Now 10 months off the streets that nearly killed her, Johnson credits a belief in God and her boyfriend of 12 years She also hopes that her two daughters who disowned her years ago will answer her calls and letters.
Petersburg and elsewhere in Pinellas County. She even worked the streets of Nebraska Avenue in Tampa. For two years she was homeless and lived in abandoned buildings, in alleys and parks. Her parents, both alcoholics and deceased, divorced when she was a toddler. Her mother moved from Michigan to Florida where she remarried. It was her stepfather who turned her into a prostitute.
He said I dreamed it. He really raped me. As Johnson grew older she fell deeper into the Pinellas County drug cult. She began prostituting herself in the early s to pay for her habit. Johnson lost count of how many times she was arrested. Each time she failed. As she fell deeper into the street lifestyle her weight dropped accordingly.
He was looking and she offered her services. They later teamed up and sold themselves together. She credits Narcotics Anonymous, Alcoholics Anonymous, other organizations and God for keeping her straight. Depression comes easy. She stays away from her old street friends who she said now are either dead or in jail.
