Alive, alive-O!
Her name is Anita. She is skin and bones. Not much more. She is sick. That much is clear. We put her in the back seat of my car and take her to a health clinic. She is afraid. She has no money and can't pay. Nene, tells her to Kalma ka!
And, in that moment, I have a flashback to my first few minutes with Nene.
Nene tells Nita, we will pay for the doctor. Nita asks why we will do this. Nene's answer is a simple one.
Because Howard loves me and he does this for me.
§ § §
We are at the clinic for a good four hours. They have an x-ray machine and take a chest x-ray of Nita. At a minimum, she has walking pneumonia and very high fever. There is a possibility she suffers from tuberculosis. They take a sputum sample. They will give us the results in a couple of weeks, but I hear a nurse say, quietly, to someone else in the office, If she lives that long. I get three prescriptions to take to a drug store.
In truth, Nita looks like shit. Physically, she is taller than Nene. She does seem to have all her teeth. But her body is without anything under the skin. The skin just hangs and droops over bones. She does have clothing, if you can call a ripped faded tee shirt, and faded worn ill-fitting shorts, clothing. The flip-flops are well beyond their expiration date. She might as well be barefoot.
On the way home, with Nita in the back seat, I stop at the same Mercury Drug I stopped at last year, that first day I met Nene. Nene reminds me we still have the medicated shampoo, but need some medicated soap and a few personal items. She tells me she will stay with Nita as I make the purchases.
The drugs are all generic and the cost is minimal. The soap, toothbrush, razor, comb and brush are also inexpensive. It's not a big deal for me, but for Nita, it is a very big deal and when she realizes what we have gotten for her, she starts to bawl.
When we come to the house, Nene gets out, unlocks and opens the gate. I drive through and she closes it. I am busy with the Mercury Drug bag and the packages we have in the trunk, while Nene gets Nita out, pulling her to the house. Nita is whimpering. Nene is having none of it. She scolds her friend, as she drags Nita through the house and out to the wash room.
Dropping the other bags on the kitchen counter, I follow to two of them out to the wash room, handing the bag from Mercury Drug to Nene, before retreating.
Howard! Come back!
Why? You don't need me.
Yes, I do. Help me with Nita.
Nene, why? You can do this.
Nita is cowering and whimpering. I doubt she is even paying attention to the conversation. The female is terrified.
Do not be difficult! Help me. Nita, she needs to know this.
Know what?
That she is yours, you fool. She not a guest here. She belongs to you. You do this.
Since when did I become a slave holder?
Howard! Stop being so difficult. She must know this, or she will not do as we need. She will run away because she cannot repay you. Maybe she will die. She must know she is yours. Then she will be good and stay.
OK, OK, so what do you want me to do?
Here, take this soap. Nene hands me a bar of the antibacterial soap I have just purchased. I will use the other bar. You soap her front. I will soap her back. And with that, Nene reaches down, grabs Nita's tee shirt and pulls it up and off the girl. She stands Nita up and removes the shorts which look a bit soiled on the inside where we find no panties. Nita is naked, shaking and freaking out.
Nene and I have removed our house slippers that we put on when entering the house. Nene removes her dress and is standing in bra and panties. I remove my slacks and shirt, tossing them on a counter.
Nene dumps a huge ladle of water over Nita and then another. Wails come from Nita. Nene ignores them and starts soaping the girl up while telling me to get with the program.
I start with Nita's shoulders, neck and arms. The sobbing continues but not as hysterically as before. Nita seems to be accepting this, a little. I tell her to close her eyes so that I can wash her face. She complies.
I dump water over her face, soap it up and then more water to rinse the soap of her face. Next I start soaping her belly, outer hips and thighs. Nita reaches down and pulls my hand up to her breasts. With the bar of soap in my hand, she uses my hand to soap up her breasts. They are nice breasts, a bit larger than are Nene's. The nipples are dark points and they are hard pebbles.
Then, Nita, soap still in my hand, soaps her pubes. There is more than stubble on the pubes. Nita stops the sobs long enough to ask Nene if she can have a razor. Nene asks me if I have purchased a razor at the drug store. I have and Nene removes it from the bag, before handing it to Nita.
Nita uses my hand again, soaps her pubes before pushing my hand aside and applying the razor to the stubble. Nita is no longer crying. She concentrates on the task at hand. The stubble is removed, with intermittent applications of additional soap from my hand. Finally done with that task, Nita sticks out a leg, indicating that she is ready for the leg to be washed. I try to hand the bar to her and tell her she is to complete the task. She looks at me, and in a very small voice pleads, You please?
I finish off washing her legs, but tell her she is to wash her own feet. Nene has given her back and ass a complete cleaning. What is left is the hair. Nene tells Nita what it about to happen. We dump ladles of water over Nita's head and begin shampooing it, vigorously.
Once the shampoo is completely washed off, the procedure is repeated with a second application of the medicated shampoo. Nene hands Nita a comb and tells her to finish the task. Grabbing our clothing, Nene and I retreat from the room.
Nene, she needs clothing.
I know. I will give her some now.
How? Yours are too small for her.
Flor's will fit.
We still have those?
