Guardian of the Fountain

by Jennifer Bryce

  “María, carry this monitor up behind us and plug it in by her bed,” Dr. Wilson ordered.

  Arturo and Brant carried the gurney up the large staircase to the top floor and down to the farthest room at the end of the hall. Arturo pushed open the door to Chrissie’s new room. Brant tenderly picked her up off the gurney, cradling her in his arms. Her hair still smelled of summer and gardenias. She sighed as he laid her down onto the white jersey sheets.

  Dr. Wilson approached and checked her vitals. “I have her medical chart from the Dallas hospital, and it states something very disturbing.”

  Brant held his breath, awaiting the news.

  “She doesn’t remember the six months prior to getting ill.” Dr. Wilson paused.

  Brant knew instantly what Dr. Wilson was implying. “She won’t remember me.” Brant’s shoulders slumped. “That’s why I haven’t heard anything from her. She also won’t know the secret, either.”

  “It will be imperative that she is not stressed in any way. Her weight is dangerously low, and I don’t want anything to happen that would cause her to lose more. Not to mention the headaches and fevers. We will see if the water does any good. I want her in it as soon as she awakes, and call me immediately with the results.” He paused briefly before adding, “You may not want to tell her about you. If she doesn’t remember anything, I would wait until she is stable before making any earth-rattling revelations.”

  Arturo escorted Dr. Wilson out. Brant sat in a chair next to Chrissie, finally getting to hold her hand after six long weeks of agonizing separation. Her hand was cool to the touch as he traced the veins on the back of her hand. He could see green bruising from an IV’s lingering mark. Medically induced track marks told lies across her arms.

  Still, the question remained. What had happened to her?

  Chapter 7

  Chrissie woke to comforting humming. María sat in a rocking chair in the corner of a small adobe-walled room. Light streamed through the open French doors that led to a balcony. The gentle breeze flowing through the window smelled of sunshine and exotic flowers. As her eyes focused she was able to make out the details of her room. The homey room was just large enough to hold a queen-sized iron bed, a nightstand, and a dressing table. Her clothes were hung in a very small closet next to the bathroom. The bathroom door was ajar and she could see that it was so tiny, she could sit on the potty, put a foot in the shower, and wash her hands at the same time.

  “Mija, you’re awake!” María crossed the room to Chrissie’s side.

  “Oh, María! I’m so happy to see you.” Chrissie wiped the sleep from her eyes and tried to clear the frog from her throat. “Where am I?”

  “It doesn’t matter. Momma María will take care of you. You’re too skinny. I feed you. Make you nice and fat.” María’s long, dark braid was striped with silver streaks and hung limp down her back.

  “You aren’t wasting any time stuffing food down me, are you?” Chrissie pulled out her IV line herself. “Stupid tubing. I don’t need to be tied down.”

  María moved about, unfazed that Chrissie pulled out the IV line. “Dr. Wilson want you to leave that in, but I can do better than a bag of old saltwater. I feed you all the best fruits from our jardín, and fresh pan today. Maybe today he will visit, and everything will return to normal.”

  “Dr. Wilson is going to some extreme lengths for me. María, has he told you why he is doing this?”

  “Dr. Wilson is helping but we’ll worry about everyone who is involved later. For now, we hope for a nice long soak and a trip to the jardín.” María came and sat on the side of Chrissie’s bed.

  “How is a garden going to make me better?”

  “It’s not the jardín—it’s what is in the jardín that is muy importante.” María scolded Chrissie like she should’ve remembered this fact.

  * * *

  “I may be weak sauce, but I can still walk, you know.” Chrissie’s voice quivered. María was carrying her piggyback. Her pace was steady and strong.

  “No, you will not. Your strength needs to be saved. It would be too long of a walk for your body. Besides, it’s just a few doors down,” María added.

  “You are freakishly strong for a woman your age.” Chrissie couldn’t even detect any heavy breathing coming from María.

