The Back Building (13 page)

“Okay, do we flip a coin or let the horse decide?” Cat asked with a shaky voice.

“Let’s not let Savannah decide our destiny. I vote for the north route.” I nudged the horse once more in her hind-quarters and she began to trot north. We followed the lake’s shore, stopping only once to rest Savannah and let her drink her fill. We splashed our faces, went to the bathroom in the tall grass, and ate the stale rolls Cat snatched and stored in her pillowcase. Perhaps she was planning this all along, and if so, she was brilliant making Patty think she was out for me. Then again, maybe she still was out for me, I hadn’t determined that yet. I still didn’t trust her though, she was conniving and narcissistic. I would sleep with one eye open.

“Do you think they know we’re gone?” She asked, biting her nails when the sun showed it was past noon.

“Of course they do, and they know Savannah is gone too, she belongs to the doctor. We better get a move on, or they will catch us and we will be arrested and tried for stealing this horse and we’ll both become experiments.”

Cat fed the horse an apple from her bag and we mounted her once more, riding her all afternoon and into the evening. We stopped for a few hours somewhere along the lake as it grew dark and drank our fill of fresh water. The temperature at night wasn’t any worse than what I had grown accustomed to on the ward. We decided to sleep while we could, but as soon as the day broke we rode Savannah again, trying to make it to a town for a sense of where we were.

As Cat and I were on the run, my mind drifted to James. He could never love me after this betrayal, although I left him my pair of gloves in the stall so he would know I was there. I hoped he could understand the hidden message, he must know I had no choice but to run.

“Jesus, who are you talking too?” Cat asked.

“Just myself, now shut up.” I was trying to pace the horse but worried if we didn’t make it at least to Romulus we would be found.

Before long we started seeing other travelers along the roadside. We stopped briefly to give our mare a break, walking her slowly along the edge of the lake. All three of us were tired and hungry. When a group of three men came upon us they slowed down and asked what we were doing out here. We told them we were slightly lost and were following the river back home to Romulus.

“You’re getting close then, just another hour or so north, Ladies.” They tipped their hats at us and left us alone.

When we came upon the small town of Romulus we saw a hotel and a few restaurants. We changed out of our laundress coats into our Sunday dresses before watering Savannah and entering a restaurant. Cat had some change in her pocket, I assumed she stole it but would not ask. The change was enough for breakfast so we sat and ate pancakes. We stuffed ourselves because we didn’t know when our next meal would be. We begged an apple for our horse and fed it to her as we left. We tried not to arouse any suspicion, but this was a very small town and folks knew who belonged and who didn’t. We told the waitress at the diner that we worked in Ovid, but that we wanted a day of adventure so had taken our horse out for a morning run. She nodded her head as if she believed us but I think she questioned the authenticity of our story. What two young girls would go out riding alone?

After breakfast we gathered ourselves and continued our journey north, making Waterloo our destination.

“But, Iona, won’t they look for us in Waterloo? It’s not far enough away, I think we need to keep going,” Cat said with determination.

“Maybe we should split up anyway, Cat. They will be looking for two of us and I want to stay put in Waterloo. It’s between Cayuga and Seneca Lake and will have lots of farming opportunities for me. I am not sure what you can do for money.” I had also held out hope that if James meant his proposal, he would look for me here.

Cat gave a laugh at that and I really didn’t want to know her methods of earning a pay-day. I had an idea of the favors she would perform for money but didn’t want to put any thought into the details.

The weather was simply beautiful, the sun shone off the lake and we were able to enjoy the freedom for a little while as we quietly went about our journey. We talked quite a bit and I learned that Cat was probably as normal a young girl as any, she was definitely more interested in and definitely more knowledgeable than I was about men, and described to me the incident that got her in trouble.

It was Cat’s uncle Samuel that began courting her when she was a young girl of twelve. She grew to like the attention from him as he always brought her gifts and professed his love to her. Until her father found her in the barn with Sam, who was ten years her senior, she had no idea that simple kisses and touches that brought forth pleasure were considered sinful. She was put on warning and kept locked in the family’s attic for weeks. Her mother brought her enough sustenance to keep her alive but while the hours ticked by, Cat grew furious at being jailed in her own home. The night she was allowed out of the attic and back into her room, she snuck out her window and over to her Uncle Samuel’s home. She joined him in bed and they became wed in body and spirit. Cat loved this man and found no harm in their activities, but her father found her the next morning and had her admitted to an asylum in Utica for women who were unruly and promiscuous.

“So, you are married?” I asked slightly confused if there wasn’t a wedding or officiate.

“We are, and I promised Sam I would get word to him the moment I escaped from Utica, but as you know that didn’t happen. I tried several times, but was caught twice and transferred to Willard for treatment.”

“So what about Sam, did he come to look for you?”

“My father threatened his life, but I know Sam, he will be waiting for me. I am sorry by the way, Iona. For treating you so poorly. It was all part of the ruse though, acting tough, getting in with the attendees and so on.”

“Yes, but Cat they didn’t know what went on behind closed doors, and you came into my bed.”

“I said I was sorry, and I won’t say it again.” She pouted but I was starting to understand her a little more. She wanted to feel loved, as I did, but to her love was physical. As we rode along the countryside and my belly started to rumble, I contemplated our next meal. I would have to set a few simple snares with a noose and hope to catch some small game. The issue would be starting a fire to cook it.

