Across the Great River (12 page)

“Olga,” I whisper. “Stay with me until I sleep.”

She chuckles, “If that's what you want, but only for a moment. I have many other things to do.” She clamps her hand on my wrist and smiles down at me.

When I awake I find that Olga has gone. Feeling better, I dress myself and go downstairs. Olga is in the kitchen humming a tune. “What would you like to eat?” she asks. “I've made some fresh hot oatmeal.”

I nod and sit where she directs. She continues to whistle as she serves me. “Eat quickly because we have to visit your Mama.” She brings me a cup of sweet coffee and some orange juice. “I called Doctor Mendez and told him you seemed a bit tired. He said to let you get all the sleep you needed, then to drive you to the hospital. I am to wait with you until your visit is over.”

I take a spoonful of oatmeal, then glance up. “And, where is she … Señora Pilar?”

“Ah, bad news. And I guess it could be good news, too. It seems the good doctor did not come home last night and the señora is very upset.”

“She doesn't seem to care for him anyway,” I add, taking a spoonful of oatmeal and putting it in my mouth.

“Maybe, but she fears a scandal will hurt her precious family name … but that is none of our affair. Come on, child. Eat!”

I slam my spoon down. “Olga!” I cry, “you hurry me so much that you're beginning to tire me out!”

On hearing my outburst, her hand comes down upon her heart as if she'd been stabbed. “I am sorry, child,” she says softly. “I must learn to slow down for my own sake. Sometimes I believe that I've worked here much too long. I don't mean to act nervous, but Señora Pilar is always on my nerves,” she continues,
as if talking to herself. “Before he married her, this house was gay with laughter and laziness. Miss Nell, she made him laugh a lot. Now he never laughs.”

“Olga, he's sad, that's all.”

“True, oh, but he needs to take his mind off his work. If he continues as he is, he will grow old before his time. You mark my words!” She wipes her hands on her apron. “Now that you're finished, I'll put my apron on the rack and we'll be off. It's nice to be going somewhere, since I seldom get a chance to leave this house.”

“Yes, I'm ready to see Mama again,” I say, hoping that she is better.

Olga and I find Mama unmoving, yet staring at the ceiling. I, too, look up searching for whatever she sees, but I find nothing of interest. Olga straightens Mama's sheets while I talk about things that have happened since she fell ill. After ten minutes, Olga motions for us to leave and I kiss Mama goodbye.

“I don't think she'll ever be well again, Olga.” I cry once we are out of the room.

“Yes, she will, child. She needs time and lots of care.”

“Anita said that too.”

“Then she is a wise woman.”

I take Olga's hand, “And so are you, Olga.”

That afternoon I play outside in the doctor's large
flower garden. My favorite spot is far removed from the rest of the garden. There stands a small house with benches that one can sit upon and gaze at various rocks and flowers. Olga finds me there.

“Kata, come, it is almost time for supper.”

I take her hand as we walk back toward the house. Olga does not seem to be in a hurry, instead she strolls glancing at flowers on each side of the walk. “Olga,” I ask, “will the doctor be here for supper?”

She sighs, “Señora Pilar is eating out tonight and the doctor has other plans. You and I shall have supper together.”

I am disappointed, for I liked speaking with him. “I wish he would come home, Olga.”

“I spoke with him on the phone earlier, and he sounded very happy, lots gayer than I've seen him in a long time.” She puts her arm over my shoulder. “But, we shall have a very good supper tonight and it will be held in my favorite place … my own kitchen! Besides, with you here, I shall not be eating alone.”

“You are right!” I clasp my hands. “I love your kitchen, Olga, and I hate that dining room. Have you a piece of cake in your kitchen?” I ask, winking up at her.

“If there's not a piece already baked, we can spend tonight making a fresh one.”

“A whole cake! Can you show me how to make one, so that I can teach Mama when she gets well.”

“I most certainly will.” She takes my hand and we walk slowly up the path toward her kitchen.

That evening, Olga and I decide to make a chocolate cake. I pull up a stool and watch as Olga explains all the things that go into a cake. They are called “ingredients.”

