“There’s nothing to fear,” Nurse Porter said. “You’re going to go up onto this table, and I’m going to examine you to make sure you’re not going to have a baby.”
“A baby?” Minnie glared at the nurse. Her hair fell limp around her shoulders. “Is that what you think of me?”
Neither Constance nor the nurse answered. With some difficulty the nurse persuaded Minnie to disrobe and to wrap herself in the white gown. She did as she was told, then sat sulkily on the table while the nurse turned to her cabinet of instruments.
When she had gathered a metal tray together, Nurse Porter came over and took Minnie’s arm.
“Now, Miss Davis. I’ll be so very quick, and you’ll have all the answers in no time. I know how everyone dreads a blood test, so we’ll do that bit first, and then you can relax. How does that sound?”
She spoke in a reassuring voice, but Minnie only stared straight ahead and didn’t answer.
“I want you to hold your arm out like this,” the nurse said.
Constance kept her eyes on her shoes until Minnie yelled about the needle and it was over.
“That’s all,” the nurse whispered. “There’s nothing more to fear. I’m just going to have a look at you now.”
Minnie rubbed her bandaged arm and sat up on the table. “Go ahead and look.”
Nurse Porter chuckled at that. “Is your bladder quite empty, dear, or do you need the toilet?” she asked.
Minnie shook her head.
“That’s fine,” the nurse said. “It makes the examination easier if you’ve already gone, that’s all.”
First Nurse Porter opened her mouth wide, inviting Minnie to do the same. She grumbled about it but dropped her jaw open.
The nurse probed the roof of Minnie’s mouth and looked around the lips and gums. “I see no sores of any kind. That’s a very good sign. Now, if you’ll lean back on the table and put your legs just so.”
Nurse Porter reached down to the side of the table and lifted two metal stands. Minnie stared at them. “My feet are meant to go in those? But?—”
All at once, she understood. She looked at Constance in shock. Constance had never seen such a thing, either, and couldn’t imagine putting herself in such a position in front of a nurse—or, for that matter, in front of anyone at all.
Minnie had a great deal of trouble maneuvering herself into the necessary position, but it was brought about somehow, and the nurse draped a sheet over her and worked in quick and competent silence. In a low voice, she inquired about the girl’s menses, about any episodes of illness or stomach upset, and about the last time she’d seen a man on an intimate basis. Minnie gave only one-word answers, devoid of any emotion.
“No tenderness or swelling of the breasts,” the nurse said, mostly to herself.
After a surprised yelp from Minnie, Nurse Porter added, “No enlargement of the uterus. Cervix is pink and healthy. No unusual secretions or sores.” With that, the examination was over. Minnie’s legs went back down on the floor and she sat upright, wearing a stunned, blank look.
Nurse Porter wrote a few things down in a ledger-book and came around to the side of the table to address Minnie directly. She held a white card in her hand. Constance couldn’t see what was printed on it.
“You did just fine, Miss Davis. I see no reason to believe that you are going to have a child. The Wassermann test takes longer. Deputy Kopp will be told the result. Now we must talk about what comes next.”
“Next?” Minnie said. “I thought it was over.”
The nurse cleared her throat and said, “I’m going to tell you how to conduct yourself so that you need never have these worries again.”
“Oh,” Minnie said, slumping over. “I know how to conduct myself. But there isn’t much trouble to be had in here anyway, is there?”
“Well, you’ll be out of here someday, and you must know. The state physician has written a statement that he wishes read to every girl admitted to a New Jersey reformatory. You are to listen carefully.”
“Go ahead.”
The nurse held up the card and began. “If you were to ever have any sort of relations with a man again, a child is the almost certain outcome. Do you understand?”
Minnie nodded but couldn’t bear to look at Nurse Porter, who continued, “If you are so unfortunate as to give birth to an illegitimate child, you would be almost certainly forced to put it away in an institution of some sort, only to hope and pray that it may die soon—and generally, they do. If it does not die, the existence of that child would forever hang over your head like the sword of Damocles and you’d live with the constant terror of being found out. Please nod and let me know that you’ve heard.”
“Oh, I heard,” Minnie returned.
Constance couldn’t catch a breath herself. The nurse couldn’t have known that she herself had once been prepared to abandon a child to an institution. She’d never once thought, much less hoped, that the baby could die. Something froze inside of her at the thought. She looked over at the nurse, who was standing, grim-faced, with her eyes fixed on the card.
“A venereal infection could cost your health and even your life. If you were to have a child, the infection would almost certainly ruin the child, and this says nothing of the disease’s spread. Any man who would pursue an unmarried woman is almost certainly already infected himself. You are to refrain from all intimate relations with men, including vigorous kissing. Don’t even share a handkerchief with a man. Have you heard every word I said? Tell me yes.”
“I don’t have any choice but to hear,” Minnie said.
The nurse raised an eyebrow at her but continued. “An illicit experience won’t just endanger your health, but also your social standing, and your chances of ever marrying or establishing a home. It will condemn you to a life of loneliness. Remember that marriage and love are a woman’s whole life. A small minority of women might claim that other pursuits are just as fulfilling, but win their confidence and they will admit to unhappiness and dissatisfaction. A woman who lives without love and marriage is a failure. You don’t want that for yourself, do you, Miss Davis?”
“I don’t suppose it matters what I want,” Minnie said.
Constance couldn’t stand another minute of this. “Thank you, Nurse. The state physician has made himself heard.”
If Nurse Porter disagreed with any of the sentiments she’d just read, she didn’t let on. She put the card away and said, “I’ll let you two say good-bye. Miss Davis, stay in your dressing-gown and I’ll be back with a uniform.”
28
NOW THEY WERE TRULY out of time. Minnie sat on the examining table with her arms wrapped around her knees. “How long are they keeping me here?”
“Until your trial.”
“And then I’ll be right back here.”
Constance sat down next to her. “I’ll do everything I can. The sheriff wants me to go and speak to your parents again.”