Summary

In Chapter 12, they fall on hard times financially and they are forced out of their home. They move to a motel and then a series of friends’ couches. During this time, Mock’s mother and Rick’s dysfunctional relationship continues to deteriorate and the physical abuse and drug use escalated. Looking back, Mock now recognizes that they experienced poverty and homelessness, but at the time she was ashamed to define their situation. Mock begins to make herself “sexually available” to boys because “being promiscuous” helped her feel in control of her life and pain from home (173). And soon, to pay for her hormones and save for her surgical transition, Mock falls into sex work on Merchant Street, a downtown district known for attracting men looking for “a woman with something extra” (168). Her first client is a man named Max who was at least...