Tommy looked at all the food that she brought in and remembered just what he had to pay for the things that he had gotten before. It had cost more than half of the money that they had left. He looked at his mom and wondered if she could have stolen them, but they all were in bags. As he looked at her, he thought that she never could have done something like that. But it was not like they had brought anything that she could sell to make the money that would pay for all this. Then he looked at her hand and saw that she was still wearing the ring that she had. He knew that it was not worth much, but it was the only thing that she had left that had any value at all.
As Beth moved around putting things away, she started looking for anything that she could use to cook the roast. There was just nothing in there that she could use for something that big. Especially once she started adding all the vegetables that she had to go with it. If she was anywhere other than here, Beth would have just sent Sadie to the manager for the cooking were that he said she could use. But based on how he looked at her when she was talking to him. If she sent Sadie to him to get the things that they needed Beth was not sure that he would let her leave his apartment without trying something.
Sadie watched her mom move as she was putting things away and could not believe that she was wiggling her ass all over the place. She had never seen Beth do that before, and she was finding it embarrassing. Her mom was now acting sexier than her friends. Sadie was just hoping that this was only so that she could practice and not something that she was going to keep doing all the time.
Once all the food was out of the bags Tommy asked, "Mom just how did you get all this food we didn't have any way to pay for it all."
Beth said, "I told you I would find a way. Well, I met this butcher, and he is going to buy our food and pay me to basically pull business into his shop. The way that I figure if we need to stay longer, we should have more than enough to do that as well as we will have more than enough food to eat now."
All the kids looked up at her with huge smiles on their faces, the thought of not being hungry was more than they hoped for. Sadie was the only one who thought that there had to be more to it than just going into his shop.
Sadie said, "Mom that doesn't make any sense. You are going out and getting people to go into his shop?"
Beth looked at her and saw just how concerned she was and said, "Don't worry. But I do have to explain part of this. First, I don't know if you have noticed that there are hardly any women here, especially young ones. That is why you Sadie are going to have to be the most careful of all of us. The place seems to be full of men just looking for a girl to be with, and I don't think that all of them care if the girl wants to be with them or not. They only care about what they want."
Beth wanted to tell her as much as she could without saying too much in front of the younger kids.
Beth said, "And as you figured there is a little more to it. All I have to do is where things like this. Then walk around a little, just enough to see that some of the men are looking at me. Then go into the butcher shop, and then when they buy things the butcher Joe is going to give me some of the profit that he is making. He thinks that if I am standing there they will try and buy more stuff and more expensive things to show off."
Sadie said, "So you are going to be trying to wear my clothes again. You know that is really the only thing that I have that will even fit you a little."
Beth knew that was going to be a problem, so she said, "Well what if you help me fix one or two of the dresses that I brought so that they look better and sexier? Do you think that we could get them looking better after all it is not like we're going to be here long it is just till your father's trial is over."
Beth no longer had a smile and she had started looking old and run down again. Sadie didn't really want her mom to look sexier than she did, but it was better to have her looking sexy than looking so old, rundown, and sad. Sadie said, "Well maybe we can mix parts of your clothes with mine to get something better for you to wear."
Beth gave her a big smile and a huge hug. That had been more than she thought that she would ever get out of her. Beth said, "Well maybe after supper we can look at things together, but now I am going to have to borrow some cooking was from the manager to get supper started."
Beth turned to Tommy and said, "I have something very important for you to do. So, listen closely, I need you to come and get me if I am not back in 30 minutes. Do you think you can do that for me?"
Tommy looked at her a little strangely as to why would she not be back if she wanted to be back.
Beth loved the fact that he was that old and still so innocent, but now she was going to have to explain part of the darker side of people. Beth told the little ones to go play until supper was done. Once the little ones were busy playing Beth explained to them both about the way things were working around here. It looked like the controlling factor of everything was sex. The fact that there were so few women meant that the ones that were there were likely to be fought over. Some of the men would try to lure a girl into a place so they could take advantage of them.
Beth could see that she really was not telling Sadie anything that she didn't already know, but she was still glad that she went over everything with her. Hopefully to fill in any of the blanks she still had. Beth was hoping that Sadie hadn't been pulled into something like that before.
But Tommy was completely different, she could tell by the look of disbelief he had on his face he never realized that people could be that way. Tommy said, "I will come and get you and will make him sorry if he tries anything on you."
Beth gave him a warm smile and said, "Thank you, son. I think I can handle that one. So, you don't need to stress over it. I just might need a reason to leave without hurting his feelings. After all we don't want it to get too late there are still a lot of things that I have to take care of before bed tonight.
