       "Sam Saved Me, by Rhonda Minnolli"
       transcribed by Pedro Vila


   My name is Rhonda. I just turned eleven last month. My family never had lots of money, but we always tried to be good people.
   I want you to know that because you might not think I'm a good girl when you hear my story.
   It started with a boy I knew down the block. He was older and had a car. He told me lots of things about how special I was to him and I believed him. He bought me some nice clothes, but my father made me take them back when he found out about it. It made me kind of upset because we never had nice things.
   Father tried to tell me that there were bad people out there, even though I knew that already. But I knew inside that my friend was different.
   His name was Pardo and he was good looking. I kissed him once but I didn't do any thing else. You need to believe me. I was planning on saving myself for when I got married. I had promised my mother that I would, and I never go back on my word. Some times it is all you can own when you don't have nice things.
   Anyway, I really believed Pardo liked me. He tried to talk me into going for a ride with him lots of times, but would change his mind when I said I had to check with my mom and dad first.
   One day he asked me if I wanted a ride home from school and I had had a bad day because I had not gotten a good grade on my math test. I knew father would be disappointed in me and I got into Pardo's car. It was a really cool looking yellow convertible and I thought that it would cheer me up.
   Only Pardo didn't take me home and I got upset. He told me not to worry and that he only wanted to meet some friends first. I believed him at first, but then when we got on the freeway I started to freak out. He told me not to worry and that he'd make it up to me by buying me a hamburger on the way back.
   I sat and worried anyway but I didn't say anything else.
   We pulled up to a nice looking house in a fancy neighborhood and I followed Pardo up to the door. An older looking man with a mustache and a black shirt with a red tie answered the door and the man looked right at me as he invited us inside. It felt creepy, but I went in with Pardo. I didn't want to stay in the car alone.
   We sat on an expensive looking couch and Pardo didn't do any talking. Instead, the man kept asking me things about school and my parents and stuff. I answered some of the questions but then he started to ask about what boys I kissed and then more personal stuff, like if I started my period yet, or if I was beginning to grow hair on my private place. I got really mad and asked Pardo to take me home.
   The man then said he was sorry a bunch of times and asked if I'd like a coke before I left. He really seemed to be sorry about making me mad and I let him bring me a glass of coke to be nice. Then he started to tell me about boring things like money and business and stuff and I started to get sleepy.
   That was the last thing I remembered then I woke up in a bed and I was in my underwear. I got real scared and was too afraid to get out of bed with out my clothes on. I didn't see them anywhere. I looked for a telephone but there wasn't one there either.
   I started to cry then and I couldn't stop at all. The man came in then and he tried to tell me not to cry but I was mad at him for taking my clothes and I batted his hand away when he tried to touch me.
   Then he got mad at me and he pulled my hair and made me look at him. He told me that if I wasn't a good girl I was never going to see my parents again. I told him he was a bad man and then he hit me.
   That was when I knew I was in trouble and I knew that they weren't going to let me go home ever. I was stuck with the bad men that my parents warned me about and they would make me do bad things.
   The bad man said that I was to do everything I was told and then I could go home. I knew he was lying but I was afraid to say it to him because he might hit me or worse. I told him that I was scared and needed time to myself first because I was just a little girl.
   The bad man smiled and I got more scared. He said I could have a little while but then I had to promise to do what he said.
   He shut the door and I heard him lock it. I got out of bed then and looked for something to put on but there wasn't anything except a torn bathrobe under the bed. It was dirty and too small but I put it on anyway. Then I went to the window and looked out. I was up stairs and the window looked out to the back yard where some other men were sitting and drinking. Pardo was with them and I wanted to hit him real bad. I hated Pardo for tricking me like that.
   I couldn't open the window and one of the men looked up at me and saw me trying to get out. Then they all got up and walked into the house and I knew they were going to come up stairs for me. I knew that they'd be mad at me for trying to get away.
   I took the chair that was near the window and used it to block the door. Then they tried to open the door and I backed away from it while some men started to yell at me about how bad I was going to get it.
   There was no place to run to and all I could do was sit in the corner and cry while they started to break down the door.
   I screamed when they came in finally and I got dragged over to the bed and then... and then....

