This story is about a black girl who grew up in Poultry Street. She lived with her mother, but she never knew her father. Her mother worked as a maid for white families. She worked all the time and was often tired.
The girl grew up in a poor black neighbourhood. People were always screaming; , it smelled awful there during the summer and girls were often raped. The girl was raped herself when she was 12 years old.
One day her mother took her with her to work in a white family’s home. The girl liked it there. Everything was new and clean. She met the woman who lived there and played with her children in the garden.
The next day, the man who lived in the house she had visited picked her up after school. He said her mother had told him to do it, but he took her to his office instead. There he raped her. Afterwards he gave the girl some money. The girl was scared and cried. She wanted to kill him.
He continued to pick her up after school and give her money. He even took her to his house when his wife was not at home. The girl never told her mother about what was happening.
One day when she was at the man’s house, her mother came earlier than usual to clean the house. Her mother saw them together. Her mother became sad and angry at the same time, and beat her daughter.
The girl was now 16 years old. She believed she loved the man. He gave her presents and told her that she was pretty. The girl started to hate her mother. They argued all the time. Her mother would not let her meet the man. But she did it anyway.
One day her mother was taken to an insane asylum. In the asylum she was given shock treatment and she became insane. The man was glad that her mother was finally out of the way. All of a sudden, the girl realised what was happening. She told the man to get her mother out of the asylum, but he would not do it.
After a while her mother