Yes, I save them in some boxes. I not throw Flor's things out. I think maybe that will be bad luck. Well, that is news to me, but not a surprise in some ways. Flor hangs over all that happens in this home. Now dressed, Nene goes into a back bedroom and comes back a few minutes later with the same robe I first put Nene in, when she was the one in the washroom. She gives me a smile that is a cross between a conspiratorial grin and the smile of a loving wife, hoping to make her husband happy.
Nene scoops up a pair of flip-flops, and adds that to the robe and bath towel, she has draped over her arm, and before going out to the washroom.
When the two females emerge twenty minutes later, Nita is wrapped in the robe, her hair wrapped in the towel and is she smiling but her head is tilted down towards the floor. She stops in front of me. Without ever looking up she says, Thank you, Sir. Thank you very much. I will be good to you. She then scurries off into the back bedroom with Nene.
A couple of minutes later Nene is back out and getting the rice cooker going. Howard, we need to feed her, and let her rest. OK?
Yes, of course. Why do you ask? This is obvious.
OK, well, she is yours now and she needs to make that real, but first I want her to be healthy.
Nene, I do not need anyone else. I thought you knew this better than anyone else!
She will not kick me out! I am not worried about her. She needs you and I am giving her to you.
Nene, she is not yours to give!
Yes, she is. I make you save her. She is mine to give you. She knows this.
That makes no sense! Let Nita get healthy and she can go do what she wants. I do not own anyone.
You are a fool! Howard! Stop being difficult! You will see. She is yours now.
She had children?
Yes, a small boy and a baby boy.
She said they are dead?
Yes. Dengue. Last month.
Damn. Both last month?
Yes.
§ § §
For the next two weeks, all Nita did was take the medicine, and eat misua soup, and rice topped with vegetables and/or egg. Nene said her stomach was not strong enough for chicken, fish or pork. But more than anything else, it was rice. Three meals a day, lots of rice.
Nita rarely came out of the bedroom, and when she did, she was wrapped in the white silk robe with red and orange flowers that she had on the first day. When I did see her, she was invariably polite and shy. Her face appeared to be taking on a more healthy aspect. But there was little to see as she was wrapped in the robe.
Nene takes her back to the clinic. The sputum test result comes back negative, and a chest x-ray shows that the pneumonia is gone. The doctor announces that she is pleased and sends Nita back with a glowing report. But Nita is still weak. She sleeps a great deal of the time and when she is up, she putters around in the garden. She does start eating chicken and fish, joining us for some meals. In the days that follow her second clinic visit, she starts slowly coming back to life. She displays a sense of humor. She is teasing Nene. She is still shy around me, but she does talk to me.
She has gained three kilos in the five weeks since we brought her home.
I receive this news about the three kilos as Nita is standing in front of me in one of Flor's dresses. I am having a hard time paying attention to the news as Flor's form stands just five feet from me, a bright smile beaming at me, white teeth distracting me, and hips that are swaying to some unheard tune moving my heart.
But the next part I hear very clearly. And so, Sir, I am healthy for you to take now. I can cook for you, clean for you and I am ready for your bed.
Nita, I do not need you in my bed. Nene is in my bed. I am not going to change that. And if Nene stops being in my bed, then I will sleep alone.
No, Sir! I not to replace Nene! No! Never! Never! I owe all to you and Nene. I not do that to her! Sir! I will be in your bed also. Both Nene and me, we are yours.
Nene! This is your idea?
Howard, I tell you, she belongs to you! Why you not believe me?
Because, my love, people are not property. People can not belong to other people.
Howard, you are the one who is wrong! Nita, who you belong to?
Sir Howard, of course!
Why do you belong to him?
Because he saved our lives. Without him, we both dead! He give you life and then he give me life, because of you. Without him, all is dead. Why I not belong to such a man?
Howard, do you understand now? Nita and me, we belong to you.
Nene, you belong to me in the same way I belong to you. It is because of love.
No! It true I love you, but I belong to you even without love. You not die, if we not meet. Howard, it not the same. You could have sent me away. That is what I afraid of. Remember? You make it so I not leave, but you not have to do that. It is a choice you make! I have no choice. I am yours. I glad of it, but there really no choice.
And the same it true for Nita?
Yes!
That is not good. I do not want anyone to feel they must be with me.
Howard! You are being super difficult. You are like a god. You give life when it was all gone. Why you want to take away what you give. Without you there is no life for Nita. If she belongs to you, then she lives. Do not throw her away, please.
Nita, you are standing here, and have heard all this. Is what Nene says true? If I say you are not mine, you think you will die.
Yes, Sir. I know this. It is true. Where I go? What I do? You not find me pretty enough? I not good enough for you?
Nita, when I first see you, it is true that you are not pretty. But now, yes, you are pretty. It is just that I already have my girl, my Nene, and how do I take another girl, when I am Nene's?
It is OK with Nene. We share. You will see. It is OK.
Nene, you are going to be in bed with Nita and me? Truly?
Yes, of course. We will make you happy.
Nene, I am already happy.
Happier, Howard. And you can give Nita another child. She needs this! Howard, give her life.
§ § §