I was 23 years of age and working on Grey Street, St. Kilda (Melbourne).
That is, I was picking up clients off the street and taking them up to my
third floor apartment and providing sexual favours for money.
My then friends were other working girls who worked in close proximity to me.
We looked out for each other. We had each others backs.
One very cold morning, just after midnight,
Jane who worked the corner adjacent to me ran up to me and said,
‘Get off the street, I heard an Asian guy in a long black coat is trying to hurt the street ladies’.
I remember thinking that I needed to see one more client before I’d have enough money to score.
So I stupidly ignored the warning.
Within a few minutes I saw a man in a long black coat approaching me.
Then in the street light I saw a glint of steel and realized he’d pulled a meat cleaver out from under his coat.
For only an instant our eyes met and I saw in his eyes hatred and malicious intent.
Fear fueling my steps I ran as fast as I could, cursing the three flights of stairs
I must run up to get to the relative safety of my unit.
I did not look back till I was at my door.
Yes, this crazy man, meat cleaver in hand was but a second or two behind me.
Shaking badly, key in door, then slamming the door and bolting it shut.
I summoned all my courage to look through the peephole.
At this very moment I saw the meat cleaver raised in the air and then felt the full force of the attack
as the meat cleaver came down and into my door.
Thanking God that old buildings have solid doors, I back away from the door
till my back hit the wall, then my legs gave way and I slid down the wall
till my arse hit the floor. I sat there pondering, ‘how did I end up here?’.
A normal person would call the police.
This was not an option because we viewed the police as our enemies
and I had no doubt the cops would say ‘well what did you expect doing the job you do?’.
to the police I was just another ‘junkie whore’.
Dehumanising, hell yeah, and then some.
However all this happened way back in the mid 1970s
and I’m still standing and living proof that there is a life, a future.
No matter where you come from.