Jen had hair. Charlene had hair.
‘It’s brown?’
The voice knew. Static was constant, electric.
‘And when did you first start menstruating, Myra?’
I was flinching inside. Dr. Bernhard said that girls had to know about avoiding pregnancy. He said that we would do an internal only if I was not a virgin.
‘Eleven,’ I said.
‘Oooh, baby. That’s early.’
It was Elijah. I heard his accent. He was trying to hide it.
‘You got breasts that early as well, little girl?’
My breath was going unnaturally fast. I had to tell Dr. Bernhard that I was a virgin. If I could have lied I would have lied. I would have washed my virginity away in a flood.
‘What size brassiere do you wear?’
I heard laughing in the ba
ckground.
‘34C.’
‘You’re not still a virgin, are you?’ His voice got clearer through the buzzing. ‘Yeah, you’re not a virgin. She’s not a virgin. I told you. That’s hot as fuck.’
He was talking to me and to someone else. I remembered that woman’s slap. I was going to hang up.
‘What did it feel like to have a cock inside you?’
The phone was a weapon.
‘Come on, did it hurt the first time?’
My kneecaps were touching. I wanted to scream.
‘Yeah, it hurt a lot,’ I said.
A bat-screech laugh came from somewhere behind him.
‘She’s lying,’ I heard.
‘Nah, she’s not lying. She’s finally fucked a boy.’
I was going to hang up. I was going to hang up.
‘So you’re not a frigid little bitch anymore?’
I threw the phone down on the floor hard enough to break. I cupped my hand between my legs.
Telling myself not to be scared didn’t work.
GAYL: Oh boy. Oh yeah. She likes the sexual attention.
LEE: Attention? Are you crazy? That’s not attention – that’s harassment!