The Back Building

by Julie Dewey

  After breakfast we gathered ourselves and continued our journey north, making Waterloo our destination.

  “But, Iona, won’t they look for us in Waterloo? It’s not far enough away, I think we need to keep going,” Cat said with determination.

  “Maybe we should split up anyway, Cat. They will be looking for two of us and I want to stay put in Waterloo. It’s between Cayuga and Seneca Lake and will have lots of farming opportunities for me. I am not sure what you can do for money.” I had also held out hope that if James meant his proposal, he would look for me here.

  Cat gave a laugh at that and I really didn’t want to know her methods of earning a pay-day. I had an idea of the favors she would perform for money but didn’t want to put any thought into the details.

  The weather was simply beautiful, the sun shone off the lake and we were able to enjoy the freedom for a little while as we quietly went about our journey. We talked quite a bit and I learned that Cat was probably as normal a young girl as any, she was definitely more interested in and definitely more knowledgeable than I was about men, and described to me the incident that got her in trouble.

  It was Cat’s uncle Samuel that began courting her when she was a young girl of twelve. She grew to like the attention from him as he always brought her gifts and professed his love to her. Until her father found her in the barn with Sam, who was ten years her senior, she had no idea that simple kisses and touches that brought forth pleasure were considered sinful. She was put on warning and kept locked in the family’s attic for weeks. Her mother brought her enough sustenance to keep her alive but while the hours ticked by, Cat grew furious at being jailed in her own home. The night she was allowed out of the attic and back into her room, she snuck out her window and over to her Uncle Samuel’s home. She joined him in bed and they became wed in body and spirit. Cat loved this man and found no harm in their activities, but her father found her the next morning and had her admitted to an asylum in Utica for women who were unruly and promiscuous.

  “So, you are married?” I asked slightly confused if there wasn’t a wedding or officiate.

  “We are, and I promised Sam I would get word to him the moment I escaped from Utica, but as you know that didn’t happen. I tried several times, but was caught twice and transferred to Willard for treatment.”

  “So what about Sam, did he come to look for you?”

  “My father threatened his life, but I know Sam, he will be waiting for me. I am sorry by the way, Iona. For treating you so poorly. It was all part of the ruse though, acting tough, getting in with the attendees and so on.”

  “Yes, but Cat they didn’t know what went on behind closed doors, and you came into my bed.”

  “I said I was sorry, and I won’t say it again.” She pouted but I was starting to understand her a little more. She wanted to feel loved, as I did, but to her love was physical. As we rode along the countryside and my belly started to rumble, I contemplated our next meal. I would have to set a few simple snares with a noose and hope to catch some small game. The issue would be starting a fire to cook it.

  When Savannah grew too tired to carry our weight we leapt off and walked beside her. We settled in an area densely populated with trees and shrubs to stay the night. I searched the grounds for small game trails, which usually led from the water to their shelter. I sought tracks, and scat, along with tracks, rubs, and burrow entrances. I found rabbit scat and soon enough was led to the hole in the ground that I presumed was the burrow. Now I needed a cattail to make a noose, along with two sticks with “Y” shaped nooks. Luckily for me, several small trees and branches were in the ground in line with the entrance to the burrow. I took off my boots and long underwear and waded into the water’s edge where it was slightly swampy and the cattails grew. I could feel the grass between my toes as I sunk into the soft earth. I grabbed a few stalks and began my work of making nooses. I showed Cat how to do it so we could have several traps set for the night. We worked side by side, attaching the lead and weighting it with a rock, then draped the noose at the entrance and went to lay down. When we heard a movement we rushed to the trap and sure enough we had a rabbit. She was only a few pounds but that was enough for a meal. I snapped her neck, and began ripping at her belly.

  “Stop,” Cat uttered.

  “Cat, if you don’t want to watch look away.”

  “No, wait, I have a knife.” She produced a knife meant for buttering bread and rolls but it was better than using my fingers to part the fur and flesh of the animal that was warm in my hands.

  I gutted the animal, threw the entrails in the woods, and skinned it in preparation to cook. We worked on a primitive fire by collecting brush and dried leaves, then rubbing two rocks together. After an hour or more we had a spark, and luckily it caught on a leaf, I blew gently on the smoke and the fire indeed spread. We constructed a spit and placed the rabbit on top. In a short time it was cooked enough for us to eat. We each had a leg, and split the rest evenly as well.

  “I can’t believe you know how to do that.”

  “Yes, well, it is part of the reason my parents thought I was insane. I preferred to be outdoors honing skills such as these than indoors sewing for my dowry. I was disobedient and my refusal to participate in activities meant for ladies made my folks distraught. When my mother became pregnant, they sent me away.” I left out the part about my delusions hoping this was enough to satisfy her curiosity for now.

  “I am grateful you had this skill or we’d be starving. Let’s dampen the fire and maybe get a little further down the pathway, I feel a little strange right here for some reason,” she said looking around and feeling paranoid.

