It's Just Lola (10 page)

~ ~ ~

Enriqueta stirred and Lola opened her eyes.  She sat erect
,
embarrassed that she had been leaning on Juan.  Enriqueta’s voice startled her.

“Have I been asleep long?  Are we almost there?”  The sun was low on the horizon.

“Almost,” said Juan.

The two girls watched as the outskirts of the city flowed past their wagon.
Chickens, dogs and dirty half-naked children seemed to be roaming at will around yards cluttered with bits and pieces of equipment and flapping clothes hung out to dry. 

  The Cholo village on their plantation looked far more prosperous than what they were seeing.  As they drove deeper and deeper into the city, the dwellings became closer and closer together and looked more and more depressing.  Lola’s mouth felt dry
.  S
he had a sinking feeling that this was going to be far different from their fantasies.

“It
’
s too late to
go to the market today
.
I
’
ll get a better price at dawn tomorrow, even if the produce is not a
s
fresh,” said Juan.  “However, I
’
ll go to the station first
to check for messages.

“
C
over your heads with your shawls and sit still and quiet.  No one must recognize you.”  They nodded and drew up their shawls.  They had no wish to attract attention.  Juan glanced sideways at them and laughed.
 
“You still look like young ladies being driven to town.  Look tired and hungry.”

Enriqueta grinned at him.  “The hungry part is easy.”  The humor of the situation evaporated quickly when Juan went into the station, leaving them alone in the wagon with instructions to yell if someone tried to climb aboard or take anything. 
They let their shawls hang loose to shadow their downturned faces
and
clasped hands, hardly daring to breathe. 

“Hey,
muchachas
!”  A couple of teenage boys paused as they walked past the wagon.  “You got any tomatoes?” one called out to them.

“The tomatoes are sitting in the seat,” laughed the other. 
They took a step closer.  Lola let go of
Enriqueta’s hands
and reach
ed
behind the seat.  She felt the warm softness of a ripe tomato in her hand. 

“Show me your pretty face, little tomato,” said the boy nearest Lola.  He
stepped even closer and
tugged on her shawl. 
Lola was close enough that she just leaned over and pushed the tomato into the boy’s face. 
The boy stepped back with an oath.

“Did you want a tomato?”  She reached for another tomato and felt Enriqueta’s hand brush hers. 
A tomato flew past her face as Enriqueta threw hers at the other boy. 

To Lola’
s relief, she heard a familiar laugh.

“You boys better go home and let your mothers wash your faces,” laughed Juan.

“Sorry, but the boys wanted tomatoes,” said
Lola
.

“You girls
’
ll do all right,” chuckled Juan as he
tucked a small packet under the seat.
  “But you should be careful.  If they
’
d decided to fight back, you
’
d have been in trouble.” 

“Then we
’
d
’
ve hollered,” said Lola.

“Pay attention to the route,” he instructed them
as he clucked the horses into motion
.  “If you ever need anything, leave a message with the stationmaster and I
’
ll get it within a week.”  The girls paid close attention and pointed out various landmarks to each other remember. 

As the wagon rattled over the rough
streets,
Juan explained that he was taking them to the house of his cousin
,
an honest God-fearing working man.  His wife was kind and kept a clean house.  They had agreed to keep the girls in their own home—at least until the babies came and they were recovered from childbirth. 

“There
’
s one more thing
.
” Juan
cleared his throat and shifted in his seat
.  “My cousin
’
s not a rich man.  He
’
ll do his best, and will make room for you in his house however…”
  His voice trailed off and he looked from one girl to the other.

“Yes?” prompted Lola.

“You
’
ll have to work while you live there.  He can
’
t afford to support you—even in the poor manner that his family lives.”  Juan’s face showed surprise as his words were greeted with laughter from the girls.

“Of course we
’
ll work.  We
can’t live
as useless parasites.” 

Juan was clearly relieved.
 
“My cousin has a contract to supply uniforms for the army, and he
’
s in need of people who can sew.”

“That
’
s perfect
,
”
said
Enriqueta.

“I don’t know if we can sew uniforms,”
said
Lola.  “We don’t even know what they should look like.”  She looked up at Juan from under her lashes and added, “Your soldiers would look pretty funny in the things we know how to sew.”

“With gold braid on the generals’ ball gowns, please,” Enriqueta said
, making
them all laugh
so hard
a couple of passersby turn
ed to stare.
 

