Lullabies for Little Criminals

1. Jules shows up at the facility with Lester to pick Baby up. In the car, they’re all uncomfortably quiet. Baby still thinks of Jules as being a bit of a “rat” for getting her sent to juvenile detention. However, one morning at breakfast Jules starts randomly crying, and Baby tries to reassure him that she doesn’t blame him for anything.

Baby likes Corey, her first social worker after getting back, but Corey is soon replaced with new social workers, who only pay attention to the part of Baby’s file that says she was a “prostitute.” She has been kicked out of her old school and has to attend a new one for struggling students. She doesn’t bother to tell her social workers that she used to be on the honor roll.

By late January, Baby has learned that her new school is run by kids in the juvenile delinquent system who pride themselves on being tough and messed up. At lunch, she talks with Kevin, a kid who is famous for demonstrating a punch on himself and breaking his own nose. She tells stories from the juvenile detention center that shock Kevin and some of the other kids.

2. Soon, Baby feels like she’s always been at her new school. One day, Alphonse comes by the school saying he missed Baby, which surprises her, since she figured he forgot about her. He tells her she belongs to him, and she feels comforted. After school, she meets Alphonse at an arcade. They play games, then Alphonse takes Baby past a strip joint over to his house. At his house, he shows her an album by Nina Hagen, and he makes plans to go with Baby to see Nina Hagen in New York City. After listening to the music for a while, they start to have sex.

Baby goes home and finds that Jules isn’t there. She goes to bed. When she wakes up the next morning, Jules is there but too deeply asleep to sign for a registered letter in the mail, which Baby signs instead. Baby realizes how emotionally distant she and Jules have become.

Baby keeps going back to have sex with Alphonse. She enjoys it at first, but one day, Alphonse says she doesn’t seem to be enthusiastic enough. The only way Baby can turn herself on is with dark fantasies—like getting raped in an alley—that make her feel guilty afterwards. Still, she likes how Alphonse gives her compliments after sex.

People on the street start saying dirty things to Baby when they see her, but she continues to visit Alphonse almost every day. Jules doesn’t even notice. Girls continue to work for Alphonse, and one of them named Baby gets mad at Baby for stealing her name. Leelee stays friendly with Baby at first. One day, however, she explains that Baby has become Alphonse’s favorite and that this has caused Leelee’s own relationship with Alphonse to suffer. Baby thinks Leelee wants pity but doesn’t feel moved to give it.

3. One afternoon at his apartment, Alphonse tells Baby that he wants to get her flamenco lessons in preparation for them touring Europe one day—he plans to set up a box on the street in Europe for her to dance on. He says to get to Europe they’ll need money, though, so Baby should spend time with Leelee to learn how to make money. Baby says she doesn’t like Leelee.

A day later, Alphonse shows up on Baby’s walk home from school and tells her to get into a car. Baby refuses, but Alphonse says the man in the car just wants to talk and drive her home. Baby looks at the man in the car—he seems normal on the outside. Baby agrees to get in the car.

The man in the car drives and asks Baby questions. She lies and says her name is Diana and she’s 15 years old. The man says he’d like to pay Baby 100 bucks to have sex with her. Baby refuses. Instead, he offers 50 bucks for her to take her clothes off. He parks by an old factory. By this point, Baby has begun to give in and feels that what will happen is inevitable. She lets the man take her clothes off and touch her in the back seat, eventually having sex with her. She goes numb and barely feels anything.

The man drops Baby off, and she throws the condom down the sewer. Jules is still out late, probably selling quilts, so Baby hides the money she’s just gotten in a box under her bed. Baby’s second sex work job is harder. She goes up to a short man’s apartment. While they’re kissing, she says she doesn’t like the look of him and says she doesn’t want him to finish inside her. He tells her how pretty she is and says he’s in love with her. When he learns she’s only 13, he starts crying and begs her to come live with him.

Afterwards, Baby gives Alphonse all the money, not even waiting for her small share. Seeing the man cry has made Baby herself cry. Alphonse tries to comfort her but acts like it’s strange that she’s crying. That night, when Baby goes back to the apartment, she finds a tin Jules has been carrying around lately and looks inside, finding a hypodermic needle and other heroin accessories. Baby doesn’t know what to think and almost wishes she didn’t know.

Baby doesn’t think of herself as a “prostitute,” even as she continues to get and accept offers. She is often surprised by what men want and wishes Leelee had prepared her better. She continues to give most of the money to Alphonse. She also continues to go to school and check in with a social worker weekly. Alphonse likes hearing stories about how much Baby hates school, which seems to reassure him. Leelee is jealous of how lenient Alphonse is with Baby.