  The hallway was a large stone arch on one side looking down below into a plaza on the other side of the black wrought-iron railing. They passed three large knotted wooden doors before María took the fourth, a set of very large double doors. She pushed them open with her foot and entered with Chrissie still on her back. Chrissie had guessed María’s age to be in her late sixties, but her strength and agility rivaled that of a woman half her age.

  Large beige Spanish tiles covered every surface except the large stone columns that were holding up the tall, arched ceiling. The room looked like it was modeled after a Roman bathhouse. In the center was a large pool of crystal-blue water filled to the brim with a slight steam coming from its surface between floating pink rose petals.

  María set Chrissie down on a white padded wicker rocking chair as she set to work with the first task of her regimen to health. Chrissie tried to focus on María, but the room spun dangerously in her head. María bolted the large doors and began pulling back the tall, sage-colored drapes, letting natural light into the bathing room.

  I must be in a twisted fairy tale.

  The pool of water reached out to the balcony that overlooked a large rose garden interspersed with tropical flora. Vibrant colors cast their hues into all the nooks and crannies of the garden.

  María returned to Chrissie and began undressing her.

  Chrissie stiffened and tried to pull her shirt back down.

  “Relax. We need your skin to be in direct contact as much as possible with the water. You’ll still be decent.”

  Chrissie was down to her panties and loose sports bra before María stopped and escorted her to the edge of the pool. Chrissie stepped wobbly down the steps and into the warm water with María, fully clothed, by her side. María reached down, took off her own sandals, and threw them up onto the deck.

  “Mija, you will soak until you have had enough, but do not drink the water. Understand?”

  “Yes … but why can’t I drink the water? Not that I think that it’s a good idea to drink pool water but it does sound odd that I’m forbidden to drink it.”

  “You will find out later, but for now, just trust me.” María turned Chrissie to float on her back. All sounds completely faded away as Chrissie’s ears went under.

  Chrissie tried to relax her body into the water and move with the natural waves of the pool. She felt as though the sickness that racked her body began to lift off her like a heavy weight. The warmth radiated completely to her bones, filling all the achy joints with comfort. María’s hands kept Chrissie above the water while the underwater vibration of María’s muffled hum began to lull her to sleep.

  María sang a native song. It sounded older than time, and the water seemed to harmonize with the melody. María guided Chrissie’s floating body to the edge of the pool as she picked up a bottle of shampoo and lathered Chrissie’s hair.

  The perfume of lilacs and roses pleased her nose as María massaged her head. Bubbles popped against her tingly scalp. María placed a floating pillow under Chrissie’s neck and knees, which helped her to float. María’s experienced hands massaged botanical oils into her skin.

  Time ticked slowly away.

  I don’t ever want to leave here.

  “It’s time to get out now.” María sat Chrissie on a step. Chrissie relaxed as María climbed out of the pool. She retrieved a large white towel and dried herself off before changing into dry clothes. Once she was finished, she brought a large fuzzy white robe to Chrissie.

  Chrissie reluctantly exited the warm bath and slipped into the robe. She felt ten times stronger and much more relaxed. More importantly, she didn’t feel sick. “Do I have to ride on your back again?” It was embarrassing to
be carried like a child by an old woman. “This is amazing. It’s the first time in weeks I don’t feel like I don’t want to puke.”

  “No. You may walk now.” María led the way out of the bathroom and back down the hall to Chrissie’s room. “You will find clothes on your bed, and then I will come back for you and bring you down to lunch.”

  Out of the corner of Chrissie’s eye, she saw a tall young man in a parallel hall that also overlooked the inside plaza. He glanced quickly over his shoulder before retreating back into a door and closing it behind him, not staying in view long enough for Chrissie to make out any facial features.

  He seemed vaguely familiar, like she had known him from a past life. Strange that he hurried away so quickly.

  “Who was that, María?”

  “I don’t know who you are talking about. I saw no one.” María’s eyes shifted back and forth, and her voice began to shake as it rose slightly higher in pitch. “Maybe you saw the gardener.”

  “He was Caucasian.”

