Chapter Fourteen
Ugly Duckling In the Pretty Palace
I suppose it took the pressure off when Tony said he didn’t expect me to reform. Hearing that, for the first time since Brody Hall, I wasn’t thinking of reform. I did things because they felt right, not because I thought they’d make me a better person. By results, I’d get both, in a round about sort of way.
I started college—not the junior college on the outskirts of Back Streets, two blocks from Brody; but a small one downtown. Tony wanted me close by. After two weeks of making love and f*****g—we did both—he wanted me living in. Even Mama thought it was time I left the barrio, but I had my doubts.
“What am I gonna do when I open the window and there’s no enchilada smell, and there’s no diner, or Mama’s salsa and beans? The church be
