Well, Countess grew up all right, but not quite in those directions. For one thing she was fat. Some of her friends at school called her "solid" or "fleshy", to soften the facts, but the boys called her fat. Countess used to joke "I'm avoir du pois!" At nine years of age she stood 4 feet 3 inches and weighed 140 pounds. She had a big butt and her belly hung out making her look pregnant. She even had to wear a bra because her chest was big enough she appeared to have breasts.

Her granddaddy called her a "butterball", and loved to hug and squeeze her, which was good, because love in the ghetto keeps a kid from sliding off to hell.

Lucy Washington, who was only twelve when she conceived, was a slender and handsome young woman with mocha skin. She had just completed her GED at the age some white kids get their BA. Lucy worked at a dry cleaners and hoped someday to have a shop of her own.

Her daughter was darker, and had a pug nose. Lucy was pretty sure the father was "Red" Campbell, although she'd only slept with Red once as best she could recall. Red hadn't been around in years, got off to prison or something, no doubt. God was he a big guy, Lucy recalled, with a dick to match.

Lucy sat in the shop thinking about herself, her life back then, pregnant so early. She'd smoked and drank and snorted the coke men gave her, and she was perfectly willing to open her legs for anybody--or her mouth, even her tight little ass. Lucy's mother had pretty much written the girl off when she was ten, since Lucy was always skulking around going places she shouldn't, staying out, being wild.

Countess Sara Washington was a smart girl. A counselor at school told Lucy her daughter's IQ was 130 plus. She read a lot and quickly mastered new material. She was reading at eighth grade level.

Countess had also inherited her mother's dark side, the wildness. The sex was the first thing, then the "social" drinking and cigarettes.

Sex, of course, is what we want to hear about, being dirty little monkeys like we are, right? Well, Countess when she was very little was a compulsive masturbater. Her mother had read Dr. Spock, and following the good Doctor's advice tried to ignore her offspring's stortled panting and writhing, so the girl wouldn't be furtive or feel guilty, but still Lucy found it disturbing. She could not recall ever being so fervid a self-abuser at any stage of her life. When Countess was about four Lucy sat her down and explained to her that she could play with herself if she wanted to, but not to do it in front of other people anymore, especially her grandfather and other men.

As it turned out, grandfather enjoyed watching Countess masturbate and practically insisted she do it for him whenever they were alone. It was their "little secret", the way all those tawdry things are..........(cont)