Our Lady of Babylon

by John Rechy

  “Yes! Because you’ve prepared me, and I’ve become strong, and sure.”

  “Then you are ready, Lady . . . Now let’s see if they are.”

  “What are you up to, Bernice?”

  “It’s our turn, creatures. You’ve been lying in wait, resorting to spies, doing everything to stop the Lady from speaking her truths. But she resisted your every ploy —”

  “You and I, Madame; we resisted.”

  “We resisted all your schemes. So you decided to risk everything by unmasking yourselves, rushing here, sure you could stop the interviews. Well, you’ve trapped yourselves in them.”

  “Trapped, Bernice? Oh, sir, did you hear her?”

  “I did, yes, I did.”

  “Trapped, creatures, yes, because I’m going to make sure that you’re asked questions you’ve long left unanswered, about sordid secrets in your family for generations — and there are so many concealed with lies. Are you ready to speak at last about real deceptions and depravity, about countless brutalities and excesses the Lady will expose, the extremes your father went to, to assume power — even to the point of torturing his own son and his son’s mother —”

  “—and his son’s beloved friend, remember that, Madame! — ostracized and cursed, maligned unjustly. Unjustly! Unjustly All were betrayed, mother, son, his beloved friend!”

  “Are you ready to talk about all that, creature — what your beloved father really did to his first son?”

  “How can you know about that, Bernice? Those infamous rumors —”

  “Everyone knows about it, creature, but not the truth.”

  “You’d go so far as to bring that up in your distorted scrutiny? Our dear oldest brother’s death, that awful way —”

  “— the most barbaric way, creature.”

  “— in the hands of that mob, because of all those radical ideas he and that strange friend of his were spewing, running around with those ruffians. Father tried to save him, but it was too late, the mob —”

  “— aroused by your father, creature!”

  “Naturally Father would want to keep quiet what happened to them. Naturally he’d want to avoid any misunderstanding —”

  “Enough! As senior representative of the great family involved here, I want to assure you, Lady, that the record of that noble dynasty will remain unsullied. Whatever stern means are required, we will assure that all is reported as we say, as we have said all along.”

  “No, sir — no, creature. We shall foil the ending you were counting on, leaving it blank in your ‘Account,’ so certain you would succeed in silencing the Lady. We shall write our own ending!”

  “We’ll change destiny at last, Madame! Cassandra taught us how!”

  “Ambush fate before it reaches its intended goal! Ah, yes, Cassandra taught us that indeed, Lady. We’ll shift the course of blame by turning it all back on them, let them face the interviewers at last.”

  “Bernice —!”

  “Terrified, creature? Didn’t count on this when you burst in — so sure you could assault the Lady’s truths during her most vulnerable moments when interviews are about to begin? — claiming to be her sister to confuse her by shifting identities — your father’s, your family’s, even your own — all to make her doubt who she is — and to add even more blame to her, make her responsible for your father’s real transgressions. Well, it’s all going to turn around — on you. You didn’t realize how strong the Lady has become.”

  “Move away from that door, Bernice. You intend to go out and stir those horrible people — don’t you? — so they’ll be even more eager to hear her lies.”

  “— her truths, your lies, creature.”

  “She’s gone. Bernice locked us in! Open! . . . the! . . . door! . . . I’ll listen! . . . She’s telling them to ask us —! Now she’s saying that we’re —! And now, she’s accusing Father of —”

  “Madame, you’re back!”

  “Yes! The interviewers have agreed to certain ground rules. It will be rough at times, Lady, very, very rough, but I’ve assured that you’ll have allies. And think of this — you’re prepared and the creatures aren’t! They’re caught in their own scheme, what they most dread, interrogation about all their lies. Your weapon is the truth, Lady.”

  “I am committed to the truth. And I am not to blame.”

  “Can you believe this, sir? My sister is about to claim that Father is to blame, that she is not to blame! Can you believe it?”

  “I have believed it from the beginning.”

  “Don’t open that door, Bernice! . . . Sir, stop her! If all this gets out, it will kill Father.”

  “Why, Lady, look how grim the collaborator is. And look at ‘the senior representative of the family.’ He’s even put aside his notes . . . Close your eyes for a moment, Lady. There. Banish him and her into the shadows where they belong, where they have always existed — where they’re trying to hide now from all the questions they’ve never wanted asked . . . There — they’re banished. Open your eyes, Lady, and everything will be splendid! Yes. Now stand up proudly. That’s how they must see you first. A little to the right. A little more. There, that’s the best light. Oh, Lady, you look more beautiful than ever. Resplendent!”

  “Madame, outside the window! Ermenegildo is on most sumptuous display — spinning about on the marble stand on your veranda. Now he’s looking up at us, and —”

  “— sending you his blessing.”

  “Your garden, Madame, it’s never been more beautiful. Those strange, distorted flowers that grew overnight near your veranda — they’re gone. Look! In their place, Madame, new flowers, like the ones that bloomed only in —”

  “The doors are open, Lady . . . Come in, ladies and gentlemen . . . Lady, they’re all here to listen to your unassailable truths.”

  “Madame —”

  “Lady —”

  “Give me your hand so I may start . . . Thank you.”

  “Ladies and gentlemen! Interviewers! Inquisitors — including representatives of the terrible Enquirer we’ve known all along to be pursuing us: In the beautiful Lady you see before you is the essence of all unjustly blamed women, women unjustly blamed for great catastrophes and labeled . . . whores. Our Lady has lived all those lives, which have been buried under centuries of lies. You’ll hear the truth for the first time. You’ll learn why and by whom the Lady has been pursued, from the beginning to now — you may even detect lurking shadows in this very room . . . Now, ladies and gentlemen, you shall learn the Lady is not to blame, and you will learn who is. Tell your story, Lady, so that we may know the truth at last.”

  “Madame —”

  “Lady?”

  “I’m af —”

  “— a freed woman at last, freed from all blame and armed with the truth as only you know it. Commence, please, Lady, with your great love story.”

  “Shall I begin in the beginning?”

  “Yes.”

  “There was a flower that bloomed only in Eden, a flower so glorious it did not need the decoration of leaves. When he saw me for the first time, as I lay within the verdure of Eden, my Adam plucked a blossom from the leafless stem. He knelt, and with its petals grazed my body.

  “I sprang to life on a bed of orchids!”