We continue working and are only disturbed by the sound of a car starting up. “The señora must be leaving,” says Olga without stopping her work.

It is late when Olga and I sit together on stools to eat a slice or two of her cake. It is good, but not as delicious as Ramona's.

The black cat comes again that night. This time I fall harder into the dirt, and it is even heavier upon my chest. I kick with my legs and shove with my arms, but the cat stands strong, refusing to leave my chest. My eyes feel like bursting and I gasp for air with my mouth open wide. The cat seems to enjoy peeking down my throat and watching me struggle.

When I scream Anita's name, the cat jumps off my chest and disappears into the darkness. I lie still, trying to get air back into my empty lungs. Then I tremble and cry out loudly, “Anita!” I scream over and over again.

“Katarina! What's wrong?” questions Olga as she turns on the lights and pulls off the blankets. “You're wet and shaking.” She covers me, then rushes out of the room. I hear her pounding on the door down the hall. “Doctor! Come quick! The girl is ill!” she yells.

I try to sit up, but I cannot. The doctor rushes into the room. “Olga!” he orders. “Get these wet things off her. Do it quickly while I go downstairs to get my bag.”

Olga's fingers work quicky as she changes me into a clean gown. She carries me over to a big chair and sits me there while she makes the bed. “Don't worry child. The doctor will take good care of you,” she
says softly. She lifts me back into bed and makes sure that the blanket is snug around me. “Dear me, I wonder what's taking him so long?”

“Olga, please close the door and the windows. Don't let that cat in here again. Please!” I beg.

“Calm yourself, Kata. We don't have cats here. The señora hates cats.” She turns as the doctor enters the room.

“Move aside, man! I am needed here!” yells Anita.

“You've come!” I cry out.

She clutches her medicine bag to her chest and hurries to the bed. “I felt you needed me, Kata. Since last night I have had to fight the urge to come out here, but tonight I really knew that you needed me badly.” She puts her cloth bag down on the corner of the bed.

Olga lifts her hand to her face and says, “Doctor, who is this?”

The doctor ignores her question and walks to the bed. He puts his bag on the night table. “You can go, Olga. We'll look after Kata.”

Olga closes the door as quietly as she can. Anita pulls down the blankets and studies my chest and each of my legs.

“Anita, where is Pablito?” I ask in a whisper.

Anita smiles and pats my hand. “I sent for Don Juan to come stay while I make this trip in his truck.” Her smile fades. “I saw the cat in your dreams. A black cat with a black soul is no challenge for a small girl like yourself.”

The doctor pulls up a chair closer to the bed and sits watching Anita work. He reaches over and takes my wrist while he stares down at his pocket watch.

“Anita, I could not breathe.”

“I must see your back.” She turns me gently and grunts, then straightens the blanket. She pokes around in her bag and finally pulls up a red scarf and carefully unties it. “This should do just fine. I guarantee you will sleep tonight.” In her hand she holds a large yellow lemon, the largest and brightest I have ever seen. She sits the lemon on the table and searches her bag for a small tan bottle. She opens it and sniffs. “A drop of this on your tongue before we apply the lemon.”

It tastes bitter, and I pull away from her hold. I turn to the doctor, who sits back in the chair watching with curious eyes. Anita jerks the blanket from me with a quick snap of her wrist and then she pulls off the gown. She rolls the lemon over every inch of my body. I scream out, for it feels as if she is rubbing a block of frozen ice over me.

“Anita,” questions the doctor, “is this necessary?”

“For the cure to work, it must be done. It hurts me too, doctor.”

“But I don't understand what this technique does.”

“Someone has cast the evil eye upon her, and this ritual draws the evil from her body. This method is as old as the world and it works, it works.”

The doctor rises and feels my forehead. “Perhaps you are just adding to her hysteria and upsetting her more.”

“Perhaps!” snaps Anita. “But you shall have your time with her after I finish.” She stares at him until he turns his back and sits down again.

