It's Just Lola (39 page)

“Good
—
I
-
mean I’m glad I don’t have to explain.”

“Go on,”
said
Lola.

“Some of these houses are clean; some are dirty; some cater to men with strange tastes.  I went to the docks
,
bought a few drinks, laughed in the right places, and soon I knew where to go.
 
It was a terrible place, and I won’t describe it.  You don’t need to know.  I told the madam—never mind what I told her.  You don’t need to know that either.  She said I could have this one, but if I was taking her out of the house I
’
d have to pay more.  She said she had a lot of money invested in her.  She told me how much she paid the father.”  When he saw Lola’s shocked expression, he added, “Don’t worry, I bargained for her.  After all, she was already damaged.”

“
Y
ou
bought
her?  Like a mule or a horse?  Did you check her teeth?  That’s what they do with horses to tell their age.”

“No, I didn’t have to.  She told me she was thirteen.”

Lola stamped her feet in frustration.  “
Wulf
, this is the twentieth century.  People don’t buy and sell other people
.
  How could you think I wanted you to
buy
me a laundress?”

“I didn’t buy her.  You can say I posted bail for her.  If you agree she can stay, she
’
ll skip bail.  If not, I
’
ll take her back and get the money back, or most of it anyway.” 

Lola paced back and forth, unable to sit still.  “I can’t believe we
’
re having this conversation in this day and age
.
”  She whirled to face
Wulf
again, as a phrase he said came back to her.
 
“Her
father
?  The woman said she paid the girl’s
father
for her?” 
Wulf
nodded.  Lola plopped down in the nearest chair, digesting the enormity of that thought.

“Lola, some people will do anything to get money for the next drink.  Other people might sacrifice one member of the family to get money to feed the other members of the family.  We don
’
t know the rest of that story.  All we know is that it wasn
’
t the girl’s choice.
”
 

“So she just came with you, thinking you were going to do unspeakable things to her?” 

“
No, she doesn
’
t think I
’
m going to do unspeakable things to her.  I told her what I really wanted from her.  I said if she didn
’
t want to wash dirty underwear and clean up poop and vomit I
’
d take her back.  I told her you wouldn’t beat her very often.”  He grinned at Lola’s expression.  “I wanted it to sound bad so she
’
d know the worst.”  He shrugged.  “She
said
it was better than where she was.”

“I suppose I’d better go and meet our new laundress.  I don’t know what we’ll do if we don’t like her.  We can’t possibly send her back.”

“You
’
ll have to make her into something you do like.  I’m sure she
’
ll be a willing student.  You can train her.  Look what you’ve done with Pedro and the other kids.  Even the bosun and the guys don’t swear in the house any more.  You can teach anyone to act right.”

Lola smiled at his confidence in her.
  He could always melt her anger.  She
soon had a tub of hot water
drawn
and was telling the girl to take off “that horrid red dress” and get clean.  The girl winced as she awkwardly undressed.  Lola gasped when she saw why—a festering wound on her shoulder in the unmistakable shape of a human bite.  Bruises covered her body.

“Jesus, Mary, and Joseph,” Lola whispered.  “How could anyone do such a thing?”

“It was my punishment, Señora.”

“Punishment for what?”

“For not being agreeable.”

“What did you do?”

“I bit a man.  As punishment she sent me a man who likes to hurt women.  He pays a lot when she gives him a woman.  She told him I liked to bite so he bit me.”  The girl stopped talking.

Lola took the soap and began to lather the girl’s hair.  She wanted to make sure there were no lice or fleas before she let her around the children.  After she was satisfied that the hair was clean, she handed the girl the soap and told her to scrub the rest of her body while she brought something for her to wear.  The girl was soon dressed in one of Lola's nightdresses.  She handed her a comb and told her not to leave the room.

She found Maggie and
Wulf
both in the kitchen.  They looked at Lola expectantly.
 
“
Wulf
, make a place for her to sleep in the parlor.  She’s burning up with fever and I don’t want her near the children.  Bring whiskey or whatever spirits we have.  Maggie, find some clean rags for bandages and iodine if we still have any.”  Before
Wulf
could open his mouth to answer, Lola had left the room.

Once things were arranged to Lola’s satisfaction, she had
Wulf
hold the girl as she lanced and cleaned the infected bite.  Lacking the disinfectants the doctor had used, she fell back on alcohol.  If aguadiente had kept Juan’s wound clean, whiskey
should work for this one
.  The girl was remarkably stoic during the procedure.  She only cried out once.

“You’ve done this before,” said
Wulf
as Lola cleaned her hands in bleach and made him do the same.  It was a statement and Lola felt no need to reply.

“I’m tired.  I
’
m going to bathe and so are you.  Make sure you take every stitch you
’
re wearing and put it in a separate ditty bag until we see what happens to her.  It
’
s possible the fever is just from the infection on her shoulder.  You said the place you found her was dirty; she could have some other fever.”  She watched
Wulf
’s face turn pale when he heard her words.

