Tombstone.
This morning I saw Miss Paisley and she showed me inside the clinic that had been completely renovated. It looked so much better. I looked up at her, telling her that I’d found out about my parents.
“I kinda sorta found out somethin’ yesterday…”
“Must have been scary. Jimmy told me you ran off.”
“Bout my real ma and pa and how they was killed… Well... Ma... she did what you do. She was killed while in bed with a man while she was working. And then Pa was killed by a pinkerton tryin’ to solve her murder.”
“I see. Why did they kill him?”
“Cause he wouldn’t help em.”
“Silly reason to kill a man…”
“Well see but I thought it meant I was gonna turn into a bad person too, like ma and pa. But I remembered you do that job too.”
“His heart must have been aching as his wife was killed.”
“And Mr. Alex said it was just to make money and your husband was okay with it.”
“He is, Nat. How old are you now Nat?”
“I shouldn’t have run but it was too scary... Thinkin my pa was killed by someone like Miss Trin… And my ma was killed while she was like you.”
“Well, it was not Miss Trin.”
“I know, and it weren’t you. So I had to remember that a job don’t make the person. A person makes the job. Ya know?”
“Yes. How old are you?”
“Well ’pparently I’m twelve. Not nine after all. The kids at the orphanage in Mississippi kept sayin’ I was nine.”
“Folks do make errors.”
“But I can’t be scared of you or Ma. You been real nice to me.”
“I fell into what I do when I was you age, but very slowly.”
“When you were my age?” I blinked.
“Yes.”
“They... do that at that age?”
“My mother passed when I was 10. No… It is a long story Nat.”
“Can you tell me? We can sit if you want but I’d like to hear it.”
“I can.”
“Maybe it’ll help me understand my Ma.”
“My father was a businessman and had some shady dealings and some good friends who also did shady deals. My father passed away a couple of years ago.”
“I sorry…” I looked at her as we sat down.
“His estate was handled by his best friend, a lawyer. One of those who did shady dealings, but was an incredible lawyer. He did have a son… I was actually engaged to this son. Bet you did not know that….” she said and I shook my head. “Well… this lawyer liked to host parties for select clients of his and certain friends. They were after hour parties and he had a hostess who greeted people. And then in the other room were ladies who danced and well.. other things too. Sometimes these ladies would also be daytime companions.”
“Like to take them for walks and stuff?”
“When I was your age.. I became the hostess. Yes. Walks or go to lunch.. chat…”
“That don’t sound so bad.”
“Nope… but the parties were a lot like what your mother did, and what I do. My father thought I was just hostessing all the time. He had no idea that as time went on, and I got older… At 14 I was moved to the other room.”
“Miss Paisley?” I looked at her.
“Yes?”
“Did you ever haveta..... be in bed with a bad person? Like an outlaw? Like ma?”
Miss Paisley blushed and then said, “I don’t think about that at the time. I think of a person. We are a people underneath.”
“Yeah but… What if they hurt you like they hurt my ma?”
“You know Mr. Mac?” she asked and I nodded. “Well, he is an outlaw right?”
“Yeah…”
“Well, on Friday at the concert, you know what I saw?”
“What?”
“I saw that outlaw... up front... dancing with children having a very fun time. I will tell you something else.. Anyone that has a gun places it on the desk in the room away from my bed sweetie.”
“Well that’s good…”
“I will tell you another thing… Any man that hurts me will have Tony after them for that reason only.”
“Do you tell Mr. Tony about what you do there?”
“He knows. He is ok with it.”
“But like do you tell him everything that happens?”
“The only reason he would be upset or mad is if I am harmed.”
“Or if you became um.. in love with one of ’em?”
“Goodness no. Privacy of a client. Tony has my heart sweetie.”
“Look around his neck the next time you see him. He has the key to my heart.”
“Okay. I think I will. Maybe talking to him will make me understand why Pa didn’t wanna help the Pinkertons. I think it was ’cause he didn’t want to talk about what she did there. He didn’t wanna know about the man Ma was with when she was killed.”