Anita finishes rubbing me and makes wide circles with the lemon. It seems she is drawing a giant halo over my entire body, then she takes the lemon and carefully puts it in a glass ashtray that sits on the
table near the bed. From her bag she pulls out a box of matches. She strikes one sets the flame under the lemon. The flame seems to want to die out, but Anita holds it firm to the lemon. Soon it seems the lemon begins to breathe, growing larger, then rapidly smaller. My eyes blur as Anita begins to chant under her breath, “Away with you, away to your world,” she says, over and over again.

The lemon expands like a ballon being filled and presently it begins to hiss as if it has a slow leak. The flame becomes larger and burns the lemon until there is nothing left but a faint smell.

“Remarkable!” exclaims the doctor as he rises to witness the disappearance.

“Ah,” says Anita, “perhaps you will believe a little more in my medicine.” She turns, “Look, her color returns. Now she shall sleep well for many nights.”

The doctor takes my wrist and studies his pocket watch. “Yes, I can see the difference in the pulse rate, but I still believe it is because she believes in you as a curer.”

“Anita,” I interrupt, “stay tonight.”

Anita takes my wrist and upon it she ties a bracelet made of seeds. “What is this?” I ask.

“Something I made for you. It's a charm to ward off all evil. It has six seeds, three small red and white seeds and three very large red and white seeds. Wear it always, Kata. Now rest, for I must return the truck to Don Juan. Pablito waits on me, too. I am with you always.” She gathers her cloth bag and her bottles and bends to kiss me. “You will feel well in the morning, and so shall your mother. I have seen her, too, and have given her my tea.”

The doctor leaves with Anita, but I can hear her as she carefully makes her way down the stairs. “Doctor
Mendez, perhaps you should attend Mass more often,” she commands.

He laughs, “And perhaps I should study medicine with you, Doña Anita.”

“It might do you some good, my friend, not to mention the good it will do your patients,” she adds.

“Nevertheless, I shall be watching Kata all night long.”

“So be it,” she says.

The following morning I awake feeling that I could run for miles and never tire and could jump the largest of rocks and never step on one. I can remember Anita tending me, but not much else.

“Olga,” I say after entering the kitchen, “I am starved. I will eat anything.”

She smiles, then feels my forehead. “Good, Kata, because you are the only one I have to cook for.”

“Where's Pilar?” I ask, taking a piece of toast.

“She has not returned since yesterday. The doctor left me a note to pack her things up. I understand she called to have all her things sent back to her home in Mexico.”

“Really! I am glad! Now he can be with Miss Nell like he wants to be!”

“Is that what he wants?” asks Olga in a very interested voice.

“Yes, and where is the doctor anyway?”

“He's been at the hospital since early this morning. They called him in for emergency surgery. That, added to your little problem last night, should make him fit for a couple of day's sleep. She reaches for her
saucepan. “Katarina!” she snaps, “stop eating all that butter or you shall become as fat as that old witch that visited you last night.”

“She is not an old witch, Olga. She is my friend and I love her like a grandmother … even if she is fat and ugly.”

Olga stares at me for a moment, then her face brightens as a smile breaks. “I don't care what she is, as long as she did you some good.” She hands me a plate. You see, the doctor and I had late coffee together and he explained everything after she left. It seems he thinks a lot of her in a mysterious sort of way.”

“Mysterious? What is that?”

“It means that he likes her and respects her, but can't really figure her out. You know, like you really can't figure out all the facts about God.”

“I see. Anita is very close to God, and she knows the devil, too. But she loves God enough to do his fighting against the devil.”

“Oh, I would not like to be in her shoes!” Olga adds, then quickly crosses herself.

I beg Olga to take me to see Mama that afternoon. She finally calls the doctor and he gives his okay. I find that Mama seems to hear me better. She slowly turns her head to me as if she can hear me, but can't see me.

“Mama! Hear me. Wake up, it's me, Kata!” I repeat it again.

“Give her time, Kata,” advises Olga as she changes the water on the stand.

“Time. She should be awake by now. Anita said so,” I snap.

“No one is perfect, Kata. Every person is different. If I'd been in your Mama's shoes, I'd probably be sleeping until next Christmas.”

“Next Christmas! I can't wait that long!” I howl.