ladies. There were five of them in the back of the limo. Four of them looked scared but willing to do whatever needed to be done. Their expressions were hard but a little hopeful, trying to turn on the wattage after Christ knows how many hours in flight and then the tie- up at Customs.
They knew you couldn't take a nap your first hour in the land of opportunity. They were going to do just fine here.
The fifth had a sleeping toddler in her arms. Her thumb wagged across the child's chin in some kind of a demonstration of love or just an oblivious mannerism. The child grinned, had a couple nubby teeth coming in. The mother was glassy- eyed and listless.
Chase tried to get her in focus. He wondered if she was drugged or if she was just getting her feet under her. Or if they didn't tell the mothers that they were taking their children from them until after they got off the plane.
“You know,” Ivanka said, doing her best to flatten the heavy accent, “you get some girls back here and you could make a lot of money. Drive around the way you do. When the boss is busy. You get your friends, you find businessmen, a lot of money found there. And you do nothing but drive, buddy. Easy.”
So she did know what had happened to the other chauffeur. Sounded like she was the one who put the bug in the guy's ear, urged him to be a pimp, and got him waxed.
Ivanka wanted to know why they weren't movingyet. She still had the cash in her hand and was trying to get Chase to take it through the partition. He grabbed it. The impatient cabbie fucks who were lined up behind him started blaring their horns and screaming at him in unknown languages.
He and Lila could never have a baby. They went to different specialists for years, but nothing ever worked. Despite the cold facts and the charts pointing out all the problems in their plumbing, the promise of a baby was a spark that never died out.
He looked at the girl in back and imagined some other couple who'd also been given a tour of their malfunctioning reproductive systems, waiting for the baby—this very baby—so they could run around to their friends and family and finally throw off some of the shame of not being like every other person out there.
Chase stared at the girl and finally she raised her chin, her eyes dark and lifeless as shale. The kid hic-cuped and finally the woman's face registered something. It was pure and almost beautiful in its own way. The planes of her face folded into pure terror, and he knew why. The sound the kid made reminded her that she'd never hear her own child's breathing, or crying, or laughter, or cries of mama again after today.
Every child had a threefold hook in Chase, reminding him of others. The first was his unborn sibling, the one his mother had lost. The next was the one he and Lila could never have. The last wasKylie, waiting for him to take up the burden of raising her with a human warmth Jonah was incapable of.
He threw the limo into drive and gunned it.
Ivanka wanted to be taken to some place on Staten Island first, where three of the women and the baby would be dropped off. He followed her directions, that accent of hers beginning to grate more and more as the others occasionally pointed out the windows and spoke among themselves in Romanian.
He pulled up in front of a high- class one- family home out on Stepleton Hill, where a spectacular view of the Verrazano swelled before them. Chase got out and opened the back door for the ladies fresh from Romania. Their excitement brimmed and they began to giggle and chatter together as they climbed out. The girl with the kid didn't move and Ivanka began to push and shout at the girl and clutch at the child.
Hardly aware of what he was doing Chase reached in back and snapped Ivanka's hold on the toddler, took her easily by the arm, and gently drew her closer.
“You too, Ivy,” he said. “Out.”
She misread him and thought he wanted to take her up on the sex. Her face hardened. “What is
They knew you couldn't take a nap your first hour in the land of opportunity. They were going to do just fine here.
The fifth had a sleeping toddler in her arms. Her thumb wagged across the child's chin in some kind of a demonstration of love or just an oblivious mannerism. The child grinned, had a couple nubby teeth coming in. The mother was glassy- eyed and listless.
Chase tried to get her in focus. He wondered if she was drugged or if she was just getting her feet under her. Or if they didn't tell the mothers that they were taking their children from them until after they got off the plane.
“You know,” Ivanka said, doing her best to flatten the heavy accent, “you get some girls back here and you could make a lot of money. Drive around the way you do. When the boss is busy. You get your friends, you find businessmen, a lot of money found there. And you do nothing but drive, buddy. Easy.”
So she did know what had happened to the other chauffeur. Sounded like she was the one who put the bug in the guy's ear, urged him to be a pimp, and got him waxed.
Ivanka wanted to know why they weren't movingyet. She still had the cash in her hand and was trying to get Chase to take it through the partition. He grabbed it. The impatient cabbie fucks who were lined up behind him started blaring their horns and screaming at him in unknown languages.
He and Lila could never have a baby. They went to different specialists for years, but nothing ever worked. Despite the cold facts and the charts pointing out all the problems in their plumbing, the promise of a baby was a spark that never died out.
He looked at the girl in back and imagined some other couple who'd also been given a tour of their malfunctioning reproductive systems, waiting for the baby—this very baby—so they could run around to their friends and family and finally throw off some of the shame of not being like every other person out there.
Chase stared at the girl and finally she raised her chin, her eyes dark and lifeless as shale. The kid hic-cuped and finally the woman's face registered something. It was pure and almost beautiful in its own way. The planes of her face folded into pure terror, and he knew why. The sound the kid made reminded her that she'd never hear her own child's breathing, or crying, or laughter, or cries of mama again after today.
Every child had a threefold hook in Chase, reminding him of others. The first was his unborn sibling, the one his mother had lost. The next was the one he and Lila could never have. The last wasKylie, waiting for him to take up the burden of raising her with a human warmth Jonah was incapable of.
He threw the limo into drive and gunned it.
Ivanka wanted to be taken to some place on Staten Island first, where three of the women and the baby would be dropped off. He followed her directions, that accent of hers beginning to grate more and more as the others occasionally pointed out the windows and spoke among themselves in Romanian.
He pulled up in front of a high- class one- family home out on Stepleton Hill, where a spectacular view of the Verrazano swelled before them. Chase got out and opened the back door for the ladies fresh from Romania. Their excitement brimmed and they began to giggle and chatter together as they climbed out. The girl with the kid didn't move and Ivanka began to push and shout at the girl and clutch at the child.
Hardly aware of what he was doing Chase reached in back and snapped Ivanka's hold on the toddler, took her easily by the arm, and gently drew her closer.
“You too, Ivy,” he said. “Out.”
She misread him and thought he wanted to take her up on the sex. Her face hardened. “What is
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