When Savannah grew too tired to carry our weight we leapt off and walked beside her. We settled in an area densely populated with trees and shrubs to stay the night. I searched the grounds for small game trails, which usually led from the water to their shelter. I sought tracks, and scat, along with tracks, rubs, and burrow entrances. I found rabbit scat and soon enough was led to the hole in the ground that I presumed was the burrow. Now I needed a cattail to make a noose, along with two sticks with “Y” shaped nooks. Luckily for me, several small trees and branches were in the ground in line with the entrance to the burrow. I took off my boots and long underwear and waded into the water’s edge where it was slightly swampy and the cattails grew. I could feel the grass between my toes as I sunk into the soft earth. I grabbed a few stalks and began my work of making nooses. I showed Cat how to do it so we could have several traps set for the night. We worked side by side, attaching the lead and weighting it with a rock, then draped the noose at the entrance and went to lay down. When we heard a movement we rushed to the trap and sure enough we had a rabbit. She was only a few pounds but that was enough for a meal. I snapped her neck, and began ripping at her belly.

“Stop,” Cat uttered.

“Cat, if you don’t want to watch look away.”

“No, wait, I have a knife.” She produced a knife meant for buttering bread and rolls but it was better than using my fingers to part the fur and flesh of the animal that was warm in my hands.

I gutted the animal, threw the entrails in the woods, and skinned it in preparation to cook. We worked on a primitive fire by collecting brush and dried leaves, then rubbing two rocks together. After an hour or more we had a spark, and luckily it caught on a leaf, I blew gently on the smoke and the fire indeed spread. We constructed a spit and placed the rabbit on top. In a short time it was cooked enough for us to eat. We each had a leg, and split the rest evenly as well.

“I can’t believe you know how to do that.”

“Yes, well, it is part of the reason my parents thought I was insane. I preferred to be outdoors honing skills such as these than indoors sewing for my dowry. I was disobedient and my refusal to participate in activities meant for ladies made my folks distraught. When my mother became pregnant, they sent me away.” I left out the part about my delusions hoping this was enough to satisfy her curiosity for now.

“I am grateful you had this skill or we’d be starving. Let’s dampen the fire and maybe get a little further down the pathway, I feel a little strange right here for some reason,” she said looking around and feeling paranoid.

Cat’s premonition was not far off, in a few hours we heard men on horseback ride past us about one hundred yards away. We had positioned Savannah behind a massive oak tree and remained quiet until they were gone. We didn’t know if they were looking for us or were out with another search party. Either way, our movement forward was in jeopardy.

When we arrived in Waterloo we were both feeling unwell. Cat was feverish and rail thin while I was nauseous and unable to keep food down. I had thrown up several times and had to stop to huddle in the bushes while my insides exploded. My nerves had gotten the best of me. We washed in the lake so that at the very least we were presentable. Cat had one dollar and thirty cents left and I had one quarter. We walked inside of the first hotel we saw and presented ourselves to the clerk as Savannah and Sylvia Woods, two sisters from Syracuse.

The clerk took all our change and gave us the key to a room, it was sparse, but it had a bed and tub. Mealtime was in an hour so we had that long to relax and settle down for a moment before toasting our success. I filled the tub with warm water and tested it with my big toe. It was ideal so I submerged myself and closed my eyes. Hydrotherapy did in fact relax my muscles and mind at the same time and I relished this moment. I emptied the tub and refilled it for Cat, who was sleeping soundly on the bed.

“Cat, wake up, I’ve drawn you a bath.” Cat woke up, but the violet circles beneath her eyes and goose bumps on her arms told me she was not well. I helped her into the tub and handed her the soap the hotel provided.

“No offense, but you stink.” We both chuckled.

“Iona, I just need to rest, you go down to supper, okay. Maybe bring me back something.”

I brushed my hair with my fingers and shook out my clothes from my pillowcase. My dress was dull and unassuming assuring I would not stand out. When the clerk saw me enter the hotel’s lounge, he waved me over.

“Did you say your name is Savannah?” He asked.

“Why yes I did, why?” I panicked.

“I have a note here in case a Savannah should check in, it’s from a gentleman named James. He is staying at the hotel down the street. Here is the address.” He handed me a small piece of paper but before I could even look at it I ran down the street in search of James. He knew me all too well, as I had hoped. I found him with Lucky outside the hotel tavern where he was staying.

“James!” I yelled, running to him. He turned towards me and dropped Lucky’s reins. He watched me run, and held his arms open for me crumble in.

“Iona, thank God. I prayed for days that you were still alive. I knew you could manage with snares but worried you’d be caught. Do you know how many search parties are out for you?”

“I don’t care, they won’t find us now, will they?”

“They might. Half of the men went south towards Watkins Glen and the other half were split in pairs and sent to Trumansburg and Ithaca, as well as across to Cayuga Lake. Apparently another patient is missing to, someone named Kate.”

“Yes, Cat, she is with me. I owe her my life, James. Patty would have killed me if I were there even one more night.” I sobbed into James’s arms, feeling the magnitude of the situation. I was a moment shy of death and Cat changed that. James kissed my tears and together we walked towards Lucky. We hitched him to a post and went up to the room James procured at the hotel.

“Sit.” James pointed to the edge of the bed. “Now, tell me everything.”

I recounted the torture of the ice baths, the beatings, the chaining and threats. I told him the personal ways in which my body was abused as well. Then I told him I nearly died, I told him Hetty was there trying to care for me but she couldn’t because she wasn’t real. The nurses were the ones I credit for my health today. If not for their kindness and concern I would surely have died. James pulled me close to him and we cried together for a long time.

“I was worried sick about you. The staff would not let me see you as a visitor, nor would they let John. They told us you were dreadfully sick and that you might not make it. They said you were covered in bruises and gashes that you inflicted upon yourself during one of your episodes, but I knew it was Patty. I waited for her after her shift ended one night and cornered her so that she had no possibility of escape. I swear, Iona, I felt mad, like I could have killed that woman. But she told me you had the flu that she had bathed you to bring down your fever, she promised to put me on the visitation list the next day, but by then you had run.”