Club of Virgins (2 page)

Chapter 2

A few months later...

Peta

I held my mother’s hand as she lay in a hospital bed. My mother had not felt well, feeling out of breath. There was no alternative but to take her to the public hospital. It was the only solution. She was having difficulty breathing. 

“Are you feeling any better?” I tried to smile at her. I thought my mother needed my smile at that time. She was depressed, had not slept during the night and she had become emaciated from one night to the other.

“Yes. I think so.” She looked around and saw other beds occupied with sick women. Some were young and others were older than her.

“Daughter, I cannot stand this place! I want to go home.”

Desperately she grabbed my arm.

“Calm down, mother,” I said holding her hand. There was still a drip with serum inserted in her right arm. “The doctor said that first you need to do some tests. But soon you will be able to come home.”

She smiled weakly and turned her head to one side. She was wearing a striped pajama. Up to the height of her waist was a thin sheet.

“I want a cigarette!” She murmured.

“No cigarettes!” I quickly said. “Now you are in this hospital, you’ve been having trouble breathing and it’s precisely because of those damn cigarettes.”

My mother looked back at me and frowned.

“You're right,” she finally conceded.

After the test results had come through the doctor asked me to come to his room which was in a hallway to the left. I entered the place and sat in the chair facing a doctor with the white beard. He was old and had extensive experience in medicine.

His fingers stroked some patient files. My mother’s record was just above the others. I could read her name. I just did not know what the doctor would say.

“Well, young lady ...” He began saying. I continued looking earnestly at his face.

“I have taken a look at your mother’s results ...”

The doctor looked away.

I started to get nervous. The doctor was delaying talking about the health of my mother.

“Please, doctor! Tell me about my mother’s health! She's fine, right doctor?”

Again the doctor looked at me. Quickly my eyes ran down his white lab coat and I saw his doctor badge with his name embroidered in green.

DR. AUDI

CARDIOLOGIST

“I'm sorry, but one of your mother’s heart valves is blocked. She needs to be operated on urgently or…”

He paused. My eyes filled with tears. Hearing this was like someone pointing a gun in my direction and shooting me in the chest.

“She will probably not be able to go on for much longer without the surgery.”

“What are you telling me, Doctor?”

Another tear rolled down my face. The doctor looked at me sympathetically.

“Your mother needs to undergo heart surgery and it needs to be done as soon as possible. However, I will be brief and clear with you. If you are waiting for the SUS to perform this surgery, almost certainly your mother will die sitting on the standby bench.”

He looked down.

“So I advise you to use a particular surgeon, a private surgeon. It will cost around $ 15,000.”

Desperately, I said, “We do not have that kind of money! My mother receives a pension that is barely enough for the both of us, doctor.”

“I understand.”

The doctor leaned his elbows on his desk. “If you can somehow get fifteen thousand dollars a work colleague could perform this surgery in a particular clinic. That clinic is very good. And he's a great surgeon,” he said handing me the clinic’s card with the surgeon's name and his telephone number on it.

Chapter 3

A few days later...

Peta

My mother was discharged from the hospital. But her condition was still serious. She had to be operated on in a hurry, or she wouldn’t be on this earth for much longer.

Because of this, I was really desperate. I walked from one side to the other in my bedroom, with my hands over my head. My friend, Denise, was in my house. As soon as she knew my mother had returned from the hospital she came to visit her.

“Oh, Denise, I do not know what I can do to get all that money!” I bit my lip. I was in deep despair. “It's a lot of money! If I save for a year I still won’t have fifteen thousand dollars!”

“Wow! Who has $15,000 to spare?”

“I don’t know how to get that money in such a short time. If my mother had any savings I would use them but she hasn’t. Poor Mum, what we get on the pension of my late father is barely able to keep this house.

I looked up and sighed deeply. This time I was the one who seemed to be short of breath, a lack of oxygen brought on by my despair that did not stop torturing me. I just thought of my mother's life. I needed to do something to save her.

Denise was lying on my bed. Denise loved wearing red lipstick, even in the daytime. Her eyes were dark brown.

After a few moments Denise sat up in bed.

“I think I might have found a solution to your problem,” she said.

She paused.

“Now, you just need to have the courage to do this.”

I looked at her seriously.

“Do what?”

Denise looked at me with pity. She knew it would shock me in some way.

“Sell your virginity in the
Club of Virgins
.”

“Have you gone crazy?”

I was beginning to feel dizzy. I couldn’t imagine being given to some man without feelings for me nor I for him, simply for money. It was something disgusting and terrifying to me.

I walked over to the bed and sat down next to Denise. I put my hands on my forehead, trying to get my mind to start working properly and my courage to keep my head up.

Denise kept talking.

“An acquaintance of mine was in need of money. She went to this club and spent the night with a VIP customer. They also admit girls who are not virgins. I believe that the club owner will pay good money to have you.”

“Enough!” I exclaimed.

Denise continued despite my protests.

“Many women sell themselves because they like or want to do it, but in your case you will be doing it to save your mother’s life. You will be sacrificing your first sexual experience out of love for your mother.  That is no sin but even if it were, ask for forgiveness later.”

During the night I could not sleep. From the time Denise had mentioned this as a solution I couldn’t get it out of my mind. I began to wander through the rooms of the house. I was barefoot, wearing only a long blouse and underwear. My hair was pulled back in a bun at the top of my head. I opened my mother's bedroom door and saw her sleeping. I wondered how much longer I would see her like that. Maybe her days were numbered and I would not have her in my life for long.

Immediately I pulled her bedroom’s door to me and closed it in my face. I closed my eyes and leaned my forehead against the wood of the door.

Suddenly, I began to sob.

My mother was everything in my life. I had to do something, anything to keep her alive. It was now up to me.

Denise’s voice popped into my head: 

SELL YOUR VIRGINITY IN THE CLUB OF VIRGINS

Chapter 4

The next day...

Peta

My mother had to be operated on as soon as possible.

Because of this, I was left with no other alternative except to consider Denise’s advice.

I furrowed my brow. I was sitting in a chair in an office. Denise was sitting next to me and her eyes also read the same things that mine were reading.

She leaned over and whispered in my ear. “Your mother’s life is in your hands.”

I looked again at the contract and reread it in silence. Really, it all seemed like a nightmare.