the place where hobos
buy their booze and hookers prowl around.
     
One morning as I am walking home, I look to my left down the
alley. There in plain sight is a hooker servicing a man. This type
of thing is all too often in the projects. For that reason, when I see
all the prostitutes milling around the motel, it leaves a sick feeling
in my stomach.