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JakeRivers
JakeRivers
1,057 Followers

It was actually quite nice. The flooring and walls were old heart redwood that had aged to a beautiful patina. There wasn't much furniture but what I had there was high quality. It was attractive and looked bigger than it was.

I showered quickly and put on jeans and an old sweater. I waved Nara into the bathroom and put some coffee on. The shower was running, the coffeepot was perking, the Miles Davis CD was adding a little mood music … but I was still able to hear the faint scratch of the key in the door.

It could only be Ceria, though I really wasn't expecting her. She threw the door open, her face more stormy than the rain outside.

"What the hell do you mean, running off and leaving me alone at the dance?"

Before I could point out to her that she hadn't been alone when I left, she spotted Nara's wet clothes neatly folded and piled on the floor in front of the bathroom door.

"What's this? These aren't my clothes!"

Of course, at that moment the shower was turned off – a noise not noted until it's absence.

"Who's taking a shower? What's going on here, Eddie?"

I hadn't said a word as yet. And I really wasn't sure exactly what was going on. The door to the bathroom opened, the steam roiling out in soft clouds, and Nara stood there in Ceria's robe drying her hair with a towel.

My fiancée looked at Nara, at me, at Nara and exploded, "God damn it, Eddie, this is too much. You bastard!"

With that Ceria tugged her engagement ring off and threw it at me with an angry glance. Running to the door she threw it open and cast a venomous glance back at Nara … and slammed the door with no small amount of violence.

I stared at the door, then at Nara. The entire crazy episode had happened without Nara or I saying a single word. I had this vision of Dante and my (ex?) fiancée kissing on the balcony in the misty moonlight.

I picked the ring up off the floor – it really was quite nice … and way more than I could afford – and looking at Nara I asked, "Hey, Nara, do you want a ring?"

She looked at me, by turns horrified and astounded. We stood there for a long minute and suddenly I started laughing. Well, at first it was more of a choked giggle but soon I was rolling on the floor and Nara was standing there looking confused and lost. It wasn't that funny, but sometimes, well, I guess I was just stressed out.

I finally quieted down and showed Nara how to run the small washer with the equally small dryer stacked on top. While her clothes were washing I poured us each a mug of coffee with a healthy dollop of brandy in it. As I gave it to her, I realized I hadn't really looked closely at her.

She was basically really small. She couldn't have been more than five-two. Any taller than that and she probably would have made it over the railing and I'd be talking to the police now. Her damp hair was straggling down her back but looked rich and thick. Her eyebrows were a bit heavy and obviously had never been plucked. She looked to be barely sixteen and I started wondering what kind of trouble I'd got myself into.

Hesitantly, I tried, "Nara, you're just a kid. I'd better call the police."

With more anger than I expected, she replied, "I'm not a kid! I'm a woman." At once, near tears, and belying the woman part, she pleaded, "Don't call the police. Please, my family … "

"What about your family?"

She got up to put her clothes in the dryer.

When she came back, I got a better look at her. She was startlingly pretty, with her skin a slightly dusky color to go along with her dark brown hair. Her eyes were medium brown with a few tawny streaks thrown in. She looked like a fashion model that had forgotten to grow up.

She looked at me, her eyes round and large, doe eyes, and started silently crying. I didn't know what to do. I finally gave up and figured it would be better to sleep on it. I fixed the small sofa up for her to sleep on. It wasn't very long and there was no way was I going to stay awake all night trying to sleep on the sofa when it fit her perfectly.

I put my pajamas on in the bathroom – I hadn't slept in them for years and was somewhat surprised that I still had them. I started to turn the light off when Nara asked, "Eddie, please, por favor, leave the light in the bathroom on?"

Poor kid. She must be scared to death.

NARA'S STORY

In the middle of the night I could hear Nara softly crying. My heart went out to her but I didn't know what to do about it. I thought about trying to comfort her but I was concerned about making her more scared than she was now.

I fell into a deep sleep and when I woke up Nara was sitting at the small table next to the kitchen. She was dressed in the now clean and dry clothes she had on the night before. She had found the orange juice and was drinking some from a tall glass

She saw me looking at her and blushed a little bit and turned her face away. I got up and took my clothes in the bathroom and dressed. When I got back to the kitchen I put some coffee on. While it was perking we didn't talk to each other more than a spare hello.

