Chapter and verse.
Susan is crying. Is she angry with me? Is she ashamed? What's the cause? Jenny tries to comfort her but she will not be comforted. I wait.
She slumps into one of the chairs by the table. The sobbing is growing less intense. Finally she rights herself, looks at me, nods and offers, All this, every bit, is my fault. I sorry for it, Ron. As soon as you say last night that they all will go, I should know why. Even before, I know the younger ones are too young. I know you not want any that young. You make it clear with Jenny. I should not include them at all. Instead of five, only should be one downstairs. But maybe she too young too. Maybe this my big big mistake. You 100% right. They all need to go. I sorry I stupid.
We all make mistakes. I love you and love does not stop when there is a mistake. I love Elvie, even though she has been a problem today. I love you Jenny, and hope to be with you tonight, though right now things are stressful. What I can't do is love a twelve-year-old who doesn't have a clue about what love is and is too young by at least a couple of years to learn. Joydee and Jas are less motivated by loving me than they are to find a safe place for their sisters. I am not a safe place. Not for them. ... It is too late to convince Elvie of that but, Joydee and Jas may solve the problem for us. In the meantime, I want to look for a car. Jenny you want to come along?
I get eyebrows on that and a brief smile from both the girls. However before I can move, Elvie enters with Aimelyn. Each with a tray of food and each completely naked. They put the trays on the table and Elvie asks, Is there anything else?
Before I can even figure out what to say, Jenny has her phone out. She evidently has a number for Joydee's phone. She tells the girl to get her ass back up here now.
Elvie tries to hurry Aimelyn out the door but, Susan is blocking it. Thirty seconds later, someone is trying to get in to the room. Susan opens the door to admit Joydee who sees her naked sister and naked Elvie.
At this moment, I have had more than enough of this crap today. Joydee, did you have anything to do with this?
No!
Will you be surprised if I send both you and Aimelyn home immediately?
No, Sir. I see why. You going to kick Elvie out too?
No. Elvie is very wrong. But she is mine. She cannot leave me and I will never make her leave. Like marriage, no choice. She is here forever. When I commit, it is like that. Even when I am angry, it makes no difference.
With one exception, there is quiet in the room. Elvie is crying. Joydee picks her head up to look at me. Sir? That is why you say we can't stay? Because we cannot forever commit our love and bodies to you? Because Aimelyn too young, even if maybe I not?
Yes. Even if Elvie can teach Aimelyn all she needs to know, and Aimelyn might happily do it, that does not make her special. Yes it would make her competent but, not special. To be special, you need to be both fully competent and the other. You need to deeply in your soul want to commit your body and love to me AND the other girls in this house. Maybe you can do that. I doubt it but, maybe you can. Aimelyn is not old enough to be able to do that. You need to take care of her more than you need to be separate from her so you can be with us.
Sir, it OK if I take Aimelyn downstairs, put clothes on her and get back to work. Sir, we need the money.
OK, go. But Aimelyn, you are to never do anything like this again. Do you understand? But before Aimelyn can speak, Joydee interrupts. Sir, if she tries, I will beat her to death myself. No worry.
OK, go. And they do with Elvie attempting to leave with them. Jenny and Susan stop her.
I am fit to be tied. Elvie, what am I going to do with you?
Jenny is laughing. I look over at her. She stifles the laugh and tries to speak between chuckles. You need to spank her, Sir. Spank her very hard. Use a belt. Use a hair brush. But she needs a spanking. I look at Susan. Spanking a seventeen-year-old doesn't seem like a particularly effective response. To my surprise she says, Well, since you mean what you say, she can't leave and you won't kick her out, even though you should, so you should beat her bloody or spank her hard.
Susan do you have some lipstick you don't really like?
Yes.
Go get it right now.
Susan comes back with the lipstick. I tell Elvie to lean over the table. Susan, please write in Ilonggo, on Elvie's back the following. 'I am a stupid cunt who will not do as told.' Elvie you are to stay naked. You must not remove the words until you shower tonight and Susan you are to reapply the message tomorrow morning. Elvie you are to continue supervising and cooking. You may not hide or cover the message up. OK we are done here. ... Susan, Jenny and I will eat our lunch and then she and I will leave on our errand.
I think Susan enjoys writing the message. She is smiling as she does it and laughs as Elvie finally walks out of the door naked. Jenny is laughing so hard there are tears on her cheeks.