“Oh God
, w
hat if I brought disease into our house?  What if you or Nellie or the others get sick?  Nellie
’
s so tiny
.
” 

Lola wanted to shake him until his teeth rattled.  She wanted to scream at him that he should have thought of that before wandering off into the depths of the slums to bring home a piece of human refuse.  She looked at his stricken face and, as usual, her heart melted. 
She could never stay mad at him. 
He meant well.  He thought he was doing something wonderful—and it might even turn out that way.  He thought of himself as a knight in shining armor rescuing two women with one stroke.  She had to admit that his open-handed generosity was one of the things she loved about him.

“Don’t worry
, Herman
.  I think the fever is just from the infection, but I need to isolate her until we find out for sure.  I’m probably being overly cautious.”

“And
if we all die of the plague, it won’t help that I meant well.
”

“Don’t be so morbid.  You
’
re a hero
.
  You rescued that girl from certain death.  If the infection didn’t kill her, the next man would have beaten her to death.
 
Now help me disinfect the tub and fill it with hot water again.”

That night Lola dozed fitfully.  At least twice during the night she felt
Wulf
place his cheek next to hers and murmur thanks that she
did
n
’
t feel hot.  Once when Nellie woke up to be fed he jerked upright in bed, his eyes wide with fright asking if the baby was all right.  Later
Wulf
woke her, kicking and threshing wildly.  When she woke him, he said he
’d
been running to get a doctor, but he was tangled in the curtains and couldn
’
t show the doctor where to go.  The next morning they were both
exhausted
when they got up.  They went downstairs and were met by an equally tired Maggie.

“She’s better,” Maggie said.  “Her fever started going down about midnight, but she wouldn’t let me leave.
”

“Is she truly better?” asked
Wulf
hopefully. 

“Her shoulder
’
s still hot and swollen
,
but her fever
’
s down.”

Lola reached for
Wulf
as her knees grew weak with relief.  He grabbed her around the waist and twirled her around the room and out into the courtyard, laughing hysterically.

“I swear,” he said when he could speak once more, “if anything ever happens to you I
’
ll kill myself.
”
 

Lola put her finger on his lips.  “Don’t say that.  The sea provides you with the means to keep us fed and clothed.  All I ask is that you always come back to us, and I promise I
’
ll always be waiting for you.”

“Look alive in there and open the door
.
”  The
booming
voice of the bosun called, and with a glad cry Maggie ran to throw the door open.   He greeted his wife with the exuberance Lola had come to associate with all the members of the household.

“Congratulations.
” He grinned at
Wulf
and Lola.  “I can tell by your faces that you have a new baby that keeps you up all night,” he laughed at his own humor.  He slapped
Wulf
on the back hard enough to make him take a step to keep his balance.

“Boyo, am I glad to see your wife up and healthy
.
  Now you can get back to the ship.  The new man the captain hired to take your place while you paced the floor with Lola and baby is a…” he stopped short and glanced at Lola, “…a dog born of a dog.” 
Wulf
laughed and Lola smiled at the euphemism. 

The next morning
Wulf
woke her early, saying he was going to see the captain about rejoining the ship.  Lola was
pleased
.  She
’
d watched the money dwindle during the time he insisted on staying with her, waiting for the baby.  She was torn between enjoying his company and worrying about lack of income.

The two men returned in the afternoon laughing uproariously and carrying a jug of wine and a couple of bottles of rum and whiskey.  “Come celebrate our new berth
,
” they
yelled
from the courtyard.  “Everybody come and have a drink.”

“You already celebrated the new birth.  She’s three weeks old.”  To Lola’s
consternation,
the two men roared with laughter at her words. 

“Seamus Tomas O’Neill, what have you done?” said Maggie with her hands on her hips and a frown on her face. 

Lola was almost surprise
d
that the bosun had a name.  She
’
d never heard anyone call him anything but the bosun.  Her
next
thought was that she
’
d missed something vital in the conversation.  This was more serious than having too much to drink too early in the day.  Maggie was always up for a party and usually held her own in the drink department.

“Now look what we’ve done.  We’ve gone and worried the ladies,” the bosun said to
Wulf
.  Then he turned to Maggie and gave her a loud kiss on the cheek.  “Cheer up, woman
.
  We’ve been doing that Chile run too long anyway.  It’s time to move on.  No man joins the merchant marines so he can walk along the shore like a crab.  It’s time we went back to sea
.
”
  He puffed out his chest and struck a comic pose. 
“You
’
re looking at the new bosun’s mate and third officer of the SS Derrinshire of the United States Merchant Marines
.
  No more coast c
rawling and hiding under rocks.”  He put his arm around Maggie. 
“Can you believe it? 
They’d lost a couple of men in the last port and
took
us
on right away.”

“The United States?”
said
Lola.  “
But t
hey
’
re in the war now
—
you
wo
n’t
be
on a neutral vessel anymore
.
”