When the coffee was ready I held a cup up towards Nara and she nodded her okay. With coffee in place I sat down and looked at her, making her turn her head away again.

"Nara, look at me," I said softly, "You can't just hide from life. You didn't really want to end everything last night, did you?"

Looking at me now, with her big round eyes, she whispered, "No, I didn't."

"Well, Nara, I think you have three choices. I can call the police, you can call your family or you can talk to me. I'm sure you don't want the police and I suspect that your family is part of the problem so I suggest you tell me your problems and I'll see if there is anything we can work out. Do you agree?"

She nodded her acquiescence.

"Why don't we have some breakfast first and then we can talk?"

I took her to a good breakfast place two blocks away. I went there at least once a week for either breakfast or lunch. I liked to cook my own dinners. I became good friends with the owner, Kendra Allen. She was in her late fifties and when her husband had retired from the San Francisco Police Department she had bought the small restaurant to give her something to do.

Her husband, Mike, had retired as an Inspector III – essentially a senior detective. Besides frequently attending retirement parties and playing golf with his buddies from the SFPD, he was off hunting and fishing all the time. The restaurant was only open for breakfast and lunch – from six in the morning until two in the afternoon.

I thought it would make her more at ease to be around people and have a chance to get to know me better. I did introduce her to Kendra as a "friend." Kendra looked at me kind of funny since she knew I was engaged and had eaten breakfast there a couple of times with Ceria when she had stayed over.

As we ate I told her about the party, going into a lot of details. I told her about seeing Ceria with that Dante guy. I tried to make it sound funny to try to cheer her up a little.

"I thought I'd be more upset than I was. I was angry about the way she behaved but driving home I felt relieved more than anything. I never felt close to her family – and I don't get along with her dad at all. Then when she came barging in later last night I was a bit stunned at first. She thought that you, well we … anyway I never got a chance to explain. I was thinking I would have to tell her the engagement was over, and why, but that would have been messy."

We went back to the houseboat and I poured myself some more coffee and showed her where the tea was. She was sitting on the small sofa and I took one of the kitchen chairs.

"Nara, are you ready to talk to me?"

"Yes … Eddie."

"I'll start with some questions and we can take it from there. What is your full name?

"I'm Dayanara Vegerano, Nara, like I said."

"And you are from San Juan?"

"How did you know? Well, not San Juan, but Mayagüez. That's a university city on the west coast of Puerto Rico. But, how did you know?"

"I was in San Juan last year with Ceria for two weeks at the Condado Plaza – I have a good ear for accents and yours sounded familiar. Do you have family there?"

"No … no, Eddie. My dad died several years ago … and my mom, mom, … she died last month."

Nora was crying a little now so I gave her a few minutes, refilled my coffee mug.

"Do you have anyone else?" I quietly continued.

"No, there is no one there. We had a business in a bad part of town. It was a small place that was kind of famous in Mayagüez. We made sangria and sold it only in gallon jugs or people could bring their own bottles. We got some protection because we brought a lot of tourists into the neighborhood and they ate at the local restaurants and bought stuff in the small stores.

"When my mom died a man came by and told me I would have to start paying money each month or I wouldn't be safe. My mom knew a man in the police department that had been helping us but I never knew who he was. When mom died a neighbor offered to buy our store so I sold it for twelve thousand dollars."

"What about family here? Do you have anyone in San Francisco?" I was guessing where she lived. I knew she had walked to the bridge.

"Yes, I have a … brother."

She looked scared when she said this and started crying again. I finally had her go in and take a shower, hoping it would settle her down. Later, I finally heard her story.

My brother is ten years older than me. He is really my stepbrother – my dad had been married before he married my mom. My brother, Pablo Vegerano, came to San Francisco when he was eighteen. I hadn't seen him since, even when papa died. When I decided to sell the business I called him and asked if I could live with him. I told him I wanted to go to school. He asked if I had any money and I told him about María wanting to buy the business.

