Class Trip

by Burns, Rachel

  I felt like it was getting late so I turned back home. We got there faster than I thought. I peeked into the kitchen to see if today would be a good day for my German Shepherd.

  Maria saw us and laughed. She handed me a metal bowl with a couple of bones in it.

  Tata was standing there talking to her. He was smiling too. He spoke with her in German when I wasn't around, changing over to Romanian so I couldn't understand. I didn't mind that so much. I really didn't want to understand about the going ons in the house.

  Wolf chewed for a while and I asked when lunch would be. “Do we have time to go back outside again?”

  “No, I want you to stay in the house. You can play with Wolf in the courtyard,” Tata said. I was surprised. Wolf had never been allowed in the house before, just the kitchen.

  I went out and Wolf followed me. We went to the courtyard. He spent couple of minutes running around and sniffing everything. I picked up a tennis ball and threw it for him. He liked that but he didn't bring the ball back to me, I had to chase after him to get it back. We played that for a while and finally got him to bring me the ball back but then it started to rain. I took him back into the hallway and kneeled down in front of him as he sat still in front of me. I praised him and told him I would take the ball out with me tomorrow.

  “Would you like that? Of course you would.” I hugged him. And then he growled. I looked over my shoulder. A very elegant woman was standing there watching us.

  She slowly walked closer to us. “Hello. What's your name?” she asked as she bent down to me.

  “I'm Sandra.”

  “I like that name.” She looked sad for a moment but then she grinned. “Who is your friend?”

  “His name is Wolf.”

  “May I pet him?” She carefully reached out to him.

  “I guess so.” I removed my arms and sat back on my heels.

  She pet him a little and then she looked at me. “You are a very beautiful child. You, I definitely want to buy.”

  I shook my head no.

  “Don't you want to come and live with me?”

  “I'm not for sale. I stay here.”

  She smiled at me like she was talking to a small child. “But I would be so very good to you. I would see to it that you had the best of everything. A four posted bed with a pretty pink comforter and lots of lace and ribbons. That is something that you would like, isn't it?”

  She wasn't giving up and I didn't know how to get rid of her. I looked past her to the cafeteria. Tata was standing there watching us. He looked amused.

  “Tata?” I looked at him for help.

  “She's right, Kelly. She isn't for sale.”

  The woman stood up, smiling, “Tatis, you? I never would have guessed. But that is what she needs, right? It couldn't be any other way. I could have made lots of money with her. Her English is so good too. You got me biting my fist, Daniel. I really am.” She looked at me and then she walked to the stairs up to the girls' room. She glanced back at me and went up. Her red high heels on the stairs were loud but she didn't seem to notice, or care.

  We had gotten a new shipment of people at the beginning of the week. Only two girls had been virgins. They were sold under the hand, whatever that meant, but they were gone the next day but we still had around thirty guests.

  Tata came forward to me and laid his arm around me. “I said to play in the courtyard.”

  “It started to rain and Wolf didn't want to get wet.”

  “Wolf?” He raised an eyebrow.

  “I didn't want to get wet either.”

  He smiled again. “Come on, let's go eat.” He laid his arm around me and pulled me along with him. He sat me down at my spot and whistled for the dog who followed him into the kitchen.

  Tata came back a minute later with my plate and without the dog. I got special food that was milder than what the others ate. The others were coming in. The girls came in with the woman, Kelly. She joined our table and she spoke in English.

  Kelly was here to buy some of the girls and maybe a couple of boys, but she was mostly interested in the girls. She needed new ones.

  Kelly looked at me often. I was unsure so I didn't say anything.

  She looked like she really wanted me.

  Tata laid his arm over the back of my chair. He was trying to make it clear that I was his.

  The woman had called him Daniel. Why had he told me that his name was Tata? He had probably just lied to her, telling her a false name, I reasoned with myself.

  “I have my eye on a couple but they are nothing compared to her. If you ever get bored with her, call me.”

  “A man doesn't get bored with his wife,” he told her.

  At first she looked hurt then she tilted her head and grinned at him. “Oh yes they do. That's the basis of my business.” She smiled really big. I had a feeling that she felt clever. She was a Madame, looking to buy new girls. How could a woman do that to another woman?

  She called Tata, Daniel throughout the whole meal. I was starting to wonder if he wasn't lying to me.

  She looked at me and sighed again. “They would come from so far away to be with her.”

  “He said she wasn't for sale and she isn't. She stays here, so knock it off, Kelly,” his brother said, the one who had belted me. I was surprised that he wasn't be putting pressure on to get rid of me and still turn a bit of profit from me.

  “I've heard that before. Eventually, all the girls leave.” Kelly sounded really bitter as she spoke.

  “I stayed,” Maria told her, sitting up a bit straighter.

  “Yes, but that isn't the rule, is it. He could have sold you at anytime. Maybe if I had gotten pregnant like you did.” Kelly raised an eyebrow and looked at Tata.

  All eyes turned to me to see how I would react to her words.