Tommy nodded, he now understood just what she was wanting. Tommy said, "I will wait 30 minutes and then come and get you saying that you are needed back here. "
Beth gave him a smile and said, "That was just what I was hoping for. Sadie you'll have to look after the little ones until we get back."
Sadie reluctantly nodded her head agreeing to take care of the kids.
Beth straightened her dress, thought about what she was doing, and opened the door. She didn't want to go down to the manager, but he had offered the cooking where she needed to make supper. She knew that it was going to be a challenge to keep him at arm's length, but she knew she was a lot faster than he was. So, she could avoid him as long as he didn't trap her in a corner somewhere.
Beth saw him sitting behind the counter and put on her warmest smile. It was not that she was all that happy to see him, but she figured that it was going to be better to have a smile on to get what she wanted.
Todd could not help but smile with a goofy look on his face. He couldn't help but have his eyes centered on her chest. He loved following her dress's outline on her breasts.
Beth said, "You told me that you had some cooking where that I could use if I needed it and I really need something to cook a roast in."
Todd's smile grew at the thought of having her in his room and he said, "Yes, yes I remember. Come this way and, and you can have whatever you want, whatever you want."
Beth could tell by the way that he was stuttering that he was just over-excited at the thought of getting her into his room and that made her even more apprehensive to go into his room. With no other choice, she followed him but made sure she was at least an arm's length away from him.
Todd pulled out a huge ring of keys but quickly found the key to his door, unlocked it, and held it open for her to enter first. He wanted to make sure that she was going in and not going to just stand there and have him go in for the things that she wanted. Beth figured he was going to do that, and she barely stepped through the doorway before stopping. Todd reached around behind her and clicked on the light. Beth almost let out a screen at the condition of the room. The place was over-stacked with stuff, and she wondered how we could find anything in the mess. Not to mention how she would be able to get away from him if he tried something, she could have people looking for her and be in here and never be found.
Todd said, "Right this way it's over here in the kitchen."
Beth glanced at Todd and thought it made sense that he had room in the kitchen. She looked around and saw that the kitchen was perfectly clean and organized; it almost looked like a professional cook worked out of it.
As Beth stood there looking Todd moved in closer and started trying to smell her without letting her know that he was doing it. Beth felt him move in closer and it made her skin crawl. Todd said, "Help yourself to whatever you need as you can see, I have everything that you could need to cook anything that your heart desires."
Beth had to admit that he was right, he did have everything that she could ever need for cooking there. Beth said, "Are you sure you don't mind me borrowing your cooking stuff?"
Once again Todd moved in closer and slightly puckered his lips hinting that he wanted at least a kiss. This was the part that Beth was really dreading so she gave him a quick little kiss and way of payment for borrowing what she needed. Todd really wanted more, in fact, he wanted to lure her into his bedroom, but he could see that she was very reluctant to even get close.
Beth moved into the kitchen and quickly gathered every pot and pan that she was going to need or that she figured she was going to need for the next few days. Once they were gathered, she gave him a big smile and said, "Thank you so much but my children are waiting for me to fix supper for them. I'm sure that I will see you again and I will return all of your things to you."
Beth saw his expression drop into sadness. So, she said, "Maybe when I return your things, we can spend a little time together." Knowing that there was no way that she really wanted to do that. But she didn't want to walk away with him looking all sad either.
The smile quickly came back to Todd's face once he heard the fact that she was planning on seeing him again and maybe spending some time with him.
She was surprised when there was a knock on the door, and it was Tommy. She had never realized that it had taken that long. He was there to tell her that she was needed back in the apartment. Beth thought it was perfect timing as he could help her carry the things back to the room.
Todd gave her a friendly wave as she and Tommy carried the pots back to the room and he stayed there to lock up.
When they got back to the room and Beth started preparing supper, she noticed that the knives that she had were not in very good condition. She found herself wishing that she had asked to borrow at least one good knife from him as well. She knew that there was no way that she was going to ask him for one now it would look like she was just doing it to give him a chance to be with her and she wasn't going down that road.
Sadie offered to help, as Beth was cutting up things and struggling a little bit. Beth said, "Don't worry about it. I've got it. Why don't you just go have fun with your siblings? We will have plenty of things to do tonight after we eat that I am going to need your help with."
Beth knew that she was going to be relying on Sadie to help her with her look. There was more than just a dress that she needed tomorrow. She was going to have to have her hair and her makeup looking her best. Beth had no idea what Rodger had planned but she really was hoping that it was something to get him out of there so that they could all go back home.
Beth couldn't help but feel the dread of her situation as she prepared supper. She knew that Rodger wasn't the best at planning things out, but she had hopes that this time he would really have something that was going to be good and would work.
