Maragana Girl Ch. 27

Tiffany was both very excited and very nervous as she felt Vladik's body brushing against hers. She had such a degraded view of herself that she found it hard to believe that she had anything to offer someone like Vladik. However, like her partner, he could give her something that she desperately needed from him, companionship and a friend who seemed not eager to judge her. At the same time she felt flattered that a man who just a month ago was so much above her socially now was accessible and treating her like he would treat any other woman. For the first time in several years Tiffany faced the hope of having a "normal" relationship. It was for sure that Vladik was nothing like Ray, nor was he like any of her former customers.

The ex-cop and the ex-stripper left the club after dancing, since there was no point in staying once the music stopped. Tiffany's understanding of Danubian was not nearly at the proficiency necessary to follow the speeches from her fellow-criminals. The issue of going to an "intimacy room" never came up that night, because neither was quite ready to make that emotional leap in their relationship. However, by the time they finished their last dance it was obvious both of them were moving in that direction. They went home by trolley, standing up according to the rule regarding the use of public transportation by criminals. Vladik kissed Tiffany goodnight, each of them enjoying the feel of the other's bare body as they hugged on Victor Dukov's front porch.

When she went upstairs into her room, Tiffany studied her bare figure in the mirror. She was surprised by how good she looked, her body fully recovered from the past two years of abuse. The only signs remaining from her drug habit were the faint remains of needle-track scars in her arms and a cut on her forehead she received from a drug dealer who had double-crossed her and knocked her unconscious. She struck several poses, and then turned her back to the mirror to study her bottom. Tiffany always had been proud of her backside, which now looked pretty good now that it had filled out a bit and the welts from her punishment were completely healed. Maybe she had something to offer him after all.

Tiffany still faced a difficult life, largely because of her ongoing cravings, which popped up unexpectedly. She had a bad one just the past week, to the point she actually looked around Danube City to see if she could find someone selling. However, true to Kim's word, it seemed drugs were completely unavailable within the Danube City collar zone. The only legal items were beer, wine, and cigarettes. The only alcohol sold to criminals was the weak and very filling beer served at the Socrates Club. The law prohibited wine and cigarettes from being sold to collared criminals.

Tiffany realized she now had a much more important reason to stay clean than the simple unavailability of drugs. She had hope of a relationship with Vladik. He was a very flawed person, of course. He wouldn't have lost his job as a police officer had his faults not caught up with him. However, he also was a courteous and resilient man, already thinking more about his future in the Danubian Army than his past in the Danubian National Police. Vladik Dukov gave Tiffany Walker a purpose in life, something much more than simply wanting to stay alive for the sake of staying alive.