Three days later, John William entered Maggie’s cell carrying a dress.
“You have a client tonight. He’s paying a lot of money, and you need to look good. I’m gonna take you to the shower so that you can clean up.”
Maggie grabbed Seth’s hand, and they followed John William into the hallway. Cali stood at her cell door and reached for Seth. He was going to stay with her while Maggie took a shower.
Seth yelled, “I want to go with Aggie.” But he stopped whining abruptly when John William turned and scowled at him.
“I’ll be right back,” Maggie said soothingly.
Then Maggie looked up at Cali, who could see that the girl was troubled, and it struck her that Maggie had never been alone with John William outside of the cellblock—and she’d never been in the shower without the other kids.
“Um, John William,” Cali started slowly, “would you like me to come with you so I can fix her hair and put her makeup on?”
John William pretended to consider it; he loved mind-fucking the kids. “Nah, don’t worry. I’ll take good care of her. When she comes back, you can fix her up.”
Maggie followed John William into the shower room, where he told her to strip. She quickly obeyed and started for the closest shower.
“Hold on there a minute. Come over here and let me take a closer look at you,” John William said in a creepy tone.
Maggie’s legs were shaking as she walked over and stood before him. He spun her around so that he could take in every inch of her. Then he reached down and rubbed his large hand between her legs. “Make sure you wash that stink bucket real good. You got a real meat lover coming in tonight,” he said, tormenting her, as he pushed her toward the shower.
Relieved that he didn’t do anything else to her, Maggie ran under the closest shower head. John William watched as she scrubbed her whole body and finally washed her hair. When Maggie was finished, she walked over to the hook where her towel was hanging. John William was standing next to it, and as she grew closer, he gave her a wicked grin.
“Someday, I’ll tap that ass, girl. I’m working myself up to it. But you can be certain that I’ll get a piece of that,” John William said, cupping her ass with his oversized, hideous, apelike hands.
Maggie shrank away from the horrific, foul man. John William was ugly inside and out, and she knew that she’d hate every filthy, vile inch of him for the rest of her life.
Late that night, when her cell door opened, Maggie stood and quietly walked with John William. Her long black hair fell softly around her tiny shoulders and her magnificent ocean blue eyes popped with the black mascara that Cali had applied for her.
When she entered the client’s room, soft music played, and candles burned on the nightstands on either side of the bed. She quickly settled herself on the edge of the mattress. She sat alone, listening to the music, until the door opened, and a man in his mid-thirties entered the room. He was short and lean. He wore a neatly trimmed beard and mustache. His black suit was meticulously pressed, and he walked toward her with grace. “Hello, I’m Dr. Barnes. I’m here to teach you about the human body,” he announced.
Dr. Barnes, who wasn’t a real doctor but rather, a self-proclaimed home-remedy expert, loved nothing more than to flaunt his knowledge. Medicine and the human body had been his obsessions since he was a teenager. He spent hours at the library reading medical journals and books on self-healing.
Maggie sat perfectly still. She didn’t utter a word and despised the feeling that Dr. Barnes gave her. Then he walked over and asked her to stand. He unzipped her dress and let it fall to the floor. Maggie stood in her underwear, and he examined her skin as if expecting to find something wrong. When he was satisfied that she was healthy, he told her to remove the rest of her clothes.
For the remainder of their time together, he explained the differences between the male and female body parts, using both of their bodies as teaching aids. He boasted about the number of books he’d read. “They know me by name at the library. I get the utmost respect when I go there.”
Two hours later, when he was finished having sex with her, he left her lying on the bed.
When he was ready to leave, Maggie spoke. “Dr. Barnes?”
“Yes?” he answered, turning back to her.
“If you ever come back here again, will you bring me some books to read? I love to read, and there aren’t any books for us here,” she explained timidly.
Dr. Barnes smiled. “Of course, my darling. How about if I bring you a new book each time I come to visit? Would that make you happy?”
“Yes,” Maggie answered.
Then she thought: what would make her really happy would be if they all died. But for now, she’d take the books. That night, she remembered what her parents had taught her: learning as much as possible would make her capable of doing anything. Obtaining knowledge would be her new goal. Besides, someday when she went back to her family, she wanted them to be proud of her for something.