It didn't take long for Beth to get everything ready and start cooking to the point where she could sit down with the children and just enjoy the time with them. As the smell filled the room Beth thought about how long it's been since she made a big meal for the children. Things had gotten so tight so fast that she hadn't even realized that they were going to get so hard.
Beth smiled at the kids knowing how they were all going to enjoy having a full belly and having it be a good meal. She knew that this was just a start and all the weight that they had been losing lately would quickly stop and they would be able to gain weight again at least while they were there, and the butcher was going to be taking care of them.
In a way, she wished that making money and getting food was this easy at home, but the men were not so hard up there. Beth doubted that even if she wore a dress like this for them any of them would really pay any attention to her at her age.
Beth knew that with this being your roast, it was just a matter of time. She couldn't do anything to rush it. They just had to sit there and let it cook until the meat softened and became flavorful. By the time the roast was done, it was easy to hear all the tummies rumbling. As the aroma had filled the room, making them all hungrier than they already were. Beth hated making them all wait with them being so hungry already but there was nothing she could do.
Beth had to admit that by the time it was done, she was starving herself but even though she was hungry thinking about wearing that tight dress she made sure that she didn't eat too much there was no way that she would fit into it, and if she did, she didn't want a belly showing making her look like she was pregnant and just starting to show.
Beth made big plates for all the kids even Allen was given more than she knew he would ever try and eat. Beth made sure to tell them all to eat slowly but make sure that they ate everything on their plate even if it took a while to do it. It was a good thing that she told them to eat slowly because at first, they started wolfing it all down. Just because they were so hungry, and for once they didn't feel like they needed to share just to survive.
Beth had to admit that it was great just watching them eat. She had watched for too long as they had gone without. Now it was just so wonderful seeing them smile and laugh as they ate. With all the hard times in the past they had made it through and now were over at least for now. Beth thought about the gloom in the future, and how unsure she was about everything. She knew that there was really nothing that she could do about it no matter how badly she wanted to change things.
Supper ended on a really high note as each child was so full that they couldn't eat anymore. Beth had eaten more than she thought that she would but with everything tasting so good she just couldn't help herself and she thought even if she did wind up with a little tummy that wasn't going to be that bad.
Once they were all done Beth said, "Tommy why don't you help the young ones with the dishes? So, that way Sadie and I can work on the clothes for me for tomorrow. We want to find the best things that we can."
Beth could not help but feel apprehensive about all this. There was just something wrong with what was going on. She couldn't put her finger on it but in her heart, she could just tell that something was strange about all of this. The bottom line was she really didn't have a choice. She really needed Rodger home, and she just had to give him a chance and hear him out.
As they were doing her clothes Beth really wanted to talk to Sadie, but she needed her to be an adult, and not her daughter. But that was not what it was, and she was her daughter. There were just some things that she couldn't talk to her about, especially when it was concerning her father.
The two of them spent hours going back and forth with all the clothes and the final answer was that it was still Sadie's dress that Beth would be wearing to go see Rodger. After a bunch of convincing Beth finally agreed that no underwear would be better looking with the dress than wearing the old granny panties that she had. Beth had loved the time with her daughter, even if she knew she was going to be embarrassed the next day by dressing that way. Beth thought this was the way that Rodger had asked her to be, but Beth was hoping that she wasn't going to regret doing it for him. Beth had to admit that all the men liked the way she was looking but knew it was for the wrong reasons.
Beth was so surprised that they were able to come up with so many outfits that looked young and sexy even if she wasn't ready to wear them. Beth knew that there were a few of them that Joe the butcher would be excited to see her wearing. Knowing that they would lure the men into his shop. The customers would be more than willing to try and show off to get her attention.
Beth knew that she was going to have to go to the butcher shop every day with her deal. That was at least once a day. So, she figured that once she was done at the prison she would stop in there before she went back to the inn. Beth thought that it wasn't going to be so bad, especially if she wound up getting money from just luring guys into the butcher shop. If all she had to do was stand around for a bit as the others shopped and pretend that she was interested in things maybe she could look at some of the really expensive cuts so that they would buy them. It was not going to be bad either getting the food that she needed every day. Especially since they had no place to store anything. Beth was excited it was looking like everything was working out in her favor, or at least starting to.
Beth found she was a lot more tired than she had thought. The day's events had worn on her a lot more than she thought they ever could. So, she said, "All right you kids get the room set up so we can get some sleep. I'm going to have a big day tomorrow, and I think we all need some sleep. I have the things that we need for a good breakfast in the morning. So, we will eat good before I'm off to see what your father wants."
It took them no time at all to set up the cots and get ready for bed. Beth found that sleeping with all the girls made the bed very tight but, in a way, she loved the closeness of all of them. It was not long after they were all in there that sleep soon overcame her.