Written By Sher Trott-Bailey

Click play to listen to the narration of Juanita’s Victory chapter 9. Narration done by quadrillionaire Sher and KB.

It was lunchtime for the new employees up by the Martinez’s Estate and Juanita was having a heated conversation with some of the new girls. Somehow they had gotten to talking about relationships when a new girl named Christina had talked about feeling really depressed after her two-year relationship just went sour.

” Listen chica these men ain’t no good!” Gilly another girl said trying to comfort Christina.

” All men are not the same, and it’s the woman that needs to set the standards from day one to sift out the losers.” Juanita had interjected and then took a drink from her water bottle.

” What do you mean Juanita by setting the standards?” Christina immediately asked getting on the defensive.

” I mean you need to know what your goal is for the relationship. You need to ask the guy his vision for both of you. You need to tell him your vision for yourself in the relationship as well,” Juanita explained.

“ I still don’t get it though. I mean if you get so heavy in the first part of the relationship won’t he be scared away?” Gilly asked.

“ So what’s the alternative? That you guys play out some TV relationship, he takes you on a few dates, you talk about shallow shit and then you give him your pussy. Then after he’s fucked you, you hope he will call you his girlfriend and say to everyone you are together. Because that is exactly what they are teaching us girls and newsflash it’s not working for us.” Juanita said sarcastically.

“ Well, some people start out that way and end up together,” Christina replied

” Come on…how is it that they encourage us to be detailed, meticulous, and serious about careers but with relationships, we should be free-flowing and easy so we can bag a guy? It makes no sense. You are putting your heart, peace of mind, your years of youth, your womb, and your pussy on the line just so you can say you’re in a relationship. Bullshit! Then on top of that, you’re scared to ask the guy what the fuck is his vision for himself, your relationship and your future together because you don’t want to scare him off. If he gets scared he’s still a boy.” Juanita said passionately.

” But Juanita those ideas are old school.” Jennifer another girl chipped in.

” New school ideas are fucking up women all over the world. So what? we should accept that the only vision or plan the guy has for the relationship is to get some pussy. Wow, that really makes him stand out from the other hundred guys with the same aim.” Juanita said standing her ground.

” There is more to me and my worth than you getting some sex. I am a human being with feelings and pride. I don’t want to be heartbroken and tricked or used. I love myself and my peace of mind and my vagina enough to not give it away to some loser who just says “oh let’s just see where it goes’ or ‘Let’s just go with the flow.” Juanita continued her impassioned speech.

” Where are those guys though that have a vision?” Gilly asked with attitude.

“ That’s where you come in ladies. If you let go of your standards then those guys will have no reason to raise themselves up.” Juanita replied.

” But what vision should a guy have? What standards should we have?” Christina asked sincerely

“ What do you mean babe? A guy who is ready for a woman should have a vision for his wife and kids, the type of life he wants to have with them, the type of woman he envisions. Frankly, he should see himself getting married- if not…. then that means your just a string along for some free pussy and shallow companionship.” Juanita replied.

” Oh ok but It’s hard to find a guy like that these days,” Jennifer said.

” It’s better to hope and sift for a guy like that than waste yourself on several short or long-term relationships that leave you jaded, bruised and hateful as you get older,” Juanita said.

” Oh, Juanita but sometimes these guys are so cute, and they talk so sweet you just get tempted you know,” Christina said

“I know Christina…I know. But chica our problem is deeper than that, most of us are from single-mother homes. Do you want to continue the cycle? Do you want to raise a kid on your own? We were never taught or it wasn’t reinforced in us that we are women are valuable beyond getting a man or being in a relationship. The sum total of our value as women always came back to our looks. But just like a man I have goals, I have courage, I have ideas, I have an ego. When I see a guy, his dick isn’t the first thing that comes to my mind. Fucking him within the first week isn’t what I’m interested in. No! I want to get to know him, his character, his manliness, his ability to speak and inspire me as a woman, etc. So if I can do that for him, not objectify him, then he should do the same for me. He should be able to get to know me, my character, my vision without having to fuck me.” Juanita said.

“Juanita you are a radical girl. I don’t know if I can stay as strong.” Gilly said.

” Well let’s just be practical Gilly. You are the one who gets stuck with the unplanned and unwanted baby for the rest of your life while the guy is free to carry on as usual. You are the one who has to go through abortions or morning-after pills, birth control pills fucking up your weight, mood, skin and cervical health. These days the bar is so low for fatherhood that as long as the guy is giving the mother some money every now and again he is still considered a good father. While you the mom, has to bear the burden of being a single mother and the truth is you can’t even love the child the way it deserves or give the child the wonderful life it deserves. Many single mothers also find it hard to get married with a kid around so they end up with a rotation of men coming into their kid’s lives. Do you want that kind of life? All because you were giving your pussy up in the hopes that the guy would love you and marry you someday. If you had just stuck to your guns from day one you would have sifted him out” Juanita replied.