  “What? She's pregnant? Congratulations, Daniel.” First she looked at me and then at Daniel. Her congratulations didn't seem to be heart felt. I felt her hate.

  I hung my head and then I felt his hand on my shoulder.

  “That's none of your business, Kelly. Why are you so interested in her? Ask us about the ones you want to buy.” Again it was the brother who had beaten me that came to my rescue.

  “She reminds me of some one I used to know.” Kelly's face was masked in pain for a split-second. Then was smiling friendly again.

  I lay down on my half of the bed with Carrots in my arms, looking at Tata undress and climb into bed. “Who is that woman?”

  I saw his shoulders slump a little. “She used to be one of the girls here. She got sold to a brothel the Madame there liked her best and she worked her way to the top and now it belongs to her.”

  I could tell that he didn't want to talk about it anymore but I wanted to know more. “But what would she want me for?”

  Tata smirked and looked at me. “Lots of men would want to enjoy a piece of your innocence. You have something about you that makes people want to give you gifts and be with you, especially a certain type of man. But if she would take you you would have very quickly lost that air about you and then you that you are would be ruined.”

  “But I'm not innocent anymore?”

  “Of course you are. You just sleep with me. A married girl keeps that innocence and if you did something that could endanger that I would spank you and you quickly think differently about it.”

  “I think she hates me now.”

  “Are you going to keep up with this until I tell you the whole story?”

  “I am curious,” I moved in closer to him, “But if you say it is none of my business then I will understand.”

  He lay down under the covers and wrapped an arm around me. “I'll tell you because I don't want you to hear it from someone else. When I was fifteen my father thought it was time that I started in with the family business. He would go to other countries and kidnap girls, usually older ones. But he wanted me to sleep with a virgin who was younger than me first.

  “Kelly was in Vienna with her parents on va
cation. He pulled her into his van and brought her here with some of the usual girls.

  “He sat her down and explained the family business and what her part would be in it. She was to stay here and I would get to sleep with her whenever I wanted, usually with cameras rolling. We were each other's first. We were still young so we played together and ran around here.

  “A person can think that they are in love when they only know one woman or man. Then it was time for her to sleep with all the men and I had to sleep with girls who were older than me and keep them under control. I got in trouble if I didn't listen, and everyone listened to my father.

  “Thomas is a year younger than me. My father told Kelly that she would have to sleep with him too whenever he wanted. She bulked and said no. My father beat her just like I beat you for running away. We had all played together before that but afterwards things were different. Kelly had assumed that we would get married one day and that she would be my wife. She assumed that she would stay.

  “A year later Markus was fifteen and he likes to hit when he has sex. He beat on her a lot. She came to me to get him to stop. I talked to him and he went to my father and tattled. My father also liked rough sex. His ear was more open to Markus than to me. I took the beating of a lifetime for sticking my nose where it didn't belong.

  “My father sat us all down and he asked us if any one of us wanted to marry Kelly. No one said yes. Everyone looked at me, figuring that I would want to. I loved her but not enough. I felt really bad about that, but by that time I was already seventeen and I wanted to sleep with lots of different women.” He shook his head no. “I was young and I thought our business was really cool. I know better now. But I had grown up that way.

  “A few years later I was sick of it and I had a very low opinion of women. My father had sold Kelly and she had screamed when the men forced her to get into a limousine with her new owner. A few years after that she was the big boss and we had to deal with her again. She holds her head up high when she comes here but her feelings are hurt.”

  I was crying now. I felt so sorry for her.

  “Now she comes back here and sees that I have a wife and you are so young and innocent and she always tried to be cool and clever. Finding out that I prefer the opposite must have hurt her too. She was in a no win situation. She was probably still hoping that I would sow my wild oats and then settle down with her someday. I don't want to.

  “It was you that I was waiting for. I want to hug you and hold you and be gentle with you.” He did just that and then he was lost in thought again.

  “Her pain is all my fault but when I see her I get upset. I feel guilt because I didn't love her and she thinks she still loves me. I wish she would move on but she doesn't. She plays cool with all the men and keeps them at bay. She is even in a position to go home to her parents but she doesn't. I don't understand her.” He shook his head again.

  “She can't go home anymore,” I told him.

  “What do you mean?”

  “She feels that she has changed so much. She isn't the little girl that she once was. She probably fears that they won't love her anymore. Life has given her lemons and she is making lemonade, as best as she can.” I shrugged my shoulders and then looked at him sadly.

  “Why would you say that?”

  “It makes sense to me. That's what I would have done if I were her.”

  “But you aren't her. You are my Sandra and I love you so much. You I knew I wanted to marry. Since I met you I knew that not all women are the same.”

  The doctor was here again and Tata and I were waiting for him to have time for me.

  Tata was holding my hand and pacing. I had to follow him back and forth. I felt like I was getting a little dizzy. The courtyard was full of the new girls. They had never seen Tata before so they weren't afraid of him. There would be an auction tonight and Kelly would be leaving with the girls she picked out after breakfast. Things would be quieting down then, Tata said that they were very close to quitting. He guessed that by the end of the year they would be gone forever, maybe even sooner. I would be staying with him and he would show me the world.

