The Violated Virgin

Chapter 2


Within the following week, Suzanne settled down to her new routine of
classes at Wayne and studies in the evening, and she found a growing
sense of satisfaction over her situation. Mr. and Mrs. Delacorte came
over one night to visit, and stayed only about an hour. Mrs. Delacorte
was horrified. “You’re living in a slum,” she said primly. “It’s a
wonder this building hasn’t been condemned. Honestly, Suzanne, I don’t
see how you can be happy here.”

Suzanne was thankful for her father’s understanding. “You do your
thing, little girl,” he said with a twinkle in his deep blue eyes.
“Would you believe I lived in an apartment just like this before I met
your mother. That was before I made it big, of course.” Suzanne
remembered the many times her father had told her about his struggle to
succeed and his eventual emergence as one of Detroit’s leading parts
manufacturers. Despite his affluence, Mr. Delacorte still retained his
earthy quality, and his lack of interest in the Grosse Pointe social
scene was a constant thorn in his wife’s side. “Your father just
doesn’t realize the importance of mixing with the right people,” Mrs.
Delacorte would often tell Suzanne. “Birds of a feather, you know, and
all that.” And Suzanne would exchange a conspiratorial look with her
father.

On her third day in her apartment, Suzanne asked Donald if she could
come and visit his mother. He had checked in with her after classes to
see if there were any chores she needed done. He was very thrilled at
her interest, and together they walked up to West Forest Avenue, across
the expressway and down several blocks to an apartment building which,
in comparison to Suzanne’s, was almost ready to fall apart. Suzanne
repressed a shudder as they climbed the stairs, every step creaking
from their weight and the walls grimy with years of filth. The air was
stagnant and smelled of stale cigarette smoke, liquor and urine.

They entered an apartment on the fifth floor, and she sank immediately
into a chair, panting heavily. Donald shouted out for his mother, and a
few seconds later, a short, plump woman came ambling into the room.

“Hey, ma, this is Suzanne, the one I told you about,” Donald said,
proudly showing off a new social conquest.

The woman stared at Suzanne and grinned. As her thick lips pulled back,
her bare gums were revealed.

“Howdy,” she said. “S’cuse me. I weren’t expectin’ company. Wait a
minute. I’ll go put my teeth in.”

Suzanne looked at Donald, and in her mind wondered how such a handsome
young boy could have come from such a woman. There was hardly one
redeeming physical feature about her. Her hair had obviously not been
combed in weeks. The loose dress she wore was covered with food stains,
and Suzanne could tell she was not wearing any underwear. Her pendulous
breasts swayed in front of her, hanging down almost to her navel,
bumping out against the dress with obscene movements. She wore no
shoes, and her feet were black. Suzanne repressed a shudder, and
thought for a moment of her mother, always so elegantly groomed, so
beautifully dressed, so exquisitely well-mannered.

“Hey, Ted, you home?” Donald’s voice rang out, and a moment later a
young man entered the room. “This is my brother, Ted,” Donald said. Ted
looked down at Suzanne and grinned.

“Well, Donald said you wuz something else,” he said, his eyes sliding
slowly over her. “I’ll say you are.”

Suzanne blushed and laughed. “You’re pretty good-looking yourself,
Ted,” she replied, “but then, so’s Donald.”

“Hey, how about that?” said Ted, moving over, and sitting on the couch
next to Suzanne’s chair. “Donald says you wanna find out how we live
and all that shit.”

Suzanne nodded. “Yes, I’m majoring in sociology. I’m planning a project
based on the living conditions of people in this area.”

Ted laughed coarsely. “Stick around, you’ll learn plenty,” he said. “We
bin here ’bout two years. Me, I’d rather be back in Kentucky. Least we
could go rabbit huntin’ there. Here all I hunt is girls. There’s
plenty, too.”

“That’s nice,” said Suzanne, momentarily out of her depth. She was
uncomfortably aware of Ted’s penetrating glances and the sensuous twist
of his mouth. He was slightly taller than Donald, and obviously well-
built. His arm muscles rippled under his shirt, and his belt wrapped
tightly around his slim waist. For a passing flash, Suzanne caught
herself glancing at his crotch, which bulged temptingly. But then, she
remembered, so did Donald’s. And so had Sam’s …

“Well, I feel better now, with my teeth in.” The woman came through the
door and grinned at them. She had made some effort to comb her hair,
and her teeth gleamed between her lips. She still looked like a
grotesque mockery of motherhood. “You like somethin’ to drink, Suzanne?
We got some Cokes.”

“Yes, thank you. That would be nice. I’m a little out of breath from
climbing those stairs.”

“You get used to it,” was the calm reply.

“You got you a boyfriend?” asked Ted, his eyes still on her breasts.

Suzanne laughed. “I’m too busy. I’m a student, remember. I don’t have
much time for anything but books.”

“Hell, that ain’t no way to live,” said Ted. “You got to get out and
have a little fun. Maybe you’n me could take in a movie some night.”

“You shut your goddamn mouth,” came the raucous voice from the kitchen.
“Don’t you go messing round with Suzanne. She ain’t your kind of girl,
and you know it.”

Ted grinned and made a face in the direction of the other room. “She
don’t know nothin’,” he said in a low voice. “I go with plenty of
chicks. All kinds. You ask Donald.”

Donald grinned, looking slightly shamefaced. “He’s got lots,” he said,
“but ma don’t like him screwing round.”

“You damn right I don’t.” Heavy footsteps and the clatter of Coke
bottles signaled her return from the kitchen. “Here, Suzanne. Hope you
don’t mind drinkin’ from the bottle. We’re kinda short on glasses.”

“That’s fine, thank you,” Suzanne said.

“Okay, so Donald says you wanna ask some questions. You jest fire
away.”

There was a slight shake to the floor as the woman subsided into a
rickety chair. Suzanne reached into her purse and took out a small
notepad and a pencil. As she readied herself, she was grimly aware that
Ted’s eyes were still on her, and his face held a leering, sensuous
quality that disturbed her.

* * *

The next day, Suzanne settled down to go over her notes on her first
case history. The details amazed her. Donald’s mother confessed that
she had been married when she was fifteen, and only because she had
become pregnant by her husband. She had Ted, and two years later
Donald, and then shortly afterwards her husband had been killed in an
airplane crash. She received a pension and also assistance from the
state. But her income was barely enough to keep body and soul together.
She decided to move from Kentucky to Michigan in the hopes of getting
employment. Also, she said, the schools would be better for her boys.