  Cat’s premonition was not far off, in a few hours we heard men on horseback ride past us about one hundred yards away. We had positioned Savannah behind a massive oak tree and remained quiet until they were gone. We didn’t know if they were looking for us or were out with another search party. Either way, our movement forward was in jeopardy.

  When we arrived in Waterloo we were both feeling unwell. Cat was feverish and rail thin while I was nauseous and unable to keep food down. I had thrown up several times and had to stop to huddle in the bushes while my insides exploded. My nerves had gotten the best of me. We washed in the lake so that at the very least we were presentable. Cat had one dollar and thirty cents left and I had one quarter. We walked inside of the first hotel we saw and presented ourselves to the clerk as Savannah and Sylvia Woods, two sisters from Syracuse.

  The clerk took all our change and gave us the key to a room, it was sparse, but it had a bed and tub. Mealtime was in an hour so we had that long to relax and settle down for a moment before toasting our success. I filled the tub with warm water and tested it with my big toe. It was ideal so I submerged myself and closed my eyes. Hydrotherapy did in fact relax my muscles and mind at the same time and I relished this moment. I emptied the tub and refilled it for Cat, who was sleeping soundly on the bed.

  “Cat, wake up, I’ve drawn you a bath.” Cat woke up, but the violet circles beneath her eyes and goose bumps on her arms told me she was not well. I helped her into the tub and handed her the soap the hotel provided.

  “No offense, but you stink.” We both chuckled.

  “Iona, I just need to rest, you go down to supper, okay. Maybe bring me back something.”

  I brushed my hair with my fingers and shook out my clothes from my pillowcase. My dress was dull and unassuming assuring I would not stand out. When the clerk saw me enter the hotel’s lounge, he waved me over.

  “Did you say your name is Savannah?” He asked.

  “Why yes I did, why?” I panicked.

  “I have a note here in case a Savannah should check in, it’s from a gentleman named James. He is staying at the hotel down the street. Here is the address.” He handed me a small piece of paper but before I could even look at it I ran down the street in search of James. He knew me all too well, as I had hoped. I found him with Lucky outside the hotel tavern where he was s
taying.

  “James!” I yelled, running to him. He turned towards me and dropped Lucky’s reins. He watched me run, and held his arms open for me crumble in.

  “Iona, thank God. I prayed for days that you were still alive. I knew you could manage with snares but worried you’d be caught. Do you know how many search parties are out for you?”

  “I don’t care, they won’t find us now, will they?”

  “They might. Half of the men went south towards Watkins Glen and the other half were split in pairs and sent to Trumansburg and Ithaca, as well as across to Cayuga Lake. Apparently another patient is missing to, someone named Kate.”

  “Yes, Cat, she is with me. I owe her my life, James. Patty would have killed me if I were there even one more night.” I sobbed into James’s arms, feeling the magnitude of the situation. I was a moment shy of death and Cat changed that. James kissed my tears and together we walked towards Lucky. We hitched him to a post and went up to the room James procured at the hotel.

  “Sit.” James pointed to the edge of the bed. “Now, tell me everything.”

  I recounted the torture of the ice baths, the beatings, the chaining and threats. I told him the personal ways in which my body was abused as well. Then I told him I nearly died, I told him Hetty was there trying to care for me but she couldn’t because she wasn’t real. The nurses were the ones I credit for my health today. If not for their kindness and concern I would surely have died. James pulled me close to him and we cried together for a long time.

  “I was worried sick about you. The staff would not let me see you as a visitor, nor would they let John. They told us you were dreadfully sick and that you might not make it. They said you were covered in bruises and gashes that you inflicted upon yourself during one of your episodes, but I knew it was Patty. I waited for her after her shift ended one night and cornered her so that she had no possibility of escape. I swear, Iona, I felt mad, like I could have killed that woman. But she told me you had the flu that she had bathed you to bring down your fever, she promised to put me on the visitation list the next day, but by then you had run.”

  “We had no choice. Cat knew Patty meant to kill me and she was in trouble too.”

  “I thought she was intolerable. How has she been?”

  “She’s been okay. I understand her now, what she has been through and why she does what she does. She is under the weather now, I need to tend to her but I don’t want to leave you again James, ever.”

  “I’ll come with you. Let’s eat a meal first and we’ll go see to her together.”

  We walked hand in hand toward my hotel, we ate heartily, and went upstairs to find Cat missing. A note was sprawled across the table top for me, reading;

  Iona, my friend and fellow lunatic,

  I think we should separate now so that they don’t find us. I am going after Samuel, wish me luck. I have taken the horse.

  Cat

  “Oh my, she’ll never make it when she is this sick.” I explained who Samuel was and together we prayed that someone was looking out for Cat and that she would find her happily-ever-after.

  “How about we get married?”

  “Right now?” I asked.

  “Yes, I want you by my side tonight and forever more.”

  “James, are you really here? I have to be sure I am not imagining this, pinch me.”

  James pinched me under my arm and sure enough I felt it. I hugged him once more and we left in search of a priest to marry us.