“Don’t worry, Señorita Lola, the material will already be cut before you get it.”  He frowned and shook his head.
 
“I should
’ve
sa
id
‘Don’t worry, Lola.’ 
From now on
you
’
re my cousin’s girls.”  His face broke into a broad white-toothed smile.  “You
must
call me Tío Juan.” 

T
hey had an uncle in far
-
off Spain, but
Lola
had no feelings for the man she
’
d never seen.
W
hat she felt for Juan must be the feeling one would have for an uncle.  She trusted him implicitly, and she would happily have called him father, had the circumstances been different.

“How can we be your cousin’s daughters if we
’
re going to
your cousin’s
house?” asked Enriqueta.

“A man may have many cousins—so many that they may not all know each other.  The cousin that you came from was a housemaid on another plantation and the owner…  Vague hints of wrongdoing are sufficient to explain your
condition
.”  Juan pointed to his left.

“See that?  It
’
s the cathedral.  You can see the spires from almost anywhere in the city. 
R
emember the route from the cathedral to the station,
and you can
find your way from
anywhere in the city
.”

The girls stared at the cathedral.  The last rays of the setting sun glinted off the stained glass windows.  The two immense wooden doors, each of which was larger than the wagon in which they rode
, dwarfed the
woman dressed in black
who
was entering.  Lola’s eyes trave
led up the ornate stonework to
the towering spires and the sight almost took her breath away.  She
’
d never seen such magnificen
ce
.
  The fact that they
’
d been driving so long and were still in the heart of the city was impressive, but to see such grandeur was almost overwhelming.

“Juan,”
said
Lola.  “Why
a
re we tell
ing
a fancy story?  Fancy stories are what got us here in the first place
.
”

“Aren’t we all children of Adam and Eve?  Doesn’t that make us all cousins?” 
Juan’s brow furrowed.  “S
eriously, s
ometimes one must
commit a
small sin to prevent a larger sin. 
Y
our father made a great sacrifice to do what he feels necessary to preserve the honor of the Herrera family.  We tell a small story to keep others from making suppositions, warranted or otherwise, that might render his sacrifice pointless.”

“…suppositions, warranted or otherwise,” repeated Enriqueta.

“That means
—
” Lola started to explain.

“I know what it means,” snapped her sister.  “I’m just surprised that Juan
—
”   She stopped in midsentence when Lola’s elbow jabbed her.

“Sorry, Juan,” Enriqueta said.

“Sorry,
Tío
Juan,” he corrected with a smile.

“Tío Juan
.
”
Enriqueta stifl
ed
a giggle at the form of address.  “How is it that you and Pilar both grew up on the plantation and she can
’
t read, but you know how to read and you speak so well?”

“My grandfather was a simple
campesino
, a tiller of the land.  He asked the priest to teach his son to read and write.  The priest shared his precious books, and taught
my father
the power of education.  He sent my older brother and me to
school in the city. 
My brother got a job in the city
,
and
I went back to the plantation. 
T
he priest and
I
spent a lot of time together
talking about books and playing chess
. 
Y
our father and I
used to
talk and play chess together.
” 

“Why did you stop?”

“A lot of things changed when your father married Jacoba.”

Lola nodded.  Her father stopped talking about the plantation at the table, too.  It was as though Jacoba wanted to be the only one to talk to him.  She remembered her original question. 
“But when you talk to the Cholos you talk like they do,” said Lola.

“I don’t want the men to think I
’
m trying to be a little
patrón
.”

After a few minutes, Lola said, “Maybe we should listen to how your cousin talks so we don’t make him think we are trying to be ladies.”  Juan smiled.

They rode on
t
h
rough
the
deepening
twilight.  At last Juan turned off the road and pulled the wagon beside a small house.  They could not see much, but
to
the tired and hungry
girls
the lights shining through the windows looked warm and welcoming.

L
ola sat cross-legged on her pallet and poked her needle into the rough cloth of the uniform in her lap.  Enriqueta’s foot stopped working the pedal of the old sewing machine; she put her hands on her lower back and stretched.  Enriqueta complained constantly that her back hurt, and it was increasingly difficult for her to get up from her pallet.  Lola watched sympathetically.  It was almost time for them to switch places.  Then Lola would sew her uniform on the machine while Enriqueta did the hand finishing on hers, and beg
i
n basting the next one with the large stitches that would hold the material in place while it went through the machine.

