I nodded quickly.
Dale looked up and saw us.
“Maddy,” Auggie said very calmly and clearly, “listen carefully. I want you to walk away from me, go straight to the office, find Evelyn, and tell her to call the State Police.” I did not move.
He crushed my hand, kindly but firmly. I tore my eyes away from my son and looked at him. I nodded imperceptibly. I backed away from Auggie and turned, strolling to the office like I had all the time in the world.
Auggie went over to Bry and Dale.
“Well hello Bryan. How are you today?” He stood with his hands in his coat pocket, smiling at Bry.
“Oh hi, Doctor Auggie. Hey, this is my dad,” pointed Bry across the table.
Dale Brown got up from the bench. He looked Auggie up and down, then stuck out his hand. “Dale Brown. Bry was just telling me about the burn he got on his foot. Doctor, huh? I guess you’re the one who fixed him up.”
Auggie smiled. “Yes, I am. He was a wonderful patient.”
Dale looked at his son, and back at Auggie.
I’d nearly fainted when I got inside the door of the building – my knees gave was and I held on to the doorknob for a moment. I dashed to Evelyn’s office. Sitting at her private desk, she took one look at me and asked, “What’s wrong?”
“Evelyn,” I said breathlessly, “my husband’s outside with Bry. Auggie is with the two of them. He sent me in here to tell you to call the State Police.” My last words were choked with tears.
She immediately dialed a number she apparently knew by heart. The Junction did have problems from time to time, and was often the scene of accidents at the highway crossroads. “Barbara? Evelyn Waverly out at the Junction. I have a problem out here, dear. Please send someone right away.” She paused. “It involves one of my office girls, her small child, and her ex-husband who has a reputation for violence and just came onto our private property, uninvited.” She nodded at me. “Yes, thank you so much. We don’t get cell reception out here, you know – call the office if you need me.” She hung up the phone and stood up.
We went to a window that had a view of the picnic table and the rooms – but was also covered with a blind that obscured the view in from outside. Auggie had sat down on the bench shared with Bry, and Dale had sat back down on the other side. They appeared to be having a civil conversation.
“Don’t go out there, you stay in here with me until the Police arrive. Auggie is a master. You let him help you.” She hugged me as I trembled, terrified.
I could not tear my eyes away from my son, nor Auggie.
“I’ve come to pick them up and take them home.”
Auggie looked at Dale Brown, puzzled. “Well Dale, what if they don’t want to go back with you?”
Dale speared a glance at the doctor. “Why wouldn’t they? This is all just a big misunderstanding. And what would you know about it, anyhow?” His voice began to rise.
Bryan got off his knees and sat down. He edged a little closer to Auggie.
“Maddy and I have become friends, and she’s confided to me that she’s afraid of you.” Auggie sat calmly with his big hands crossed in front of him on the table.
Dale was visibly pissed off. “Friends, huh? I’ll bet. She always was a slut.”
Auggie winced and looked out of the corner of his eye at Bry. The kid’s eyes were huge.
“Where did she go? I saw her with you, over there.” Dale nodded his head toward where we’d been standing together.
“She went into the office. I told her to have the State Police called. You are trespassing on private property.” Augustus Blackburn remained motionless. He stared the smaller man down.
Dale stood and freed his legs from the bench. “This dump doesn’t even begin to qualify as private property. Police, huh? That was a stupid thing to do. And, totally unnecessary. I don’t want any trouble. I’m just here to take my wife and son back home.” He spread his hands, giving the appearance of rationality and sanity.
Auggie stood up as well. He reached down and picked Bry up under his armpits, shifting his weight so that he could hold him close, resting Bry on his hip. “I don’t think so.”
Dale stared at Auggie, his face clouded with anger and amazement. “You? Just who the fuck do you think you are?” He started toward the two. “And put him DOWN!”
