Chapter Fifty-One Pink Elephant
Moments after Madam Karina leaves me alone on the porch, Angie steps outside. She doesn’t look in my direction, but she doesn’t head toward her tractor, Black Betty, either. She just shoves her hands into her pockets and scrunches her face like she’s solving a riddle.
“I’m okay,” I tell her.
“That’s not why I’m out here.”
“Yes, it is,” I say. “It wouldn’t hurt you to be more direct about your feelings.”
Angie huffs. “Feelings. What good they do anyone I’ll never know.”
I roll my eyes and attempt a smile though I’m rattled to the bone. Angie’s Dobermans jump around near her tractor, nipping each other on the back and rolling in the dirt like newborn pups. My eyes are still on them when she takes two quick steps toward me and withdraws a peppermint from her pocket. She won’t even look at me when she hands it over.
I take it from her. Roll it between my palms. “I found the girls, you know.”
Angie shoots a glance toward the house.
“They’re in jail cells in the basement of the municipal building,” I whisper.
Angie curses under her breath. “I figured that’s where they were, but I wasn’t certain.”
“Why didn’t you do something if you knew, Angie?” I can’t help the accusation in my voice.
“Because I would have ended up like them if I had, and none of us would be better for it.” Angie turns her face away, ashamed. I can feel the fear and regret rolling off her, though it does little to lessen my disappointment. I can’t imagine not trying to help.
I have to help.
Angie looks once more at the house and lowers her head toward mine. “If you have a chance to leave this place unnoticed, you do it. You do it, and you don’t ever look back, not for nothing and no one.” Angie surprises me then. Grabs my arm and pulls me up from the bench and into an awkward hug. I feel her hand lowering, but before I can register what it is she’s doing, Madam Karina bursts through the door.
“Get off my girl, Angie,” she booms.
Angie leaps away as if electrocuted and sidesteps Madam Karina. She jogs down the steps, and her dogs lunge toward her at once.
Madam Karina flicks her fingers “That’s right. You play with your pets, and I’ll play with mine.”
I shoot Madam Karina a disgusted look, but she doesn’t notice. Angie’s dog Kali sniffs at her pockets, desperately trying to nab a peppermint. Angie shoves her away and climbs onto her tractor.
“Have you loaded everything?” Madam Karina yells.
Angie waves. “Enough for now. Be back next Sunday.” She keeps her head down as she rumbles up the road, no more than three boxes on the back, her dogs yapping at the oversized tires.
Madam Karina offers me a warm smile before heading back inside.
When are we leaving? Wilson asks in a snarl.
Soon.
I go inside and spot Cain coming up the stairs. Understanding passes between us, though I have trouble thinking past the way his red plaid shirt clings to his shoulders and biceps. The way it pulls tight across his chest. Strong, calloused hands emerge from the cuffs of his shirt, and for whatever reason, I’m gripped by an urge to feel those same hands on my hips.
I’m not sure why I’m suddenly struck by desire. Maybe it’s because I told him my secret, and he didn’t run. Or maybe it’s because he told me his. I’m comfortable with him now, and with that comfort comes a sensation I’ve never allowed myself to feel. Cain is unpredictable, and unstable, and if I ever admitted it to myself, I’d realize he is exactly what my hearts yearns for.
“You going to buy something today?” Madam Karina asks.
My head whips around, and I find her sitting on the sofa. The same sofa where three Carnations sat the first time I entered this house. They were happy, playful.
Went to the market,
To buy me a gown.
All the boys whistle,
And one fell down.
Sway my hips,
Lips stung by a bee.
Keep on walking,
‘Till he take a knee.
“I’m saving up for something special,” I tell the madam. The corners of her mouth turn down in disappointment, so I add, “The day I become Top Girl, I want to dress the part.”
Madam Karina grins. “Good things come to those who wait.”
“That’s right.” I return her smile, and then think to say, “May I have one more night as a Daisy? I’d like to say good-bye to Poppet.”