Juan’s cousin hadn
’
t been surprised that they
’
d never seen a sewing machine before.  He said many women
still thought
it was a mark of quality to show fine even hand sewn stitching—and proof of the ability to pay for it.  She remembered his pride as he showed them the machine.  “…and the thread goes up here and you put the end through the needle here.  And then you put the cloth under this and work the ped
al up and down with your feet.
”

Victoria and Jacoba should see her now, making tiny even stitches faster than the eye can see. 
Sometimes Lola thought of the machine as part of their team, helping them make more uniforms so they could add a little more money to their hoard; other times she thought of it as the heavy ball at the end of the chain of circumstances that kept them tethered to this room day and night. 
She felt the same way about Uncle and Auntie, as they were told to call Juan’s cousins. 
She wanted to say something comforting to Enriqueta, but the pounding noise from the other room made conversation impossible.  She wondered what
Uncle
was
doing
, but
the girls
were expected to work until suppertime. 

Lola tapped Enriqueta’s bare foot with her own, giving her sister a big smile.  Enriqueta replied by sticking out her tongue, which set them both giggling.  Enriqueta’s foot began to move again, and Lola picked up the next piece of uniform. 
Every time she thought of the room as a prison, she scolde
d
herself.  She
’
d learned just how miserable life could be in the city.

Lola had gone with Uncle a few times as he made his rounds of the women who sewed for him.  He
thought
that if they inspected the uniforms at collection and made the women correct their own mistakes
,
it would teach them to be more careful.  The plan didn’t work because the corrections were often as bad as the original mistake.  The women were paid by the number of uniforms they finished and their main concern…no, their
only
concern was their payment.  After seeing how they lived she understood.  They didn
’
t have the time or the energy for the luxury of pride in their workmanship. 

She thought of the woman whose three little girls had been sitting in a line against the wall
with their skinny little legs stuck out in front of them,
sewing as fast as they could.  A boy
whose
gap-toothed smile said he was about six years old was carrying a baby and trying to keep it from crying as the woman desperately tried to finish one more uniform.  Lola would never forget the stricken face of the mother when she picked up a jacket and they both noticed a sleeve sewn with the wrong side of the material facing out.  Lola had quickly shoved the jacket into the middle of the pile.  That was one of
the
more pleasant
homes they visited
.  Most of the places were crowded and filthy. 

She remembered a place that smelled so bad she
’
d hung her head over the side of the wagon and vomited in the street—and then she
’
d vomited again as two
scrawny
dogs with ribs showing through their fur had run to lick up her half-digested breakfast.  Her stomach
still
churned at the memory.  Some of the houses were little more than boxes that leaked in the rain.  Entire families slept, ate, and lived in one small room. 

The noise in the other room stopped as suddenly as it had begun. 

“Enriqueta!  Lola!” 
Uncle’s
shout
broke the silence. 
Lola struggled to her feet and helped Enriqueta
stand
.  They went out, curious to see what was causing all the commotion.

I
n the middle of the room
stood
two
brand new sewing machines and Uncle
was strutting around them with his chest puffed out in pride like the old rooster on the plantation.

“These are for you
,
” he crowed.  “You
’
re my best seamstresses, and I want you each to have one of these new wonderful machines.  They came all the way from North America
.
”

She and Enriqueta were his best seamstresses?  Uncle had many girls and women sewing for him
.
When he made his rounds,
h
e left in the morning with a wagon full of uniforms ready to sew
and
returned in the afternoon with piles of sewn uniforms.  Then Uncle and his wife went through them piece by piece, marking problems and ripping seams that were not right.  She and Enriqueta would then fix the mistakes. 

Uncle kept talking.  “With these machines you two can make twice as many uniforms—maybe three or four times as many
.
”  His eyes were shining a
s
he turned to them expectantly. 

“How wonderful
,
” Lola
said
.  That was obviously the answer he wanted.  “We
’
re pleased with your confidence in our abilities.” 

Auntie muttered something under her breath and went back to the kitchen to prepare the evening meal. 

Enriqueta frowned.  “But we still have to do the finishing; you know, buttons and things, and we still need to baste the sleeves and collars or they
’
ll come out crooked.  Now we take turns doing
hand work
and using the machine.”