He told me to come right away and that he would be happy to have his sister live with him. So when I settled everything I flew to San Francisco. It was really nice at first – it's a large apartment in the Mission district and I had my own bedroom.

Pablo took my money, " … to put it in the bank for me." Then, two nights ago, I had gone to bed when I woke to some shouting in the living room. I was scared so I opened my door a crack and from what I heard Pablo bought some drugs from this guy to sell. They were stolen from Pablo's car so he didn't have the money to pay the guy back.

I saw him give the man the money I had from the store. Then the guy pulled a gun and shouted that he had to have the rest of the money. Pablo quieted him down and asked if he could make some other kind of arrangement. They talked quietly for a few minutes in lower voices that I couldn't hear. Then the man smiled when Pablo told him he would bring me to him the next day. He was giving me to the guy to pay for his drug money!

I was really scared and couldn't get back to sleep. I knew I couldn't stay there so early yesterday I left the house around six – I knew that Pablo never got up before eleven or so. I had forty dollars in my purse and took the trolley downtown to get away from the neighborhood. I found a place for breakfast and walked around for several hours.

When I was hungry again, I took the cable car to Fisherman's wharf and had lunch. I didn't know what to do or where to go. It was such a terrible feeling. Later I went to a movie and fell asleep. I woke up when everyone was leaving so I left too. It was cold and I didn't have the right clothes. I saw the bridge and just started walking.

I didn't have any plans to do anything … it was just like a magnet pulling me. When I got to the top of the bridge I just … well, I gave up. Everything seemed so hopeless. My family was gone and all I had left was Pablo and he, he wanted to give me to that awful guy. I wasn't thinking of dying … it was just that I guess I gave up. I couldn't deal with it. Then you came, and …

She started crying again so I sat on the sofa and held her close for a long time. The sobbing gradually stopped and she seemed half asleep. I carried her over to the bed and laid her down to sleep it off. Poor kid. My heart really went out to her.

I left her a note and walked over to Kendra's place for a BLT. She used a brand of nice lean, thick smoked bacon for breakfast that made the best BLT sandwiches I'd ever had.

"Okay, Eddie, who's the girl you were here with for breakfast?"

She knew all about my engagement. I told her Nara's story and of the problems she had, and I could see it upset her.

"So she doesn't want to turn her brother over to the police?"

"No, and I can't understand that. Yeah, he is all the family she has, but anyone that would sell his sister … I don't know."

"Eddie, how about if the police catch him and she has nothing to do with it?"

"What do you mean, Kendra?"

"I've got an idea. I need to talk to Mike about it. Say, where is this girl staying? Not with you, is she?"

Embarrassed now, I answered, "Well, yeah, I guess. I mean I didn't have any choice last night. She wouldn't do anything else and it was late."

I went on to tell her about Ceria's visit and how much fun that had been.

"Well, Eddie, you've got yourself in a fine pickle. I can't help you with Ceria; that's for sure your problem. But maybe there's something we can do for Nara. You realize she can't continue to stay with you, don't you? And she needs to find a job. Poor girl!"

I hadn't thought that far ahead but I had to agree that she couldn't stay with me. I needed to talk to Ceria and see where we stood. I didn't know whether we could patch things up, or even if I wanted to. It was obvious that we wouldn't have a chance to resolve things if Nara was staying on the houseboat.

"Kendra, I don't have any idea how I can find an apartment on short notice that she can afford. And as far as a job, man, I have no ideas at all."

"Come with me, Eddie. I want to show you something."

She led me to the back of the restaurant and up a narrow staircase. It opened into a very small room, probably no more that a hundred square feet. There was one small window at the back and a tiny closet and bath on one side. The bath was barely big enough for me to turn around in, and had a shower. There was no kitchen. It was clean, although dusty.

"'I've never used this and I didn't want to rent it out. I'd have to give a key to the restaurant to the tenant and we really don't need the money. I think it would be great for Nara. I'm here a lot of the time and we have a security system.

"All you need is a bed and dresser and you can get it at the Salvation Army store down the block. If you give one of the guys a twenty he'll deliver it for you. Why don't you bring her over and take a look at it. You can use the cleaning stuff in the back closet, behind the kitchen."