“I am sure your pa was hurting. If a man killed me, Tony would be deeply hurt.”
“Then they got in a gunfight and Pinkertons killed him.”
“It is why the guns are in another room. I try to ensure nothing happens like that.”
“Maybe he was mad that they were tellin’ everyone ’bout how Ma died…”
“I am sure. I try to not tell you children what I do. It is not for children to know.”
“I understand it’s just…” I nodded.
“Well I’m twelve now, ma’am, and…”
“I know... your mother makes it different.”
“I wanted to understand my birth ma a bit better. The report talked about it in detail so I read all ’bout what people do there.”
“Now you know why children are not allowed in there.”
“It makes more sense now,” I nodded. “I don’t ever wanna be in a place like that if bad people go there.”
“Do you know TJ?” she asked and I cringed, nodding. “Don’t cringe. He protected me in there.”
“He used to be ma’s friend. Then here he became mean again. Was mean to me.”
“I am sorry he was mean to you. There was a man who became fixated on me. He was stalking me. I was dancing with TJ and this man was unhappy. He was singing his despair over seeing me dance with TJ. He drew a weapon in Annie’s and was going to shoot TJ. I was in line of fire. TJ shot him first to protect me.”
“Wow.”
“Yes. I would have been shot in the back sweetie.”
Doc Freja came into the clinic and we talked about how different it looks and how much better it is. She said that Mr. Lot did the work on it and Miss Paisley explained that they had a soft spot in their hearts sometimes.
“Doc Freja I put on my first bandage yesterday,” I told her.
“Oh, very nice!” she smiled.
“Mr. Alex and I were in here and he was teachin’ me stuff and when he went to get the supplies from the counter, he dropped it and cut his hand. So I put some alcohol on a cloth and after I cleaned it I put that on it then wrapped his hand.”
“I bet he will hate having to take it off…” Miss Paisley said.
“Well now he won’t have to reach so high for those bottles.”
“Gosh...well, I’m glad that he was here to tell you what to do,” Doc Freja said. “The cut was deep?”
“And that it turned in to a wonderful lesson for you!” Miss Paisley exclaimed. “Do you sew Nat?”
“Uh huh. Not to deep. He was very brave. I told him to get on the bed right away and got to work on it.” I looked at Miss Paisley and shook my head. “I never learned to sew.”
“You should learn.”
“How come?”
“Well, I think it is wonderful that he is teaching you,” Doc Freja laughed.
“So you will be a natural for suturing,” Miss Paisley said.
“Suturing?”
“Stitches,” she smiled. “For deeper cuts.”
Doc Freja went out to get some things done and I asked Miss Paisley if she could teach me how to sew and she said she would give it a try.
“So, keep in mind that all outlaws are not bad all the time..” she went back to our earlier discussion.
“Yeah… And not all doves…” I winked at her.
“Just use caution,” she smiled.
“And… Pinkertons may have done bad stuff back then but… That ain’t Miss Trin.”
“Certainly not Miss Trin. I would prefer that girls stay away from my profession until much older. Have a chance to explore and decide for themselves.”
“I busy enough with things here, Miss Paisley. You don’t gotta worry about me.”
“I have no worries about you... You want to do wonderful things. I simply gained a love of dance while I was doing those parties… and decided to resume after I was here for a little while. I missed the dancing too much. The other stuff... just comes with the job. It makes the time Tony is in town more enjoyable. He will be back in town Sunday.”
“I hope I can meet him someday.”
“I can make sure you do sweetie. He arrives soon after Pet’s service.”
Miss Paisley headed out to do an errand and then a woman came into the clinic and I asked her if she liked the look, but she said she didn’t and that it was too girly for Tombstone. I told her to not get shot or for checkups and she wouldn’t have to come there. I told her Mr. Lot did it and she said that she liked having windows like before. I asked why people needed to see in and she told me her name was Ranger Amara. I told her about Miss Trin and Mr. Tom and how she could get a checkup with Mr. Alex, or Miss Bree or Miss Jess. After a while I headed home to get more reading done.
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