  The door opened and the doctor waved us in. Tata looked like he was going to be sick and I wasn't doing much better. I was shaking and holding onto Tata's hand for dear life.

  The doctor said something to Tata who let go of my hand and grabbed me under my arms and lifted me up to the examination table so I was sitting. He pushed my shoulders back until I was lying down. He was talking and looking at the doctor as he did all that. I figured that he was answering questions about my condition.

  Tata was looking at the doctor and lifting my dress up and slipping his fingers in my underwear.

  My hands moved to stop him. He looked at me and smiled. My eyes flashed over to the doctor and then back to him. He grinned all the more.

  “I'm here nothing can happen to you.” He removed my underwear and set it to the side. I moved my knees together as a last ditch effort to avoid this even though I also wanted to hear the results.

  Tata moved so he was holding my hand tightly. He had a hand on my knee. He was rubbing a little, probably trying to get me to stop shaking.

  The doctor finally looked at me. He disappeared out of my view and I heard his chair squeak across the floor towards me.

  I felt his hand on my leg. He was pushing them apart. Tata moved forward and helped him.

  “Shh Sandra, we talked about this. You need to be brave.” He was looking at me as he spoke and I had a feeling that he felt sorry for me.

  The doctor was checking me out and I left my eyes on Tata. He was looking back and forth from me to the doctor. He looked like he was trying to be quiet but he had something on the tip of his tongue.

  Tata started talking in whispers and the doctor wasn't answering him. He looked worried, making me worry too. The doctor started talking and Tata sighed relieved. He was nodding and the lines on his face were relaxing.

  Tata was still asking questions and nodding. He looked so serious that I got worried again.

  The doctor pushed away from me and Tata sat me up and gave me my underwear back, which I quickly put back on. He had a hand on my shoulder and he finished talking to the doctor. He pulled me to my feet and pulled me out of the room.

  Tata pushed me against the wall and grinned at me like the cat that ate the canary. “He said that you are all healed up now.” He leaned in and kissed me. “I am so happy that you are still with me.”

  He wanted to kiss me again but I pushed him away before he could. “But what did he say about having another baby?”

  “He said that he thinks everything is okay. We will first know when you are pregnant or if you don't get pregnant.” He had that serious look again.

  “Is it important that I do get pregnant?” I asked him.

  “It is important that you stay healthy and alive. After almost losing you like that. I realized how much I loved you and that I don't want to have to go on without you.”

  I smiled and looked down as I blushed. When I looked up I saw Kelly watching us. She was within earshot too. Now she knew what had happened.

  Tata saw that I was looking at something so he looked that way too. He looked mad when he saw her.

  I felt sorry for her.

  Tata leaned in and whispered in my ear that he wanted to go to our room so we could be alone. He took hold of my hand and we walked off.

  Kelly was watching us go the whole way.

  Tata's mother was waiting for us in the living room. So was his brother Thomas, who still felt really guilty. He was sitting on the sofa and looking at his feet.

  I was really surprised that they were here. I figured that they needed to watch the new girls. I was kind of moved that they thought that I was more important than the family business.

  “The doctor said that Sandra is all healed up and that it looks good for having another baby but we will know first when she is really pregnant. That has time anyway. We aren't going to worry at al
l yet, are we?” He was looking at me.

  I shook my head no, agreeing with him. Maria hugged me and left. Thomas also got up from the sofa. He nodded at both of us and left too.

  “I should be helping downstairs but I was thinking that the others could do that. If you are feeling up to it I would really like to make love to you now.”

  I felt my face turn red. I couldn't say anything like that aloud.

  He swooped me into his arms and carried me into our bedroom. He lay me down on the bed and then he closed the door. His fingers went to his buttons and he quickly undressed.

  I was just watching him. The last three months we had gotten used to each other. I didn't look away when he was naked anymore and I didn't mind him seeing me. We were comfortable with each other. I sat up and removed my dress over my head.

  He was grinning again when I looked at him. “I love you so much, Sandra.”

  I took off my bra and underwear and reached up to him. “I love you too, Tata.”

  He picked me up and spun us in a circle.

  I grabbed onto him tightly while he laughed at me.

  He sat down on the bed and moved back so he was leaning against the headboard of the bed. I was still on his lap and he was looking at me rather seriously now.

  “Did you mean that? Do you really love me?” he asked.

  I had had my hands on his shoulders but then I laid my head on his chest. “Oh Tata. You know I do, don't you?”

  “No, I don't.”

  I sat up and looked at him. “I do. I really do.”

  I watched his face light up and then he looked confused. “Since when?”

  “I can't tell you that. You would think that I was crazy.”

  “Now I want to know more than ever. Tell me.”

  I shook my head no.

  He wrapped his arms around me and smiled at me. “I will annoy you until you tell me. I can be very annoying.”

  “Yes, I believe that but I would rather not say.”