It did look like a good solution. It was close to the houseboat and I knew that Nara would get along with Kendra quite well; she was the motherly type.

"That's great, Kendra. I'm sure this will work out great. I still have to work out the job though."

"Well, I've been thinking. You know Stephanie, the girl that has been helping me out. She left Friday to move back to Denver with her folks. I guess she is going to go to school in Boulder.

"Anyway, I need someone to help me. It's no fun to do it by myself. It would be a bit of everything, from waiting tables and bussing to washing dishes and cleaning the place. I could teach her to do some of the cooking too. We don't do anything very complicated.

"I think this would be good for her. I can't pay too much but I could let her have the room upstairs to stay in and she can have all her meals here. At night she can fix her dinner in the restaurant kitchen. If you want to bring her over I can stay for a while. What do you think?"

"That sounds great, Kendra. I'll go get her now."

I walked back, enjoying the bright sun after the rain of the night before. I found Nara sitting on a bench in front of the houseboat.

"Eddie, oh, Eddie. I woke up and you were gone. I came outside to see if I could find you. When I tried to go back in the door was locked! I was kind of scared."

"Nara, you didn't see the note I left?"

Sheepishly, she shook her head no. I told her about my discussion with Kendra and she was excited. We went in my car back over to the restaurant so she could look at the room and talk to Kendra.

Kendra surprised me when she told me, "Go on and look at the furniture. Nara and I can talk better without you here."

I guess she wanted to make sure that Nara understood that I was engaged and remind her of the sly ways of even an old man of thirty. I smiled a bit at Kendra; she really was a mother hen.

I ignored the advice about the Salvation Army and went to the same place I brought my own furniture. I told the girl that had waited on me before what I needed and that it had to be delivered that afternoon.

She showed me a few things and we found a day bed with two large storage drawers under it, a dresser from the same set and a comfortable stuffed chair that was both a rocker and a recliner. She had all the linen stuff I'd need plus a throw rug we figured out would fit. I also got a large mirror to put on the wall. The woman that was helping me out said that would make the room look larger.

I went back to the restaurant with the promise that everything would be delivered within the hour. I figured I could help Nara clean up and get everything in place. For a few days until I could get a phone in, she would have to use the phone downstairs.

When I got back to the restaurant they were sitting, drinking coffee and talking. They had jumped in and cleaned the room and Kendra had told her what all she would be doing. When I walked in, Nara blushed, and I guessed that they had been talking about me.

"Did you get the furniture, Eddie?"

"Yeah, it should be here in a few minutes. I'll have to take her to get some clothes and bathroom stuff."

"Eddie, give me your credit card and I'll take care of that. You don't know the first thing about buying clothes for a girl. You stay here and get the furniture in. We will meet you back at the houseboat and you can take us to Scoma's for dinner. Mike is at some wedding in the City so I might as well have some fun."

Well, I hadn't thought all that through. With a sigh of relief I said goodbye to them and waited for the delivery truck. Kendra had given us both a key and showed us how to use the security system.

The truck came a few minutes later so I showed them where to put everything. They weren't too happy about the stairs but I just shrugged. I had a toolkit in my car so I put the mirror up. The room was a bit cramped but it looked much nicer. What made it all work was the rug; it kind of pulled everything together. I'd spent more than I'd planned but it made a world of difference to the room.

I went back to the houseboat, showered, shaved and got dressed to await the evening pleasure … at my expense, of course. I didn't mind though; Kendra stepping in had saved me a lot of time and heartache trying to get things to work.

When they got back I couldn't believe the difference in how Nara looked. They had stopped back at her new apartment to leave the packages and for Nara to get ready. I had seen how pretty she was, but dressed in new clothes – and with an obvious stop at a salon to get her hair fixed after the rain - she was stunningly beautiful.

She was wearing a simple black sheath dress that showed she was indeed small … but with all the right curves that women have that differentiate them from girls. I tended to use the term girl and woman somewhat indiscriminately but clearly that was inappropriate here.

JakeRivers
JakeRivers
1,057 Followers