  “You think that just because he was white that he isn’t a gardener here?” María spun around.

  “Sorry. No, I don’t think that. But it is rare to have a white gardener in Venezuela, don’t you think, María?” Chrissie grabbed María’s hand and squeezed it.

  “Sí, mija. I was caught off guard. I didn’t think I would have to explain him. He is the master of the house.” María’s ruffled feathers smoothed.

  “Do I know him?”

  “I was hoping you would know him if you saw him. It would make things much easier.” María’s smile quivered.

  “But I don’t. So what does that mean for me?”

  “No se.” María’s face drooped in a frown as she closed the door behind her, leaving Chrissie to contemplate the last few moments as she dressed in dry underwear and a white cotton summer dress that hung loosely off her frame. Chrissie sat at the small dressing table in the corner of her room and brushed out her damp hair. Her arms shook weakly with each stroke, but at least this time, clumps of hair didn’t come out. Tears rolled down her cheeks as she caught her reflection in the mirror. She wasn’t supposed to look like walking death.

  What hair she had left hadn’t been cut in almost a year and a half before she left on her humanitarian trip here to Venezuela. So many things had changed since then, and she could only remember half of it. Chrissie stared at her reflection in the mirror. While I’m here, I swear I’ll try to piece back together my memory of those six months.

  Her room gave no hint as to how large and grand the house was, but when María had carried her out of it, she felt its massiveness compared to her home in Texas. She thought she had been staying in Arturo and María’s small home at the base of the mountain, but she was really in a very large mansion in a location she didn’t even know.

  Chrissie left the comfort of her room and walked down the hallway to the grand staircase that joined four halls together. The plaza was at the very center of the mansion and brought the four wings of the home together.

  With the grand staircase at twelve o’clock and her room not too far from it, the scene felt vaguely familiar. The natural light shone against the white alabaster stairs as she descended to the ground floor.

  Arturo sat amongst the green vegetation, drinking a cup of coffee with a small, half-eaten sandwich on the table next to him. “Hola,” he greeted cheerily.

  “Hi, Arturo.”

  “How are you feeling?” he asked.

  “Almost as good as new. Which is weird. How can a simple bath do so much for me?”

  “Sí.” He nodded knowingly. “It is the healing water, and María’s witch’s brew that does it.” He winked. “First part of María’s plan is to get you better. Next part is to fatten you up. We’ll be calling you ‘gordita’ in no time. My job is to get some color in your cheeks with a little sol.”

  “María.” Chrissie sighed. “She does baby me so much.”

  “She is just worried that you might break like a fine china doll. But I believe you are much stronger than you look. Here.” Arturo pushed a bowl of soup and a sandwich toward Chrissie. “Eat.”

  Chrissie was oddly surprised to discover she had an appetite. She ate in the sunshine that naturally flooded the room as Arturo filled her in what was happening in town and at the clinic. “I will take you into town this afternoon so you can shop for things you might need while you stay here. I can’t imagine anything that you might need that we don’t already have, but I will obey María’s orders. Actually, I think she wants to use this little trip as a test to see how well you are.”

  “Where is María?”

  “She is preparing tonight’s cena. She works very hard to please the Guardian.”

  “Oh, he does have a title. The Guardian,” she said in mock reverence.

  A guardian of what? María and Arturo held him in such high regard, like he was a king or something. She was a little ticked by the notion that they keep withholding information about this mysterious man. It made him seem so important. The good thing was that she did feel better. Why didn’t her secret benefactor just come out and reveal himself? What was the big deal?

  “Do you work for him as well?” Chrissie didn’t know how much information she could pry out of Arturo.

  “Sí, for many, many years, we both have. We sell the produce we grow here in the jardínes in the mornings and work here the rest of the day. We gave our casita to our grandson to live in and moved here permanently about a month ago so we wouldn’t have to travel so much.”

  Chrissie finished her small lunch down to the last drop of soup. She hadn’t eaten this much in a long time.

  “Follow me.” Arturo motioned.

