Mina woke up to the early morning sunshine. Her head hurt like it had been stuffed full of razor blades. She couldn’t remember much of last night but that was life for Mina. She rolled over her body sore and her head pounding. She jumped a little bit as she found she wasn’t alone. The ebony skin of someone from the bar last night was poking out of the sheets. She looked down at her body, it was in tact, a few more bruises but no bite marks or other signs of abuse. Good this wasn’t like some of the other days. She crept out of bed and grabbed her underwear from the floor from among all the other stuff. She saw among the disorganized chaos of her bedroom floor that there were two empty whisky bottles that weren’t there before and a few of the assorted sex toys that her customers provided on an infrequent basis. She didn’t really mind but she wishes that she could remember the passion and satisfaction of her adventures in the bedroom. It always worked like that though, she never got into these situations sober. She ached for them while she was awake and alert, but couldn’t act on them.
She snuck out of the bedroom into her kitchen-living room of her two room. The bathroom was the first stop. She sat down and relieved herself, breathing slowly to let the needles sticking in her brain stop vibrating. Her brain wasn’t in good shape, she needed something today. She went to the bath spigot, turned on the water cold and preeceeded to wash the evidence of last night off of her. She inspected herself and found that she didn’t get hurt last night so it was better than most. After the quick washing she put her underwear on her wet body and then climbed into a running suit that was hanging on the back of the bathroom door, just for days like these.
The running suit was a trifle too large and the extra material helped to remove her identity. She once left dressed in her work clothes and ran into customers from nights before. She had been so embarrassed that she went shopping for this gray and blue tent that was her normal morning work clothes. She emerged from the bathroom and took a long draught from the kettle of cold tea on the stove and then eased her self out the front door, slipping on a pair of abused running shoes without socks. They were stretched out from always being pulled on and off without the courtesy of acknowledging the tie strings. Mina hoped that the customer from last night would be gone when she returned. She wasn’t worried about him stealing anything as she didn’t have much. Her workclothes, a few sex toys, her makeup, and a few pots and pans weren’t enough to risk confrontation that she had to go, so she left out with her keys jangling in the running suit pocket and her largish brown purse of valuables.
Mina stopped at a drug store first thing. She had to pull the maniac out of her head or she was going to be a royal bitch to everyone today. Her drug store knew her well and they had an understanding. She walked in the bells on the door jingling with a light airy tuneless happiness that belied the ritual. The druggist, a tall thin balding middle aged man with a beer paunch stood behind the counter. His eyes twinkled behind his old beat up wire frame glasses as he saw who it was. He winked at Mina who smiled a guilty smile as she came to the counter. His eyes followed her as she came close. His hands were busy getting a small white envelope of a few pills together as he looked up, not paying much attention to what looked like a haphazard array of pills. “Bad night eh?”, he said in his gravelly nasal voice the interest and wantonness catching in his words.
“Yea, they seem to come more often now…” Mina responded her words coming as not more than a croak, cracking out of her parchment dry throat. As she came closer she grabbed a liter bottle of water and put two twenties on the counter. He placed the envelope on the counter. She grabbed the envelope in a claw like grasp crushing the pristine smooth white paper with its promise of relief inside. The man swept the two bills from the counter to disappear into his pants pocket. Mina turned to go and the druggist called out, “Be around five again?”
“Yea, probably around five, be ready I have to go to work by six tonight.” She responded lifelessly.
“No problem, my son will be here to watch the counter then.” He said without any catch in his voice anymore. He was standing tall and watching her go, his hands knuckled on the white countertop and a relaxed air of a man in charge of his domain.
Mina left remembering the first time she went to him. He wasn’t near as bald nor as forward. She was in control then. She asked him for help with her hangovers, he gave her one white pill and asked only that she not tell anyone. Later he dropped hints and made comments and eventually the ritual of stopping by at five became reality. The first time he was nervous and looking around even though he had locked his office door. He even turned the picture frame of his wife and son to face the wall. Now he keeps it in plain view and will even answer the phone. A few weeks ago it was his wife and since then it seems she calls more often than not. Mina wasn’t sure if she suspected anything or if he had arranged the phone calls for his own enjoyment, but it was how Mina survived.
Mina tore the top of the envelope off as she hurried down the street. She dumped the contents in her mouth and poured about a third of the bottle of water after them. She waited at the bus stop for her ride. The bus pulled up and she climbed aboard. She dropped her fare into the box and went to a seat mostly towards the back. She loved the anonymity of the bus. Everyone on the bus had their own story and problems and no one asked anyone for anything or about anything. It was like a galaxy of individuals each in their own vacuum of reality. None crossing the lines of intrusion, it was a place where she gathered her thoughts and courage to face another day. She watched the scenery go by as the pharmaceutical relief started to course through her system and she felt the nails pulled from her head one by one. This was all most a daily routine for Mina and she drew comfort from the isolation of the bus.
Mina’s mind went dead like a timeout. She stopped thinking about anything and her mind blanked while the medication did its job. She mechanically sipped on her water bottle as the universe went zipping by with her stable in her seat. She came too after the bus stopped at her stop. She quickly got up from her seat bringing her mind back to the front of her head. The pain was gone as always and she got off the bus in a rather desolate section of the city. The concrete rose up on all sides, in what used to be a pretty affluent business sector. But the old hotels were now less hotels and more than half the shops were boarded up as the city outgrew their usefulness. The brick and concrete fronts of the buildings looked tired and sad at their passed heyday. Like an elderly grandfather in the style of his day looking on from a bench in the mall at the younger men and young boys in their own unique style. The buildings in their brick a gray eyelessly looked over themselves at the glass and steel of today’s affluence. Every world has room for its elderly though.
Mina went into a non-descript wooden door with its once brilliant blue paint weathered dark and cracked. The glass window of the door having some worn out gold lettering talking about some law firm but there was nothing lawful about this place anymore. Mina ascended the narrow steps that were kept clean and safe. The handrail on both sides of the stairway was burnished bronze in the old fashioned light fixtures above from long continuous use. She got to the top and went through with familiarity the baby blue steel door with its several deadbolt locks and the words Notherday Women’s Shelter in a plain but elegant typescript emblazoned on the door in a rainbow color.
As Mina entered the difference in atmosphere was astounding. The room within was adorned with nice new sofas and beautiful golden hued wooden coffee tables. Several green house plants adorned the interior and a soft relaxing music played from somewhere unseen. There was a reception window to the office and a doorway with a multicolored bead curtail leading to the interior. The reception window was tinted dark so the fluorescent office lights wouldn’t intrude into the lamp fed lobby. Mina waved through the window with familiarity and went through the beads, her smile like a beacon as she arrived at her other work. Mina spent everyday here helping to nurse those women who couldn’t stand up for themselves. She held their hands, cleaned their wounds and overall was a friend to these women whose choices led them to a life that they couldn’t survive in. Mina felt it was her duty since she could survive to help those that struggled.
No comments:
Post a Comment