Susan, tomorrow, pay the girls for the entire week and send them all home. If Elvie asks why, tell her it is because of what she did just now.
Ron, Elvie may leave.
Then we bring her back if we can. She was wrong but, she did what she did because she knew the desperate lives those girls live. She did it out of a real desire to save them. I know why she did it. I just know, it is wrong for us and would have made a mess for the girls. It is possible to understand that her motivations were good but that, when I say no, she does not have the right to do that sort of shit.
Susan puts her spoon down, pushes her plate away and shakes her head. I am going to talk to her. I really don't think she understands you. I know I am learning things about you too.
Once Jenny and I finish our lunch, it is down the stairs, past girls who are seriously frightened by what they have seen on Elvie's back. Joydee comes up to us and interrupts our exit. Sir, may I tell the girls why Elvie is in trouble?
You can tell them that she brought your sister to me naked after I told her to not ever do anything like it. You can say I never touched your sister and never will. That you know this for a fact. That is all you can say but, I think that is enough. OK?
Yes, Sir. Thank you, Sir.
So far this has been a no good very bad day, and I am damned close to Australia.
Jenny and I ride off to the closest car dealer. I have been checking out a Mitsubishi Mirage. It is time to get serious about it. It will carry five of us and six if we squeeze. It's half the price of an SUV at a little higher than ₱600,000 ($13,000) new and far more maneuverable. The roads here are narrow so that is definitely in its favor. Jenny is saying, What if we get two maids?
My answer is that at all times, someone needs to be home. Jenny thinks I am rushing into this and considering the turmoil at home, maybe it is a fair assessment. We stop half the way to the dealer, pull off the road and just talk for a while. She argues that it has been a fairly nonstop process since I got back from Immigration. We need a time out. Time before any major decisions. Jenny is right. OK but I do need a TV in my bedroom. That does not have to be a really major purchase. So we soldier on, this time for the TV. If we get it, it will have to come back with Jenny via jeepney. That, I point out to Jenny, is because we are not buying a car today. I don't think she gets the sarcasm.
I get home at four in the afternoon. Jenny will arrive later with the purchase. When I arrive, Susan is paying off the five girls for the entire week's wages' even though they have only put in three days. There are tears from three of the girls, anger or maybe just frustration from Jas. One, Joydee, is stoic. She knows why they are leaving and while there is regret, I suspect there is knowledge as to why it has to be. We will pay for the jeepney to carry them back, when it arrives.
I see Elvie lurking in the dirty kitchen, still naked. I sit in the sala and just cool my jets. It has not been the day I wanted. Of course, that is baked into the cake. There are going to be bad days. I wonder if Elvie is going to try to leave.
I hear the jeepney climbing the hill. Susan marshals the girls out to the road. I hear the jeepney stop, lots of voices and then nothing for a bit. The sound of the jeepney leaving breaks the silence until it crests a hill and the sound is gone. Then the sound of voices, Karen, Susan and Jenny in animated dialog out on the terrace. A door slams and Karen is screaming. I don't know why. Susan is trying to stop her but, Karen will have none of it. Ah, she's screaming at Elvie. I hear Elvie crying.
Jenny plops down on the couch next to me, exhausted and unwilling to engage in the fray.
I hear Karen screaming Get out! No, that will not do. I get up and move toward the sound. Get Out! You ruin it! This is not good.
Karen is in Elvie's face. k'Ren stop it!
Why? She ruins everything!
No! No she didn't. Stop yelling. Elvie, the punishment is over. You can clean up and get dressed. Tell Susan I said so, and have her help you. Go now! But you, k'Ren, stay here. What is your problem?
She ruined it.
What did she ruin?
The selection!
Go get Jenny and come right back here. No side trips.
No more than a minute later I have Karen and Jenny with me. OK k'Ren, again, what did Elvie ruin?
The selection!
Jenny, was there going to be any selection?
No. They were all going home at the end of the week.
What?
Do you need Jenny to repeat that?
Why?
Because they were wrong for us and I made the decision last night and confirmed it twice today. Do you need your sister here to confirm that too?
Really? She agree?
You can ask her when she is done with Elvie but, yes she agrees. Ask Jenny if she agrees.
Karen looks over to the oldest female in the house. Jenny's glance is level and firm. She takes her time before pointing a finger at Karen and saying, Ronald, Susan and me agree. No selection. Those girls a mistake. They wrong for Ronald. Wrong for us. Elvie make mistake to fight us. She try get them to stay. You wrong to scream at Elvie. You go tell her you sorry.