   It was horrible. They ripped my underclothes off and then they each got on top of me while the other ones held my arms and legs. I felt them grab me and touch me and put things up into my private place until I got sick and threw up over myself. I hurt like I never knew I could hurt inside. They didn't stop when I threw up, but instead they turned me over and got on my back.
   I thought I was dying and then one of them put something big up where I pooped and I screamed and screamed and screamed.
   I don't remember much after that....

   I was stuck in that room for almost a day.
   Some time after... the thing they did to me... They let me pee but they wouldn't let me shut the door. I wouldn't look at anybody. I felt like I had made god angry and he was teaching me a lesson.
   But mostly I felt that I was in real trouble and thought that they'd probably kill me if I stayed with them too long. But I was also afraid that they'd put me out all by myself in a terrible place if I didn't do what they wanted, and I'd get hurt anyway. I was too scared to think strait.
   When it got dark, each man would come and make me do something with them in that same bed. I remember one man making me do sick things with my mouth. I remembered it because right afterwards, I heard another girl scream somewhere a few rooms away.
   I think I heard a doorbell sometime after that, but I was really tired from crying... and that other stuff.
   The men all seemed to stop coming sometime when it was still dark, but I remember it getting brighter outside not long after that.
   I heard some footsteps in the morning and it was Pardo who came in then. He looked at me laying there with no clothes on and crying and he laughed. Then he got undressed and told me that everybody was going to... he said, to fuck me.
   Then he made me do to him what the men were doing to me too. He thought he was real great but all it did was hurt me. Then he was done.
   After he got dressed, he put money on the bed next to me. It looked like a lot of money. But it made the room seem to sink when I knew that everything my mother and father told me was true and I'd be one of those girls who stood on the streets at night. Where bad things happened a lot.
   Pardo left after I started crying again. He was laughing. I hated him.
   I wished he were dead. I'd never wished that on anybody before. It made everything different.

   I woke up when somebody else came into my room. It was still daylight, but late, and I was really so tired that all I wanted to do was sleep and pretend that nothing was really happening. But I was too scared of what would happen next to go back too sleep
   I looked at some dark man with only his bottom clothes lit up from the window. I heard him make that shush noise. You know, when you blow air out from your tongue and it sounds like gas? And I said, "Don't." Though I knew they would anyway.
   He said, surprised, "Who are you?"
   I said, "I wanna' go home." and felt ready to go crazy for real.
   Then someone else came in and it scared me. It turned out to be a girl. No, I mean a woman. But she was small next to the man. I could see him better and he was still really dressed with a hat and coat on even, like in some old movie. The woman looked really scared and she whispered at me fast.
   She asked if I knew a Becky Layman, or layson, or something. I don't remember.
   But he said, I remember he said, "Calm down kid. We already know she's here." I remember because that was when I thought that he might be able to get me out of there. I don't know why, but I felt it, like he was okay, you know?
   Then he said, "We're taking this one too."
   The woman then got made at him and said that we'd all get caught.
   I said, "Please. I wanna' go home." and started crying. The woman got a weird look on her face when she heard me. Then the man grabbed her arm and said, "She's coming with us." The man took his coat off and asked if I could walk. I told him I would run.
   I put on his coat and then he went out the door. But the woman didn't follow him and I tugged on her coat. She made the Shhh with her mouth and I started to get scared. Then I jumped when the man opened the door again but he didn't come it.
   We went out with him and walked fast and quiet. I knew we were sneaking out and I had to hold up the coat I was wearing so it wouldn't drag on the ground. I did whatever the man told me to.
   There was also another girl there sneaking with us who looked a little older. She was wearing a big white shirt and she was barefoot. She must have been Becky. But she didn't look very scared. She went through the same thing I did so she must have been.
   We got downstairs but then we had to go back a little and into a closet for a little bit. When we were close in there, the Becky said to me, "Hey." Like when you say, "Hi."
   I felt cold.
   Then we heard someone walk by and the man seemed to open the door without moving it. Then we were out through the kitchen and over a broken fence. I couldn't tell where we were at all after that. It seemed like a maze of houses and fences.
   Then suddenly we got into a car and we were off driving. The woman and man sat on front and we got in the back. The sun was going down and we pulled up to a traffic light. Then I saw Pardo's car over to the right. I slid down so he wouldn't see me. Becky didn't. Instead, she stuck her tongue out at Pardo as we passed. I was sure he could see her. I thought she was stupid for doing that.
   The woman turned to Becky and asked her all kinds of questions about how she was. Becky thought it was funny and giggled a little. I thought she must have been some princess from the way the woman acted.
   The man said his name was Sam, and the woman was named Rita. Sam was looking in the mirrors a lot and I could tell by the way he looked that Pardo was following us. Rita didn't know yet. But I did.
   We started to make a lot of turns and Rita looked at Sam. Then she knew too. She told us, "It's going to be fine. Just relax." Becky didn't care, but I needed to know it.
   We parked behind a store and turned of the lights. It turned dark and then Sam turned off the engine and waited.
   Rita asked him, "Why don't we go?"
   Sam said without looking at her. "One of them's staked out the street. I've seen three more go by just while we're sitting here." He turned to us and said, "They don't know we're here. Nobody move." I saw Becky curl her knee up to herself and smile at Sam. She wasn't wearing any underwear. He looked at her for a second with a weird look on his face then turned back around. Becky giggled.
   I went to sleep sometime soon after that.

