Vanna was pregnant. She’d never been pregnant before, but, like her mother used to say, “Sure as eggs is eggs,” she knew. She hadn’t seen her period for more than two months, and the cramps that always preceded it never materialized. Her boobs were bigger, too, and tender. She wasn’t showing, at least yet, but she would be. Soon.
When Vanna told her, Jenny, already five months pregnant, said, “How could you be? You’ve been here. You haven’t been doing tricks.”
The girls were kept in separate but adjacent rooms at the farm. They’d discovered a vent in each of their rooms at roughly the same location. If they lay down beside them, they could communicate.
“Keep it down,” Vanna said in a whisper.
“But how did it happen?” Jenny’s voice grew quieter.
“Vlad. He checked me out a couple of months ago. Made me parade in front of him downstairs in hooker clothes. He’s been coming out here a few times a week.”
Jenny’s voice went flat. “So it is you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The guards said Vlad had a new girl. But they weren’t sure who it was. I should have known.”
“I didn’t ask for it,” Vanna said.
“Yeah, I know.” But there was a judgmental quality in Jenny’s voice, as if Vanna could have done something about it if she wanted. “Enjoy it while it lasts.”
“What are you saying?”
“He’s had all of us.”
“You’re kidding.” Vanna couldn’t help feeling deflated.
“Yup.” Was there just a hint of “I told you so” triumph in Jenny’s voice? “And now I’m pregnant.”
“But that was—while we were on the junk, wasn’t it?”
“Yeah. And now he ignores me. Like I was the one who fucked up. Even though they were the ones who put us on the shit.”
“How come you never told me?”
“I thought you knew. I thought he was fucking you too. And now”—Jenny’s voice caught—“he is.”
Vanna kept her mouth shut. Vlad had come out to see her just two days ago. In fact, she was getting used to him. He could be cruel; then again, there were times he was quite sweet. At least to her. One night after they fucked, she thanked him for getting her off the dope.
He nodded. “No one should be on that poison.”
She curled up next to him, something he rarely allowed. “When you’re on it, you don’t think it’s bad.”
He actually put his arm around her.
She snuggled closer. “Anyway…,” she said, “now I know you care.”
When he bought her a pair of earrings for Christmas, dangly things that sparkled in the light, she was sure of it. She was different from the other girls. She and Vlad had something special.
Now Jenny interrupted her thoughts. “This isn’t good, Vanna. When we were downtown, there were rumors. The girls—when they get pregnant—a lot of them disappear. And never come back.”
“What do you mean?”
“Just that. After they go into labor, they’re gone.”
“What do you think happens to them?”
“What do you think?” Jenny whispered.
Vanna swallowed. “No. I don’t believe it. He probably just sells them to other pimps.”
“But what if he doesn’t?”
Vanna hesitated. “It—it makes no sense.”
It was Jenny’s turn to be quiet.
“And,” Vanna added, a chill running through her, “it would mean we’re next.”