“Juanita is dropping gems girls,” Jennifer said impressed by the beautiful girl before her.

Juanita continued,

” Women should love themselves and their unborn children enough that they won’t settle for fucked up single homes. Each woman, at least the good ones anyway, was meant to be a Queen over her own household, to help to expand her family’s wealth and well-being, bring honor to her husband, to organize and dispatch servants into her lands, see new opportunities for her family, be creative, bring fun and life to her home, to grow things, to have space, to travel, overall enriching the family in every way possible etc.
Running a household isn’t about you washing, cooking and cleaning till you’re burnt out and miserable.  It’s about delegating out tasks and delegating in such a way that your staff is not overworked. That’s why so many women turn into petty bitches, because inside them is the need to dominate and rule over something- which should have been your household and your estate but now instead we women are being bossed around in corporate workplaces, so the moment we get a little power over someone it goes to our heads and we become oppressive. “ Juanita said speaking out long-held thoughts.

” So what about a girl like me Juanita, I guess in your book I’m a real idiot and I’ve messed up, right?” Christina asked Juanita directly

” Christina it’s not important what I think of you. It’s important what you think of yourself. Think about the feelings you are feeling now, then learn from them. Ask yourself, do I really have the energy to be going through this heartbreak? Can I prevent this from happening again? You have got to be the one to get it into your head that your happiness, mental stability, and peace counts most of all.” Juanita advised.

“ Wise words Juanita,” Jennifer said.

For a time, a slight hush came over the group and everyone returned to eating their food. Eventually, Gilly said,

” Where is Lizzie? That girl should have been here by now.“

“ Ms. Vassal the hassle cornered her about some job she didn’t do to her liking, so that’s why she had to hang back,” Jennifer answered having heard when Ms.Vassell had called back Lizzie and scolded her.

” I swear, what’s that woman’s problem?” Christina said

“ Don’t even waste your time trying to figure that out, who can keep up with the mind of a contentious woman?” Juanita replied.

” Ugh, sometimes I can’t be bothered to work with women. They are usually the worst towards another woman.” Gilly said hotly.

” Sounds like you’ve had some experience. Just make sure that when it’s your turn to be the boss over another woman you don’t turn into another Ms. Vassell.” Juanita said to Gilly.

” It shows that a woman has a small mind when her joy and validation comes from making another woman miserable,” Juanita said to the group.

“Can we just crown Juanita as a wise guru or something,” Jennifer exclaimed.

At  Jennifer’s sincere outburst, Juanita had to chuckle. Gilly rolled her eyes at Jennifer. Meanwhile, a more perked-up-looking Christina nodded in agreement.

“ Well, Ms. Juanita what about you? With all this knowledge have, have you found a man for you with a vision yet?” Gilly asked sarcastically.

” Well I’m not looking right now and that’s not my focus. Listen I’m leaving it to God to lead me to the right one or lead the right one to me and I’m not just saying this because it’s the cliche good girl thing to say. I really believe God is involved in my day-to-day life, I really think he has a good guy for me with the right timing for us to meet. So because I believe I don’t worry or work myself up about it.” Juanita answered.

” So what happens when you get lonely?” Christina asked forlornly.

” Oh please! most of the time you start to feel lonely on sentimental holidays or after watching some romantic movie. It’s just something that society has programmed us to feel sad or like the odd one out if your at a certain age and single. Truth is if you are busy living and enjoying life you can overcome those feelings when they try to bombard you. I keep my peace of mind by reminding myself that I have left  companionship for God to handle.” Juanita answered.

” Not everyone has faith like you Juanita.” Gilly countered

” Then that’s their problem and their burden to carry. I’m not out here trying to save anyone or convince them about God.” Juanita replied to Gilly.

“Oh no, Hassle Vassell is walking this way. Let’s leave girls,“ Juanita whispered hurriedly after she spotted the woman coming up a pathway.

The girls had decided not to eat their lunches in the lunchroom and had been eating and talking freely under a cool gazebo. From their vantage point, they were able to see Ms.Vassell coming up the walkway before she was able to see them. So when they saw the troublemaking woman turning the corner they skid addled as quick as they could while holding back their giggles and grabbing their lunch boxes.

When the day was over and Juanita had returned home with her mother, her mind went to the script for Body Strike. She had re-read it so many times on her phone. What made her even more impressed was that this guy, Salvano Martinez, was also an admirer of the Trott Bailey Family. He had boldly written on the front cover of his script that they were the inspiration for his movie.