I agree with Jenny. You owe Elvie an apology. The only thing she didn't do is to ruin the selection. The thing she did do is shorten their stay with us by three or four days. At the end, I was sending them all home. I told her that. So go tell her you are sorry.
Karen leaves and Jenny frowns, looks at me, turns to a cupboard, grabs a glass, moves to the water cooler, pours a tall cool glass of water and hands it to me. Bad day Ronald. Very bad day but you do right.
I hope so. It just feels like a mess right now.
Big question is what you do about Elvie.
I know. She disobeyed not once, not twice but, three times. Each time it was worse. I am not sure how I can trust her any more. I love her and will not send her away but, there is the problem of trust.
You right, she do it out of good intentions. She just want to help the girls.
I know it and it just doesn't help me know what to do. My head is aching. Susan wanders in and grabs a glass of water with Karen following a minute later. We are all quiet. No one has anything to say. Finally it seems to me we all just need to sit down and make peace with each other. Jenny, please ask Elvie to join us. We need to get OK with each other and start fresh. The anger and hurt has to end. We are all still together. Nothing bad has happened to us that we can't fix. We just had a bad day.
Five minutes later Jenny runs and asks me to get on the motorcycle. Elvie has left, leaving a note saying she doesn't belong here. I ask Jenny to come with me. We follow the road toward town. Just a short ways in that direction, we find Elvie, waiting for a jeepney in a spot it is hard to see at a distance.
Why you come?
Because I love you. Now get on the bike.
I no want.
I understand. Get on the bike. If we agree you need to go, I will take you to town myself later. No need for the jeepney.
Promise?
Yes.
She gets behind Jenny and we three ride back to the house. Susan and Karen hear us coming and meet us in the Sala. I sit down which I guess is a clue for the rest to do the same.
Susan turns to Elvie. Why did you leave?
You all hate me.
What? That is Jenny. What does Ronald say to you when we stop?
He say he love me.
Then why do you say he hate you?
Because he send the girls away. If he love me, he not do that.
If Ronald disagrees with you, it means he not love you?
Well... Elvie seems to understand, maybe that's a pretty flimsy position. It important to me!
Susan takes a softer tone. And it is important to all of us. Jenny and I listened to Ron. He explained why these girls were wrong for this house. He is right and we agree with him. Keeping them would have been a horrible mistake for them and for us. Ron didn't make this decision to hurt you. He did it to protect all of us and to protect those girls.
No! You hurt me and you hurt those girls.
Elvie, who has the final say here? Is it you, or is it Ron?
Ronald, of course.
If he makes a decision you disagree with, is it time to run away?
I not run away when it not important.
When it isn't important, is not the test of loyalty. Not running away when you disagree, and it is important, is the test of loyalty. If you love Ron, and you told him you do, you need to be loyal. If you belong to him and you do, you need to be loyal. Today you were not loyal. That need to change, and leaving is not right.
Elvie is crying. I sorry, I do love Ronald. But I must help those girls. I will go to where they stay and care for them. No one do that for them now. I must. I sorry but I must. Maybe this not right place for them. OK I not fight that. Maybe Ronald is correct. I need to go to them.
I can tell this is important to Elvie. I know she is being honest now. Elvie, how long will you be gone from me?
Ronald, I not come back. This will be years.
Ron? This is Karen. Is there any way we could select those girls?
In unison, Susan and Jenny say. No. I am sad about this but, it is the way it must be.
I tell Karen, They are correct. There just isn't any way. Joydee and Jas figured that out this afternoon. They agree with us. It is not possible in their eyes, just as it is not in ours.
Oh, I not know this. Elvie, you know and I know, there are thousands of girls just like those five. We can't take them all anyway. You can't save them all either by leaving. We are a family here. Don't leave.
I go. I must.
OK, Elvie. I will take you into town in the morning. It is too late to go tonight. It is not safe. However if you change your mind, please come back. I am not kicking you out. I am not shutting you out. I am telling you to stay but, I will not tie you up to force you. I promised to take you to town if you insisted on leaving. I am keeping that promise but, am not happy I am doing it.
We all gather around Elvie and hug her. I have no idea what triggered the insanity that took hold of her earlier. I do not understand what she thinks she can do for those girls but, there are times you just have to let go.
Elvie breaks free of the last hug and says she needs to get busy. I ask, With what?
Your supper. I need to cook.
Yeh, I know, it's nuts.