Auggie set Bry on the ground, bent over and whispered quickly. “Run, Bryan Brown. Run straight to the office, and IN. QUICK!” Bryan took off like a shot. He flung open the door and dashed in without looking back.
“SON OF A BITCH!” cried Dale. He reached into his pocket and withdrew a switchblade, flipping it open. “That’s gonna cost you, big man.”
Auggie remained immovable.
Dale seemed a little uncertain, but his balls eventually won out. He sprang toward Auggie with a cry of Southern anguish.
Auggie and he fell to the ground, the larger man easily pinning the smaller man flat against the dirt. As I watched, I saw the knife flash in Dale’s hand. I held Bry against my body, his face pressed against my belly. He was shaking uncontrollably as tears streamed my own face. Evelyn’s face was pressed against the window beside me.
We heard the sirens arrive.
Two State Police cruisers slid to a stop in the parking lot, not far from where the men wrestled. The officers jumped from their cars and ran close to the men, weapons drawn, shouting. Auggie had been thrown off his guard a couple of times, as I knew Dale to be wily and creative and absolutely vindictive when it came to a fight. Even inside the office, Evelyn and I could hear the officers scream for them to stop. Dale was on top of Auggie at that point.
The flash of one of the officer’s guns was a pinpoint of raw sunlight.
Both of the men on the ground lay still, unmoving. I pushed Bry into Evelyn’s arms and ran out the door.
The officers were holstering their weapons. They reached to part the men.
One of the officers looked at me as I ran up to them, trying to make me stay away. I totally ignored his demands and dashed to Auggie.
He opened his eyes as he lay flat on the ground. “I guess this means you won’t need to get a divorce, after all.”
I threw back my head and screamed, startling the officers and the crowd of gays watching from the safety of the porch. I sat on top of Auggie, astride him, pounding my fists on his chest and then covering his face with tearful kisses.
21
Evil, negative energy, bad karma, whatever you want to call it – takes as many forms as there are names. All of us as human beings have known people we considered inherently evil. We’ve often visited places we know are new to us, yet a feeling of déjà vu leaves our skin crawling. We’ve met people we like initially, yet as we get to know them better, we loathe them. Some have offspring that they swear have birthed straight from Hell. And yet – the Earth we live on was made pure, the pollutants and evil and bad karma all accumulated from us. Who do we blame? Certainly not the Creator. We all have free will.
The slush pit at the rear of the House began with a human being’s free will. A human’s free will, however, can certainly change the planet.
And free will lives beyond the grave.
Two nights after she entered the Pit, Juanita made some changes.
The mood in the dining room was somber. Lupe had served dinner, as usual, in two shifts – at six-thirty for the girls who ended the first shift, and a later light meal a little after nine for those who worked until closing. Mr. Waverly had attended both suppers, and no words were exchanged by anyone. For now, his carefully crafted charade had cracked. All of the women had witnessed firsthand the horror of Juanita’s death. The image of the blood-soaked doctor was burned into their minds. There was no turning back.
The ladies lived on the second floor, two to a bedroom. Their rooms were comfortable but Spartan, and it was their duty to keep them spotlessly clean. Mr. Waverly would tolerate nothing less. Each room had a private bathroom, large and covered nearly floor to high ceiling wi
th custom tile. The bathrooms had to be maintained as well. Daily. Their slave labors in the gift shop were incidental to anything concerning the House.
There were no personal items allowed, no family photos. Nothing to indicate warmth, love, or caring. Certainly nothing for the babies. The House would never enjoy the good karma it might have earned in another place, another time – wonderful happiness from a large, loving family. Laughter and little footsteps echoing through the halls. Mothers and grandparents in the kitchen, holding children on laps, feeding special treats. Its hallways would never hang a multitude of photographs of happy and revered generations. Love was never made in its bedrooms. Mothers would never play with their laughing, splashing little ones in its fabulous bathrooms. Lovers would never lean out of its magnificent windows with declarations of undying passion.