  Chapter Nine

  Marriage

  James and I decided to make Waterloo our home. We were married immediately by a justice of the peace whom the hotel manager helped us locate. Our first night together as man and wife was unremarkable. I was so exhausted from my escape that while we shared a marriage bed, my good husband simply carried me across the doorway of our hotel room and settled me into a nest of covers. I lay safely beside him and slept for nearly fifteen hours.

  When I woke, James was waiting for me. I bathed alone, soaping my private areas and armpits, then my stinky feet. I wrapped myself in a towel and when I came out from the bathroom I opened it like a gift before my husband. He had never seen a naked woman before and dropped to his knees before me, appraising me and taking my offering. Hugging his head to my belly and caressing me with gentle touches I relaxed in his arms. His soft lips took my mouth and he explored the cavern with his tongue. His kisses were gentle but there was a neediness I understood. We fell onto the bed and clumsily learned about one another. The contours of my lover’s body were that of a man who worked hard. His arms were muscular and his chest well defined. He said I was far too skinny and that he had every intention of fattening me up. We made sweet and satisfying love to one another that morning, that afternoon, and again that night. We only left our room for meals, it was our honeymoon after all and we were two love-birds with much to celebrate.

  “James, what shall we do today?” I asked after our second day sequestered in our room.

  “We will tend to Lucky and find a place of our own to live,” he said as he rubbed his hands through my growing hair.

  “James, did you steal Lucky?” I had to ask.

  “No, I wouldn’t say that. They owe me an awful lot of back pay, Iona, so I felt at liberty to take him in exchange.”

  We purchased a newspaper for a penny and looked at the employment sections for work, as well as the real estate section for homes. James found several jobs that looked intriguing and left me to go speak with managers and foremen at different locations. I continued to comb the paper, but didn’t find anything suitable for my skills. There were plenty of jobs for seamstresses and laundry maids, there were even opportunities for care givers, but until I saw the opening at the bait and tackle shop I was not intrigued. I walked to the shop and noted the ‘help wanted’ sign in the window. I took a deep breath to calm my nerves before entering.

  “Can I help you, Miss?” An older man asked from behind the counter.

  “I am here about the job.” I stuttered.

  “Oh no, I can’t hire a woman, ain’t nobody would take you seriously. They’d be thinking they could pull one over on ya and take advantage. Nope, go on now, I can’t hire you.” He showed me out the door, dismissing me immediately. Hetty walked right beside me chatting about how unfair that was. “We’ll keep looking, yes we will. I taught you to clean, you could do that.” Hetty was well intentioned but I didn’t want to clean tubs for a living. I had too many bad memories associated with them now. I walked through the small town, counting paces while taking in the sights, smells, and sounds of my new surroundings. I was careful not to arouse suspicion by conversing with Hetty lest people think I was crazy and start gossiping about me. When she talked, I listened but didn’t respond. This irked her but she understood why I was behaving this way, she didn’t want me back at Willard any more than I did. I duly noted that she was an apparition now and accepted her presence.

  James and I met back at the hotel. We briefly ate, then ran to our room to make love before he started his first job. He was lucky, someone at the mill up and quit a few days earlier and they were looking for anyone who could start right away. He didn’t have a recommendation but they could tell he was a hard worker by one look at his body.

  “I can’t believe I start right away. The first few days are just a trial, but I want you to start looking for a house, or land anyway. Maybe we can build our own place. I have some money saved from years of work. John never let me pay him rent so I saved and saved. I have just about three thousand dollars. I would have had more if they paid me my wages for the past two months, but the hospital was struggling.”

  “I will start looking when you leave, or maybe I’ll just lay here a while and wait for you to come back, don’t be too long now.” I looked at him provocatively, loving the way we were able to make one another feel. I didn’t want him gone from me for one single minute.

  I decided to start with the desk manager, I asked if knew of any properties or any lan
d that was for sale. He didn’t but would put the word out. I strolled through town, looking at notices hanging in windows at the grocer’s and baker’s. I found one alluring sign, it described an older, charming home a few miles outside of town. The property was close to water and had ten acres. I grew up with an enormous amount of land and this was nowhere near that, but we could keep some animals and livestock if we wanted. I guessed charming meant the house needed work, and maybe we would prefer to start fresh, but still it was worth considering. I got directions from the bakery owner and since I had nothing else to do I walked to the property. I knocked on the door but no one answered. I decided to have a look around anyway. The property itself was overgrown and had been left untended for a long time, but it held great promise. The home had a nice structure and after peering in the windows, seemed decent in size.

  I was entrusted with James’s money. I took a five dollar bill and went into a few stores to purchase some necessary items. I bought a frying pan, a sauce-pan, and a spatula and wooden spoon. I would need a few towels and oven-mits, so I bought those too. I had the items wrapped in parcel paper and waited patiently for James, who didn’t arrive home until after the dinner hour. I was growing fearful something awful happened to him, but when he came in and removed his hat, I realized just how hard he was worked today and forgave him for the scare. He bathed and ate, then fell fast asleep before I could present him with the gifts. The following morning we rose together and I brought the packages to him.