As Juanita relaxed in her room an alert came to her phone. When she checked her notifications it was an alert from her website to say that someone had purchased a snakeskin handbag and two of her dresses. Juanita couldn’t believe it, but there it was- she had just made USD $1,050 from a purchaser named Olivia. She checked her PayPal account to confirm and sure enough, the money was there.

” Oh my god! Oh my god!” Juanita screamed excitedly.

” How random, how quick.” The thought flitted through Juanita.

It was the encouragement she needed. As a matter of fact, the Martinez’s party, where all Adrianna’s school friends were invited, was coming up in three weeks. Mr. Martinez was going just as hard on that party as he did with the one with Xena as the star performer. Adrianna would be personally vested in making sure this party was even better than the first one. So Juanita made up her mind to attend the party and use it to promote her business somehow. She would alter a dress and wear it.

“I have to stand out!” Juanita thought.

” A lot of the Queen Mary’s student crowd could easily afford a USD$ 600 dress. Plus several of them were very influential. I need some cute business cards to hand out at the party. ” Juanita thought.

She quickly turned on her laptop and went to canva.com to design a business card. When she was done she saved her work. She planned to get them printed after work tomorrow. She could stop by the printery on Blue Lagoon Street.

Now that she had a paying customer she needed to package the dresses and handbags and ship them to her customer.

So Juanita finished her night by steaming the dresses with a hand steamer and folding them neatly into tissue papers. She placed the handbag into a simple brown box with pretty tissue paper. She would stop by FedEx and would ship these items early tomorrow before work.

The next morning when Juanita and her mother were on their way out to work, Juanita asked her mom to stop by the FedEx branch. She hadn’t told her yet about her first sale.

” Why are we stopping here?” Maria asked annoyed.

“ I made a sale yesterday so I’m shipping the stuff to my first customer,” Juanita answered proudly

“ What! Why you didn’t tell me last night? Wow, how much did you make?” Maria questioned

” I’ll keep that to myself, thank you,” Juanita replied to her mother.

“Excuse me! Sorry, I asked. Why can’t you tell me?” Maria asked.

“ Cause you will then start counting my money. You will tell all your friends and also my aunt about my money. It’s none of their business. I can’t trust you to be discreet mom.” Juanita said opening the car door and closing it behind her.

” I’ll soon come back,” Juanita said bending down and looking through the car window.

She then swiveled and walked away with her package. Thankfully she was the only customer in FedEx since it was so early. Everything went pretty quickly and Juanita paid the shipping charges.

When she returned to the car, her mother was silent for a long while. Maria Cortazar was in a contemplative mood. She felt like she was losing control over her daughter. She was also surprised about what Juanita thought of her. She didn’t feel like she talked that much.

” The party for all of Queen Mary’s graduates and neighboring school graduates is coming up soon. I want to go so I don’t want to work that day mom.” Juanita said breaking the silence.

” Mhmm yeah….Mr. Martinez invited all of you so I’m sure you wouldn’t be expected to work that day. I can arrange your day off for the party day.” Maria offered.

” Great sounds good.“

“Mr. Martinez is pretty smart or at least whoever came up with the party idea. Every one of those graduates is eligible to vote by now. He can even register them for their voter’s id at the party.” Juanita quipped.

” I may just tell him you said that,” Maria answered.

” I haven’t seen Meera in a while but I bet she’s going to the party too?” Maria questioned.

“She wouldn’t miss it even if half of Belize was sinking,” Juanita replied.

” So isn’t a mother allowed to boast to her friends about her daughter?” Maria said finally letting out what was stewing inside.

“ But you’ve seen over and over again that those who you boast to don’t wish me well. Yet you still confide in them. You don’t have my back mom. It’s all about you and being accepted in your circle. You just use me and what’s going on in my life to stay relevant.” Juanita said discerningly.

“ I do not!” Maria exclaimed

” Well that’s how I feel, you’re never on my side. Your wishy washy, like a leaf in the breeze- blown here and there by everybody’s mouth and words. So I really don’t need to be telling you my business.” Juanita said calmly.

“Gosh, Juanita when did you get so harsh towards me?”

” I’m not being harsh, I’m being truthful. I got this way after you kept refusing to acknowledge my feelings when Adrianna was bullying me at school, when Tony your ex-boyfriend tried to rape me in my room, when you supported my aunt’s idea to marry me off for a green card, when you invited Adrianna to cut my cake, when you told my aunt my business right after I expressly told you not to.” Juanita said giving examples.

After Juanita’s words, Maria Cortazar said nothing more for the rest of the car ride. She was silent on their way up to the staff changing rooms. Maria was silently breeding feelings of resentment towards Juanita for having talked to her so bluntly. She tried her best to ignore the pangs of conscience that rang out inside her. She suppressed the honest words of Juanita which rang out loudly in her mind and cut her heart.