Juanita’s blood had soaked through the drain in the delivery room floor. It was out of reach of the thorough cleaning skills of Corazon. The drain connected to the custom-designed septic system that had been original to the House. When Mr. Waverly dreamed and then created the Pit for his special purposes, he never suspected that the septic field leach lines would someday reach out tentacles of waste and merge with what wasted in the Pit.
Waverly had made a careful study of how the Pit should be fashioned and maintained. He himself purchased and then dribbled hellish corrosives onto its muddy and impenetrable surface. He kept a watchful eye on the health of the pier he’d had specially built across its surface. It was a hideous source of pride to him, a macabre fascination. No bones had ever floated to the surface.
Forty-eight hours after Manny dumped her corpse, Juanita’s skull popped from the silt at the bottom of the Pit, bobbing like a white cork on the surface of the liquid muck.
The drain in the delivery room had tiny brown bubbles rising through the grate, sticking to it like mucus.
Alicia and Miranda shared one of the upstairs bedrooms. Each woman was eight months along, having been ‘discovered’ by Rafe and Tony at about the same time. They were young without children of their own. Alicia had a mother and two younger brothers depending on her; Miranda’s waiting family consisted of a grandfather and her mother. Each girl, healthy, had an uneventful gestation, and they were both anxious to complete their servitude and move on. Juanita’s death hit them even harder than the rest of the girls, as they were fated to be next in Waverly’s production line.
Alicia was in their bathroom, washing her face before bedtime. The lights on each side of the sink were softly lit. She finished rinsing and shut off the vintage faucets, one for hot and one for cold. Drying her face with a hand towel, she leaned over the sink as best she could to look at herself in the cabinet mirror. She was inspecting a blemish when she heard a tiny voice.
“Esperame.” wait for me
Alicia froze.
“Esperame.”
She looked around the small room, at the window which was closed, into the bathtub surround.
“Esperame.”
She peered into the sink.
She stepped into the bedroom where Miranda lay on her bed, reading a book by the light of the table lamp between their beds. “Miranda. Ven aqui. Come here.”
Miranda laid her paperback novel on top of her belly. “Why?”
Alicia wiped her face with the towel, again. “I heard something in here.”
Miranda commented, “Of course, I was talking.”
“You were?”
“No, stupida, I’m kidding. What did you hear?”
Alicia paused. “Juanita.”
22
Auggie had made me a free woman. I was still numb.
The evening he’d fought with Dale was just about the worst night of my life. I saw this wonderful man, this big man with an even bigger heart, take on an adversary I personally knew to be as mean and cutthroat as they come. I’d seen Dale in action with his knife; he was proficient and deadly. Auggie proved beyond a shadow of a doubt that good can triumph and sometimes the bad ones die young. I’d been terrified as I’d seen them lay on the ground, not knowing who’d been shot by the police. My relief at seeing Auggie’s blue eyes open, and his smile, nearly gave me a heart attack. I’m still coming down from the adrenalin.
I’d helped Auggie to his feet with the aid of one of the officers. The big man went over and sat down at the ill-fated picnic table, and held me close while the officers called for removal of the body. I kept running my hands through his hair and dusting him off, making sure he was whole. We answered the official questions while they filled out their report. When Evelyn saw through the window that it was Dale who was dead and not Auggie, she let Bry go. He dashed out the door and ran to us, nestling between me and Auggie. She followed him out and joined us, relating her version of the events as well.
It was about an hour before the body was removed, and all of the loose ends were tied. Evelyn suggested that we regroup in her apartment, and offered us dinner there and comfort. It was a most welcome idea.
She had food sent up from the restaurant that evening. Cheeseburgers and fries seemed the simplest choice. The four of us sat around her dining table and ate together; every two seconds I looked over at Auggie, confirming his health and well-being. It quickly became an addiction that would become a lifetime habit.