   I woke up when Sam started the car and drove. I looked at his eyes while he was driving and I could see that we were safe. He saw me looking in the mirror and he nodded at me with a smile. I felt safe. I thought he was the greatest man in the world. He was better than a policeman. He was like a superhero.
   I went to sleep for the drive and woke again when we pulled up to a house. Somebody said it was a safe house and we went inside. I looked down the street before I went in and it still looked like a bad neighborhood, but different.
   It smelled old but I didn't care. It was away from the bad things that happened.
   It was just a couch and one of those beds that came down from the wall. I got scared when I saw the bed but Sam left and Rita said we should rest while we could. When he did come back, I knew we were safe.
   Rita started to complain about the room. She said, "Couldn't you get anything better? We could still get caught here!"
   Sam told her, "We're fine. We don't get the money for better until she's home."
   Rita got out a cell phone and Sam made her put it back down. He said, "No cops. He's paying us to keep it out of the press. We take care of it ourselves." She looked mad at him but looked like she thought he was right. Then he told her, "Why don't you get the food and clothes from the car. I put it in the back alley. Then she nodded and left.
   Sam came to me next and he asked me, "Who are you?"
   I told him, "Rhonda. Rhonda Minnolli."
   "Where do you live? Do you have any family?"
   I said, "I have a mother and a father and a baby brother and I live at 1149 Preston street. Near Skidrow."
   Then Sam said a bad word and shook his head.
   That's when Becky moved close to Sam and she said, "Do you know where I live?" While smiling. She must have been from some weird royal family because she reminded me of the Cat Woman in Batman when she came over.
   He didn't say or do anything, but he had a weird look on his face. Becky got real close. Then Rita came in and when she saw Becky next to Sam, she glared at him real hard. He didn't seem to care.
   He said to her, "This is Rhonda. She's got a whole family."
   Rita asked, "A runaway?" and I felt let down that she would think that. Sam looked her dead in the eye and shook his head. He hadn't even asked me. Rita looked like she was going to get mad again, but not at Sam.
   She came to us and Sam got up and loosened his tie. She put a bag down and there were some clothes in it. Both me and Becky put on pants and shirts while Sam was in the bathroom. While we dressed, I asked her if he was her boyfriend. She looked at me like I just told her she was fat and ugly.
   He came out when we were done and sat on the couch. He put his hat over his head and looked like he was going to go to sleep. Rita gave us some sandwiches.
   I was starved.
   We all went to sleep for the night. I got under the blankets with my clothes on and Becky did too. I was so tired that I couldn't stay awake, but I kept having bad dreams and didn't want to be asleep with the dreams going on.
   Rita laid on the couch away from Sam. But one of the times I woke up from a nightmare, I saw her sleeping with her head on his lap. I didn't think she liked him that much before.

