It was a busy corner in the jewelery section of town.  Lots of concrete and people rushing by.  When I first saw the place there was an old man selling papers there out of a plywood structure — maybe six by five feet.  It was mostly a spot to keep the papers out of the rain.  The midget said the town didn’t pay for street lights, street repair or even sweeping up trash.  If I used that section of concrete, then I had to maintain it.

The dwarf’s words were, “I had a man who sold women for me there for several years — he’s gone now.” 

Yeah I found out the first day from passerbys that the other guy Moses Beatherton was dragged dead from his group of chained women.  They (the street people) even pointed out the man from the jewelry store who shot him in the chest.

The killer’s name was Sam Lucerno.  All the free people who worked in the jewelery store were named Lucerno.  Sam was one of the young men and he was small.  On that first day he walked close to where I stood with my seven girls.  I pulled back my coat and showed hm my gun butt.  He veered away from where I was right then.  I leased two thugs from the midget during the day.  I paid only pennies a day to use them around my stand, but they also protected the spot so the midget could get rid of his bruised stock.

The deal was that every morning I had to go see the dwarf over on 43rd Street.  It was six blocks and as long as he had Eur-Asian girls I could pick and choose early every morning at one credit each.  At first I only got seven and the best and youngest girl sold first for seven credits.  I had marked on her dress TEN.  She was the only one of the bunch that would smile at customers.  During the day I sold three more at four each.  That gave me three left that I had to walk home to the metal box, where I lived with the volunteer slave girl.

The next morning i took Dorothy my slave with me and the three merchandise girls.  That day I bought twelve and was left with only three girls again that night.  I had never made so much money in one day.  I think I sold so many because Dorothy had suggested that since it wasn’t against the law to display women naked, why not do it?  Actually nothing was really breaking the law in Gainesville, it was lawless.  People held hard to their wallets as they walked thru the streets.

Both of us had seen slaves transported down and up the streets naked.  It really sold our girls.  I had sold twelve by noon, and at noon a girl came out of the jewelery store with a note.  She was a small black-haired woman with high heels and she handed me the note as she said, “Can you read?”

I was standing next to three Eur-Asian girls, all totally nude.  I nodded at the girl and read the note.  It said, “Merchant, we in the jewelery store are trying to make our corner a high-class area.  We can barely tolerate you selling your colored girls on our corner, but you cannot co-exist with us if you parade their nude bodies in our faces!  Be warned!”  The note was unsigned.

The midget told me that the jewelery store might give me trouble.   I told the jewelry girl, “Listen well bitch, this is my street if you wish to come in and out of your building, and wish to conduct business there in peace you will have to stop threatening this merchant.  I see you didn’t sign the note so I find you all guilty.  For the threat you will all be fined.  Either pay me 120 credits tomorrow morning or one of you who enters will suffer, you are all guilty so it matters not to me who I make suffer.

Now girl are you smart enough to remember what I’ve just told you?”  I showed her the handle of one of my guns.  Her eyes got wide and she said, “I’ll remember.”

I didn’t dress my merchandise that afternoon, but closed early.  I think it was some religious holiday.

The dwarf whose real name was Samford Richardson Pemmbrooke was gleeful about that note and my response.  I don’t know if all dwarf’s are that expressive, but he jumped up and danced a jig,  I figured he was younger than I thought when I saw him dance.  He waved his hands, which didn’t look at all like regular hands, there weren’t just five fingers on each flipper (arm).  It was a freak show.

  I had seen a sign on a door next to the jewelery store about a large flat.  It was for sale.  Sam said, “I’ll buy the place, such places are cheap but you have to defend them against intruders.  It’s a large flat and you can keep maybe a hundred head thee, and have a nice home.  Also if you will buy only from me, I will sell you girls at half price and some culls for pennies.

I asked, “What do you mean by ‘culls’?”

“Ones missing a finger or with bad scars.  Things like that.” 

He knew I would do it, and already had negotiated the apartment deal.  We moved out of the metal box place that night and into the huge area.  It was next to and above the offending jewelery store.  I took the safeties off all my guns the next day, and armed my bald slave woman Dorothy. 

I went to work that next day ready to shoot someone.  It was like going into battle, I watched where I was all day, and planned how to stay alive all day.  I was a cat, planning how to always stay on my feet.

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Other stories in this series are:  http://lesmil.wordpress.com

http://orphandorothy.wordpress.ocm

http://thedwarfman.wordpress.com

A list of other writings and stories by the same author can be found listed at the end of the following story:  http://unsightlyteeth.wordpress.com