I could see my son was wilting – although the little guy was one of the most resilient kids I’d ever seen, the afternoon’s events were enough to knock out an elephant. Evelyn let him lie down on her own bed, and he drifted right off to sleep. He didn’t even ask for his special bear. We covered him with a soft throw.
The three of us retired to Evelyn’s living room – a pleasant and eclectic space that reflected her many hobbies and interests. Her taste was impeccable yet quirky, comfortable and familiar. She had fabulous weavings from many parts of the world, a wonderful bookcase library that spanned an entire wall, carvings and art objects representing many cultures. The room was brimming with the wonderful energy she created, and Auggie and I both needed a jump-start. He and I sat together on her sofa, while she curled up in a papa-san chair nearby. She’d placed a tray with a bottle of old scotch and three glasses on the table between us. As we settled in, Auggie leaned forward and picked up the bottle. “A wonderful year, Mrs. E. May I?”
She nodded gracefully and smiled. He poured.
I was grateful for the additional warmth and relaxation.
“Evelyn,” I began. “I am so SORRY for what just happened out there.” I looked over at Auggie and sighed miserably. “I don’t even know how he found us.”
The lady was ever gracious and kind. “Maddy, don’t worry. The important thing is the very happy ending,” she said as she raised her glass to Auggie.
He poked his shirt in several places as if he were checking for holes. “Yes, I do seem to be in one piece. A very good thing. That little man was terribly slick with that knife.” He raised his glass again.
“How do you think he did find us?”
She considered for only a moment. “Well dear, this place has been here for ages and is very well known. It’s right on a major highway – THE major highway West. If he thought you’d headed this direction, it would have been a natural choice to stop at and look around. Your car is visible from the parking lot, and as I understand, he knew the car well.”
She was all-knowing. I’d had that car longer than I’d had Dale. Once I’d parked it in front of my room, I’d not yet gotten the repairs done and it hadn’t moved in a month. “You’re absolutely right, of course.” I wished I’d been a little more cautious.
“Mrs. E, I want to thank you for dinner and for this time together. It’s very kind of you to open your home to us.” His manners were ever gracious.
“Not at all, Doctor. I’m happy to do so. All of you are very special to me.”
He added, “I also want to thank you for hiring Madeleine.” I smiled as he looked at me. “She’s a free woman now. And that makes me very, very happy.” He raised his glass to me, and I b
lushed. He polished off his scotch. “Another round?” We all held our glasses out for more.
We chatted about the Junction, the work, the weather. I went back to the bedroom to check on my son, fast asleep, his face peaceful and serene. I used her bathroom and washed my face and hands. As I dried my face on one of her hand towels, I inhaled deeply of the soft scented fabric. It was as comforting as her hug.
I rejoined the group, and as my glass was half-full, I topped it off myself with more. Auggie looked at me with one eyebrow raised. I sat next to him, took a drink, and then sat my glass back down on the table. Evelyn looked at me expectantly.
“Evelyn, I have something to say. Something to tell you. And Auggie, my newest and dearest friend, I want you to hear this too.” I hung my head for a moment, looking at my lap, gathering my thoughts.
I looked back up at Evelyn. Her face held the wisdom of the ages and I knew that there would never be anything I couldn’t share with her.
“I have never been happier in my life, since you let me come to stay here with you. I’ve made so many new friends, and my son is so happy. Even though we have nothing, we have everything. We are free. The events you set into motion for me have made us free. Thank you from the depth of my soul, for that freedom.” She simply smiled that beautiful, gracious smile. She was my goddess, my mentor. Auggie put his arm around me, and I patted his leg.
“There’s something that has been bothering me, though. And it’s something I need to share with both of you. Despite what happened here today. There won’t ever be a good time, so I hope you can forgive me, but I must release this from myself so that I can begin to heal.” I felt the weight and comfort of Auggie’s hand against my own.
“Evelyn, do you remember that first day you took me to town with you, to the bank, and then dropped me up at the House because you said Mr. Waverly wanted to meet me?”
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