The Beat by David Fine

Author:David Fine [David Fine]
Language: eng
Format: epub
ISBN: 9781843512615
Publisher: The Lilliput Press
Published: 2011-05-15T00:00:00+00:00

8

STELLA

STELLA IS PROBABLY the nicest working girl I’ve met. Kind and good-natured, she tries to find good in everybody. She is always smiling and laughing, despite having led a very hard life. She remembers kindnesses and tries to repay them when she can. She is loyal to her friends and has often stuck by me when I was in hot water. I think the world of her. Everyone I know is fond of Stella, but nobody was fond of the appendage that pimped her for years.

Donal was a long-term boyfriend and the father of her young daughter. When she went to work, Donal would stand a short distance from her, waiting for her to get enough money so that he could go and buy heroin. If she was having a bad night, there was no sympathy, just a slap or a mouthful of verbal abuse.

It is hard to believe that in the days of the Celtic Tiger, people still live in hovels. But Stella and Donal did. They shared a tiny one-room flat with another prostitute called Mary. I have been fortunate enough to travel extensively abroad and I’ve seen extreme poverty in Africa and Asia, but never anything like this. Water, not damp, was seeping down the walls. The smell of rot was everywhere. The carpet was maggoty. The three of them had moved everything over to the side of the room to avoid getting wet. The toilet was unique in the sense that you could sit on it and view the hallway below. I wasn’t surprised when Stella and Donal decided to give up the hovel and move into the derelict mental hospital at Grangegorman. This too was open to the elements, but at least the walls were dry and there was a roof over their heads.

What amazed me was how Stella took pride in her appearance. Most homeless street girls end up not caring for themselves as their self-esteem steadily declines, but Stella managed to dress well and keep herself spotless. The cars always slowed down for her.

We used to meet regularly, rarely on the beat, but sometimes for lunch in town when Donal was out of the way. Then one day she disappeared and I got worried. It turned out that she was in custody in Mountjoy for accumulated warrants. I went to visit her. I have never seen her looking so well. She had put on weight, her skin was clear, and there was a glint in her lovely blue eyes. She was delighted to see me and our fifteen minutes went very quickly. She told me she’d had enough of Donal and she just wanted to go home to her mother.

I was invited out to Tallaght to meet her mother. She is a tough, brash woman with a warm heart, a little too fond of the drink. After her mother attempted to marry me off to Stella, it was obvious to me that Stella was not going to last there. A Corporation house full of kids out of control and intoxicated adults was just not for her.

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