  Arturo tucked Chrissie’s hand into the crook of his arm and escorted her out a large set of French doors and down a cobblestone path to a small wooden garage. Inside were parked three vehicles in pristine condition—a brand-new King Ranch Super Duty truck, a sleek black Audi, and a small two-door powder-blue Datsun.

  The Datsun, she hadn’t seen on any street since she was a small girl, and even then Datsuns were considered old clunkers. Arturo opened the door to the small Datsun, and she slid into the passenger seat after closing her door. He climbed into the driver’s side. The vehicle looked like it just rolled off the lot and was in no way near-clunker condition, which only added to the mystery of this magical place.

  “Why are we taking the Datsun, Arturo?” Chrissie was bewildered—there were two other nice vehicles they could have taken.

  “We don’t want to attract the wrong kind of attention. It is muy importante that you stay with me at all times. You see, the Guardian has some enemies in the area and if they knew you were here with us they might want to take you. Most likely to hold you for much dinero.”

  The engine purred to life, and they began the drive down a small dirt path out to a larger dirt road. The drive wound down a mountainside with dense vegetation on each side. Sporadically the greenery let in splotches of sunshine or allowing a glimpse of a steep cliff to the side of this one-lane dirt road. “Open the little door in front of you.”

  He could take me anywhere and I would be happy. I actually feel like I might live.

  Chrissie did as she was told and pulled out a black sleeping eye mask and a gun.

  “You don’t need the gun, but put on the mask. This part of the trip, you can’t see. The Guardian doesn’t want anyone to use you to find a way back to the mansion.”

  “No. I don’t want to wear a mask.” She shook her head adamantly.

  “Por favor, para mí?” Arturo asked sweetly.

  “I guess that’s a simple request, considering all that has unfolded in the last, what? Forty-eight hours?” She pulled the black satin over her eyes and felt the slight bumps in the road as they continued on down the mountain. She briefly heard the roar of a waterfall and then silence once again. Arturo rolled down the windows, and fresh air blew into the car. I feel like I’m in some sort of mysterious movie, only experiencing the surf
ace. “Why does the Guardian trust you so much?” Chrissie relaxed into the seat.

  “I’ve worked at the mansion many more years than he has been there. I came with the mansion. I sort of protect and care for all that is there alongside the Guardian. I have for a very long time.” Chrissie could hear the smile in Arturo’s voice.

  “Why doesn’t he trust me?”

  “I think he trusts you completely. This is all for your safety. It is better you not know about some things.” Arturo’s English was better than Chrissie first thought. Maybe he was hiding behind his accent, like a disguise.

  “Did I know about all this before I got sick?” Chrissie could hear the engine slow as they turned sharp corners.

  Good thing I don’t get motion sickness.

  “Sí, and it is part of the reason why you got sick, I think. The Guardian doesn’t agree with me, but I think I am right.”

  “Will you tell me everything that you can to help me get my memory back?”

  “Sí, in time. But for now, you can take off that silly mask. We are now just coming into the edge of the village. The largest city is over an hour away, so this will be our only destination for today.” He pulled a thin blue scarf from his pocket. “Here, wrap your cabeza with this so it doesn’t burn, mija.”

  Chrissie took the scarf, tied it around her head, and tucked the loose strands of hair up into it. She hadn’t thought about what she might look like to some of the villagers. Inwardly, she thanked Arturo for his pre-planning.

  Arturo pulled the car up just outside a small shop and parked. Cars zoomed down the street, not even pretending to stop at the stop signs—just honking their horns as they blew through the intersections. After he wrestled the car into a tiny parking space, Chrissie and Arturo entered into the small shop. She walked up and down the aisles while Arturo chatted with the shopkeeper.

  They walked in and out of all the shops down the street, even stopping to buy some churros and chocolate for a quick snack. Only a few times did she get awkward stares from people. She must look like death walking down the street, but she didn’t feel like it. She felt halfway decent. The only reminder that she was sick was a dull headache and shaky limbs.