“So you will be leaving her behind? I figured you might fight me on this.”
“It’s time she made her own way,” I reply, not meaning a word I’m saying. “The ends justify the means, yes?”
She tilts her head. “Who said that?”
“Someone you’d admire.” I bow my head. “May I stay with Poppet?”
She sighs. “You may, but tomorrow I need you in that guesthouse. Besides, I’d think you’d be eager to earn your lily as soon as possible.”
“I’ll earn that lily and more,” I respond.
That night, after I’ve washed my face and checked beneath the beds, I climb under my sheets and look across the room at Poppet. She’s holding a pink stuffed elephant against her chest as if she’s afraid of the dark.
“Did you get that today?” I whisper.
She squeezes the stuffed animal against her chest. “I told Madam Karina once that I saw a pink stuffed elephant in a grocery store. Told her I begged for it for my birthday, but my mother said we didn’t have the money for such useless things. I don’t know why I remember that toy among all the others I wasn’t allowed to have.” Poppet holds out the elephant and inspects it. “It’s crazy how Madam Karina can be the same person who remembers these things about you and the same person who can lock girls away.”
“She didn’t give you the elephant, Poppet,” I say in the gentlest voice I can muster. “She had Angie find this for you, and then she stuck it up on those shelves behind the cage wall. She knew exactly what would make you spend your money, and she knows that every dollar you spend lessens the chance that you’ll leave. There’s a reason they hold our money for us. And it isn’t so we can earn more.”
Poppet scoots down in bed until I can hardly see her frame. “I know.”
Guilt twists inside my chest. As much as I want Poppet to accept the truth about Madam Karina, I also don’t want to hurt her. I imagine it wouldn’t be easy for any of the girls living here to learn how twisted the madam really is. We all want to trust again, and Madam Karina’s Home for Burgeoning Entertainers provides a perfect mirage.
“I need you to be ready at a moment’s notice,” I tell Poppet. “But don’t make it too obvious, either.”
Poppet doesn’t respond.
“Poppet, you’re not having second thoughts are you?”
She shakes her head. “No, I know we have to get away from this place. But it doesn’t make it any less scary to start over again. And I haven’t even thought about what’ll happen if we’re caught.”
“I won’t let anything bad happen to you,” I say quickly.
And I won’t let anything bad happen to you, Wilson whispers.
I stand and cross the distance between us, pause at the side of Poppet’s bed. She realizes at once what it is I intend to do and lifts her covers. I slide in next to her and wrap her in my arms. Pretend she is my daughter and I am her mother and I’ll die before I let harm befall my child.
“All we need is a little money and a plan to rescue those girls,” I say.
“And what about us?” Poppet whispers, her back warm against my stomach. “How will we escape Pox?”
I bite my lip, trying to form a quick response so she’s reassured. But I can’t. Thankfully, Poppet’s breathing deepens, and I’m afforded complete silence in which to think.
She’s right. The biggest obstacle isn’t how to rescue the incarcerated girls, because we can convince authorities in another town to come for them, and for the girls still in this house, too. Surely they’ll be interested in what goes on in this place, and that several of the madam’s girls are underage. It’ll take longer than I’d like to save those girls in the jail cells, but we can do it. I’ll make the police listen. And I feel sure I can collect the money I need for gas and any necessities we’ll need to run fast and far.
But how will we escape Pox and remain untraceable?
I think of Madam Karina’s borrowed vehicles that sit shiny and promising in the front drive. I’d bet my right arm that most of the girls before me attempted that route. Cars can be reported stolen, and if they’re rentals, surely the owner has a way to track their whereabouts.
Some girls may have fled on foot. But how far could you get before being found? I think of those two women in the ice cream shop. How wary they seemed of Madam Karina. It’d be difficult to escape Pox on foot with all those loyal eyes keeping watch.
So how will we do it?
How will we be the three people who manage to escape, to get help, and to stay out of Madam Karina’s clutches?
It isn’t until late in the night, as the promise of sleep stalks forward, that the solution comes to me.