   I started to feel better and I was waking up to Becky's talking to Rita. She was saying, "It wasn't that bad. Some of them were pretty nice to me."
   Rita didn't seemed to like that. She kept telling Becky how bad it was.
   Becky said, "It was kinda' fun." and Rita shut up. After sitting there and looking upset, she got up to go to the bathroom. When she was there, Becky crawled to Sam and he seemed to be awake suddenly.
   Becky said, "I want to thank you for saving me." and she started to get on his lap. She even put her arm around his neck and smiled like Cat Woman. The she said, "Let's get rid of them before you take me back, huh?" She took off his hat and put it on her head. "I'm not ready to go home just yet."
   Sam said, "Yeah? Got an appointment with your hair dresser first?"
   Becky kissed him on the lips just like in the movies and I started to get jealous. He was my hero and I didn't want to see her make him into one of those bad men. But he only let her kiss him anyway and then she got off him and came back over to me before Rita came back out.
   I was real mad at her and she gave me a snoddy smile and I realized that she wasn't any princess, but was just another one of those spoiled girls just like at school. She thought she was real special, but she wasn't.
   Rita looked at us and especially Sam like she thought he might have been doing something while she wasn't watching. Then Becky said to her, "I think I'm going to start my period. Can you go get me some tampons?"
   Rita stared at her for a second, then she got one out of her purse, but Becky was shaking her head. She said, "No. I mean pads. I meant maxi pads. Could you go to the store? Maybe you could take her home while you're at it. I bet her mother misses her." She was pointing at me.
   Rita looked at her funny and I said, because I knew what Becky was really trying to do, I said, "I don't think that's a good idea." Rita didn't go then. She looked at Sam but he had his hat over his face and pretended to go to sleep again.
   I spoiled it for Becky and she sneered at me. Later she said I was a party pooper. I didn't care. I didn't want her to get her way anyway. I didn't like her much then.
   We sat for a while longer then Sam looked at his watch before getting up and leaving. He was only gone for a few minutes then he came back and said it was time to go.
   It was still dark outside and I stayed close to Sam and Rita. He had pulled the car out front again and we were almost to it when somebody came out of the shadows and stopped us.
   It was Pardo and he was holding a knife. He said, "I knew you had her. She's coming with me." Then Pardo saw me too and he grinned that same ugly grin. I really hated him, but mostly I was scared he was going to make me go back to that house with him.
   Then I jumped because a real loud firecracker went off next to us and I grabbed Sam. I looked back at Pardo and he was looking surprised, then he fell down. I saw Sam putting something back into his coat and then he said, "Into the car. Now!"
   Becky was confused, but Rita looked white like she saw a ghost. I got into the backseat before I realized that Sam had shot Pardo. I wished Pardo was dead, but when he really got shot, I didn't know what I wanted.
   I had never seen anybody get killed before. It's not like on TV, and it's scary. It does something inside you when it really happens. But deep down, I was glad that I wasn't going to have to go back to that house.
   Sam had to pull Rita into the car. She was shaking when we drove off.
   Everybody was quiet for a while until Rita started yelling at Sam that he'd just shot a kid. She was real upset about that, that Pardo was just a kid. She didn't know him the way I knew him. I decided that if somebody had to be shot, it should have been Pardo but I didn't tell anyone that. I hope I don't go to hell for thinking that.
   Sam let Rita rag on him for a while then he told her, "He's the kidnapper. He's the one that get's the girls for them."
   Rita said, "But...."
   Sam said, "He's not going to grab anyone else now."
   Rita looked real confused then, but she shut up. I was glad she shut up. She tried real hard to be tough, but she wasn't.
   We got on the freeway and after a while, Sam started to talk about Becky's house being watched and trading cars and stuff. But I wasn't paying that much attention. We were going near my home. I recognized things.
   Then we circled my house a few times before pulling up to the front door. The lights were out because it was late. Sam made Rita stay with Becky and he got out and walked me to the door.
   I looked at the hero who saved my life and didn't want to go in yet. I mean, don't get me wrong. I really love my mom and dad but I had a feeling I wasn't ever going to see my hero again.
   I said, "Thank you for saving me."
   He said, "Stay out of trouble." I nodded, but I wasn't ready for him to leave. I wanted him to meet my parents. Then he said, "You can report everything to the cops, but you never saw the girl, okay? Tell them everything but that." I nodded again.
   He turned to leave and I stopped him by holding his arm. He felt strong, like Superman. I asked, "What's going to happen to her?"
   He shook his head and said, "Trouble, probably. If her dad's smart, he'll send her to a boarding school."
   I nodded again and I blurted out, "Will I ever see you again?"
   He started walking away and he said, "Not if you're lucky." Then they drove off. I stood alone in the dark and suddenly didn't feel safe anymore. I knocked until my dad answered the door.
   They hugged me all night and I told them everything that happened, then I told the police everything except about Becky.
   But there was one other thing I didn't tell anybody.
   If Sam wanted to kiss me, I would have let him.

   <END>