4. One night while Alphonse and Baby are having sex, he falls asleep even though it’s only 6 o’clock. She goes out into his kitchen and writes an English essay. A couple days later, Baby gets called to the principal’s office and is informed that because her grades are so good, she’s getting moved into a new school with “regular” kids. A boy named Xavier shows Baby around. He is friendly but sometimes acts strangely in class, like refusing to take notes because he claims he’s converted to Buddhism.

In science class at her new school, Baby and Xavier are partners on a project to study rocks by going out and collecting samples. They meet and go to a park by the river. The stories that Xavier tells about his parents are all nice and make Baby feel peaceful. Xavier talks about things like how he likes snails, and Baby remembers that she also used to be fascinated by snails. Baby has such a good time hanging out with Xavier that she forgets that she’s late to meet Alphonse.

Baby goes to meet Alphonse at a movie theater. She finds him watching the movie Blue Velvet in a daze, and he barely reacts when she sits next to him. All of a sudden, Alphonse takes Baby’s hand and puts it between his legs to make her start rubbing him. He starts to kiss her, and she tries to make up for being late. After the movie, Alphonse asks Baby what made her late. He warns her that if she hangs out with people from her school, she’ll end up a loser like them. She agrees, but he accuses her of being sarcastic. Baby wishes there was an easy way to remove Alphonse from her life.

5. Baby likes how the work at her new school is more challenging. Xavier asks Baby if she liked the movie she saw the other day. She says it was probably a good movie, but it made her feel bad. Xavier talks about his own plans to make movies one day and walks home with Baby, even though they’re done with their science project. Xavier takes her to his favorite bench and challenges her to try to push him off. She pretends to try and says she can’t. He says he won the bet and gets to decide the prize. Baby knows before he asks that he’s going to want a kiss. She is overjoyed and realizes that Xavier might be her first boyfriend.

Back on heroin, Jules has stopped caring about what Baby does. Baby starts skipping meetings with Alphonse to spend more time with Xavier. He shares lunches with her that his mother makes. She becomes less tough and starts befriending and naming the pigeons outside her building. She collects pigeon feathers, even though Jules believes they’re poisonous.

Xavier isn’t a great kisser, but he promises to be faithful to Baby. The first time Xavier puts a hand near her belt buckle, she tries to pretend that it’s all new to her. She believes her situation isn’t too unusual, since all teenagers live double lives to an extent. Later that night, she has sex with a man named Harvey that she’s been meeting regularly at a hotel for Alphonse. She secretly practices lines for a play she has to do in class tomorrow with Xavier.

Baby invites Xavier to her building at one point to show him a book of poetry, but she doesn’t want to invite him into her dingy apartment. While he’s waiting outside, Jules comes home and starts talking to Xavier. Baby doesn’t know what to make of this. She and Xavier leave. Xavier says that Jules looks good for a dad, but Baby says Jules is just young. She wishes Jules was more like the version of him Xavier imagines. That night, Jules tells Baby that he likes her friend Xavier. She still resents Jules for how he’s treated her over the past year.

After going out with Xavier for three weeks, Baby goes to his house for the first time. When Xavier sees his dad coming home from a business trip, he puts a desk and chair in front of the door of his room to prevent anyone else from getting in. While they’re alone, Xavier asks Baby if she wants to be his girlfriend. She agrees, and they lay in bed next to each other kissing quietly. Despite everything she’s done with or for Alphonse, Baby has little experience with this type of kissing. Eventually, Xavier’s dad calls him down to dinner.

At dinner, Xavier’s parents ask Baby a lot of questions, saying she’s the first girl he’s ever brought home. They praise Jules for being able to take care of Baby alone and are impressed with Baby’s scores on a recent geography test. Cuddling with Xavier was the first time that something sexual didn’t feel unpleasant or painful for Baby.

6. Xavier and Baby don’t even make out the next time she comes over, but she doesn’t mind. She knows that if Alphonse knew about Xavier, he would be jealous in a way that he doesn’t get when Baby has sex with clients. When Baby gets home that day, she has a letter from Alphonse in the mail. The only thing in the envelope is one puzzle piece. Baby is tired of trying to understand Alphonse and just throws it away.

The next day at school, Baby fears Alphonse will come looking for her. He does indeed find her on her walk home from school and pushes her into his car. Baby isn’t sure what he plans to do. But when she gets back to his building, she sees he has spray-painted “I love Baby” in the lobby. He apologizes for scaring her, saying his love is just very intense. Baby feels nothing for him. He gives her a gift—a pocketknife she can use if anyone tries to threaten her during a job. He makes Baby promise that she’s not seeing anyone else, saying that if she was, he’d kill her.