Uncle was
nearly
hugging himself in excitement.  “That’s the beauty of the whole idea
.
  Anyone, anyone,
anyone
, who can hold a needle, can sew on buttons
.
  All the women who work for me have children sew on the buttons.  I
’
m bringing in a girl to sew the buttons and do whatever you tell her
,
so you
’
ll
have time to sew with the machine
.
”  He was practically dancing around the room.  “I
’ll
find another woman to sew with the old machine
.
”

“
In our room
?” asked Lola. 

“
T
he girl
’
s small and won’t take much room.” 

“You promised we
’
d have our own room,” said Enriqueta. 

“It
’s
only temporary,”
said
Uncle.  “I’m going to build a
place
in the back for the other women to work.” 

“Oh, Lola,” said Enriqueta
when they were back in their room
.  “I just hate being poor.  I
’
m sick of living cooped up in this room, and I
’
m sick of army uniforms, and I
’
m sick of working every moment for almost nothing, and I
’
m sick of having a backache and not being able to get up by myself.”  She started crying.
 
“And now two strangers
will share
this smelly old room with us
.
  I’m not sure I can stand it
.
”

Lola put her arms around her sister and tried to comfort her.  “Just lie down and rest.”  She helped her sister to her pallet and covered her.  “One less uniform in this world won’t make any difference at all.”

Lola woke up later that night to relieve herself.  She hated using the pot, but she had no choice
at night
.  She swore that the baby growing inside her had usurped all the available room.  Even though she wasn
’
t nearly as large as Enriqueta, she hadn
’
t been able to sleep through the night for ages.  She began to get up from her pallet and heard angry voices in the next room.

“
Y
ou spen
t
that money on those stupid machines?  It wasn’t yours to spend.  What
’
re we going to do when we need the money?”

“
Hush.  You’ll wake up the girls, and t
hey
’
re not stupid machines.  We
’
ll make a lot more money now.  Once I get several machines operating we
’
ll get more contracts, and make even more money.”

“That money was for a doctor
.
You violated a trust.” 
D
octor?  That sounded serious.
  The voices got lower
and
Lola tiptoed to the door
, curiosity winning over her reluctance to eavesdrop.

“Women have been popping out babies for thousands of years
without
doctors.
”  Lola put her hand over her mouth to keep from making a sound.  The doctors were for
them
—for the birthing
.
  She had to hear more.  She slowly turned the handle and opened the door a couple of inches, putting her ear to the crack.

“But what if
they do
need a doctor?  They
’
re so young
.
”

“If they
’
re old enough to lay with a man, they
’
re old enough to bear a child.  Midwives delivered us and delivered our children.  A midwife will deliver
the
ir
bab
ies
when the time comes.”

Lola was frightened.  She hadn
’
t even thought about needing a doctor.
  All she really knew about birthing is that
o
ne of her father’s mares had bled to death.  The thought made Lola shiver.

“Don’t worry.  If
they
need a doctor, I
’
ll get the money—even if I have to sell a machine.  I promise,” said Uncle. 
H
is words
sounded empty
to Lola
.

“I
still say it’
s wrong to use their money.  You should take the
machines
back.”

“Listen to me.  The machine is here and there
’
s no going back.  I don’t just mean those machines in this house.  The machine is the future.  The world
’
s changing, and we either change with it or get left behind.  If I don’t do this, then my competitor will.  Then you and I both will be living in the streets—and those girls will be thrown into the streets with us.
  Enough talk.  Go get me a drink of water.”

Lola hastily closed the door enough to appear shut.  She stood, barely breathing, as she heard Auntie get the water and go back to the other room.  Slowly and noiselessly, she closed the final half inch and released the handle.  She returned to her pallet, but
could not get back to sleep.  Would Enriqueta need a doctor?  Would she?  Would Uncle really get one--even if he didn
’
t have the money? 

Should she tell Enriqueta?
No, it would frighten her.
  Doctors were called when all else failed—and
t
hey certainly hadn’t done anything to help
poor Mama, had they?
  Why should she think a doctor could do anything more than a midwife who delivered babies all the time? 

Should she get word to Juan that his cousin had spent the money? 
He
’
d
be angry that
his cousin had betrayed his trust.  It would also be obvious that she
’
d overheard a conversation that was meant to be private between husband and wife. 
T
hey wouldn
’
t be able to stay
here
after telling tales on Uncle
, but w
here
c
ould they go? 
Lola shuddered. 
She knew l
ife could be
even
more miserable than
this.
 
Lola fell asleep
with
her course of action
unresolved
.