Baby keeps seeing Xavier as if nothing has changed. She lies to Alphonse and says she’s busy with exams. About a month later, Xavier says he wants to make sure Baby isn’t attracted to any other boys, so he made a list of all the other boys in the grade for her to go through. She promises she isn’t and goes through all the boys Xavier is most worried about. As they’re walking together, all of a sudden, Baby sees Alphonse and locks eyes with him.

Baby suddenly walks away from Xavier, hoping that he’ll do the same. He, however, wants a kiss before they part ways. She says she’s in a hurry and promises one later. He insists and so she kisses him just briefly. Xavier leaves. When Baby gets to Alphonse, he asks what he just witnessed. She tries to say Xavier is just a friend of her cousin’s. Alphonse reluctantly accepts the story but makes Baby promise to stop hanging with Xavier.

Later, on a surprisingly warm winter day, Baby goes riding with Xavier on a bicycle. He starts to tickle her, and they crash. Just as they do, Baby notices Alphonse. She urges Xavier to get up quickly and run away from someone who wants to kill them. Xavier thinks they’re just playing a game, so he hops back on the bike quickly. Baby knows she’s already angered Alphonse, so she decides to flip him the bird as she and Xavier ride off.

7. Baby is in her bedroom and hears a crash—Jules has been trying to fix old lamps he finds, but he has knocked them over. He just laughs, and Baby is starting to feel closer to him again. Later that night, some of Baby’s friends from her old school, including Zoë, stop by her building. Baby thinks Zoë now looks much older than 13. Like Alphonse, these friends look down on Xavier, but Baby agrees to go out riding in a car with Zoë’s girlfriend, Cherie, and some boys.

Zoë wants to set Baby up with a boy named Greg that she thinks is mysterious. He always carries around motorcycle magazines. Many in the old remedial school consider Greg handsome and intelligent, but Baby isn’t impressed. She doesn’t join in when her friends and Greg start drinking in the car. Everyone except Baby laughs at Greg’s stories, but he says he likes how quiet and thoughtful Baby is. Cherie asks if Baby is dating anyone, and Zoë mentions Xavier, whom everyone else thinks is weird.

Baby suddenly gets out of the car. Zoë gets angry at her and says if she’s leaving, then she shouldn’t come back. Baby walks all the way home but finds that the door is locked. Sometimes Jules locks Baby out to teach her a lesson about staying out late, and when he does, she usually goes to Zoë’s. She bangs on the door in frustration and eventually keeps banging on the door until the landlord, who doesn’t have the key, tells Baby she has to stop.

8. For Baby, sex with Xavier continues to be so much simpler and more intuitive than with clients. But when she gets locked out of her apartment, Alphonse is the only one she can think to go to. She finds him deeply stoned and explains that she needs a place to stay, shouting in frustration. Alphonse takes her in but tells her to be quieter. She continues to shout, so Alphonse locks her in a closet and says she can come out when she’s calmed down.

Baby stays in the dark closet for a long time, unsure what she’s going to do. Finally, she speaks up, and Alphonse realizes that he forgot about her. She says she’s ready to go home, but Alphonse insists she should live with him and have dinner now. Alphonse tries to sing and be cheery, but Baby can’t stop thinking of how much she prefers Xavier. She slips out Alphonse’s fire escape.

Baby is overwhelmed at first by the freedom to go anywhere she wants that night. She heads to Xavier’s house. He is surprised to see her at 11 o’clock at night but happy. She asks if she can come in, but Xavier says his mom’s strictest rule is no visitors after 10. Baby explains how Jules locked her out. Xavier agrees to ask his parents for permission.

Baby overhears Xavier talking to his parents, who think it’s not right that Baby showed up and that he should spend less time with her. Baby starts to leave. Xavier comes after her, but then his father comes out, picks Xavier up and carries him back in.

Baby prefers Xavier but feels that going back to Alphonse is her only choice. On the walk back, she falls on some ice and loses her knife, bleeding after scraping her knees. When Baby finally finds Alphonse talking with a drug dealer, he doesn’t sound angry, which is how she knows he’s still stoned. He’s a little annoyed at first but eventually apologizes and invites her back to his place to fix her injuries.

In his living room, Alphonse helps Baby get cleaned up and puts on some French music. Alphonse asks Baby if she’s ever done heroin before. She can tell this is a significant moment.