by Ka Newborrn
ELLS: (Wincing) “Maybe you shouldn’t be doing that right now.”
LASSE: (Angry and defensive) “What the hell’s that supposed to mean? You think because I’m a dwarf I can’t hold my liquor and drugs?”
ELLS: (Attempting to convey the gravity of the matter, thoroughly disgusted) “Lasse Eriksen, this girl needs a hospital. She’s bled through her clothing, and there’s peanut butter in your beard.”
LASSE: (Darting his tongue out of his mouth to remove the blob of peanut butter, refills the syringe with morphine, plunges the used needle into his arm) “Not in the Tarot cards, Ells. I’m not implicating myself. Have enough trouble getting patients as it is. Besides that, I’m off duty.” (Grins with euphoria, walks over to radio and fiddles with the dial, settles on Incense and Peppermints. Closes his eyes, flails arms and legs in an interpretive dance).
ELLS: (Incensed) “This is preposterous! You have an obligation to your patient! You're responsible for her wellbeing! She paid for your services! Doesn't that mean anything to you?”
LASSE: (Dismissively) “She’s a flat-broke, first year pediatrician who only came up with half the fee. Margaret’s going to kill me when she finds out.”
ELLS: (Stroking the damp tendrils framing the bleeding woman’s face, gently picks up her hand) “I’m not going to let you die in this hellhole.” (Standing up with authority) “I’ll you to Kaspare Cohn if I have to carry you there myself!”
LASSE: (Dancing to the song blaring from the radio, rocking his buttocks and weaving his hands in front of his face) “Kaspare Cohn? What’re you talking about?”
ELLS: (Removing bloodied towels from between Jana’s legs and walking towards the bathroom in search of fresh ones) “Used to be the TB house. In the city. On Fountain.”
LASSE: (Making the connection, stops dancing) “Kaspare? You mean Cedars. It’s Cedars Lebanon now.”
ELLS: (Emerging from the bathroom, placing fresh towels between Jana’s legs and feeling her head again) “They won’t know her there. It’s clean and state-of-the-art.” (Brusquely, pushing her trifocals up the bridge of her nose and regarding Lasse with disdain) “Look here, doctor, you can either idle around like some common smackie, or you can help me get her ready. I need hot water, surgical scrub and more towels!”
✽✽✽
Growling, Lasse wandered into the bathroom and stepped onto the wooden platform in front of the sink. He turned on the hot water and filled a plastic basin resting next to the sink. Carefully stepping down from the platform, he grabbed a bottle of Phisohex that rested on top of the toilet. The towel rack was empty. He opened the bathroom cabinet and found it to be free of towels as well. He cursed and walked back into the tiny room. Ells grabbed the plastic basin and the bottle of Phisohex from his hands and placed them onto the tiny desk. Lasse started to mention the lack of towels, had a sudden idea and stormed out of the back room and into the front office.
Ells gently supported Jana’s back in an upright position. She squirted some of the surgical scrub into the water, dabbed a washcloth into it, and gently wiped the feverish woman's brow. A crash emanated from the closet of the front office, followed by a string of expletives and footsteps. A few seconds later, Lasse returned to the back room carrying a black duffel bag.
“I went to Malibu earlier this week,” he explained, opening the bag. He pulled out several Playboy magazines, a bottle of baby oil, a pair of leopard print bathing briefs, a snorkel mask, and a large purple beach towel. He held up the towel. “Is this okay?”
Ells secured the last hand towel between Jana’s legs and pulled the leopard bathing briefs snugly into place. She helped the younger woman stand up and wrapped the purple towel around her body. “Get the car, Lasse,” she urged.
Lasse crossed his arms. “Not in the Tarot cards, Ells. I already told you.”
Jana leaned against the older woman and allowed herself to be led out of the building, down the front steps and onto the sidewalk. Ells leaned on her agate cane and rested. “Let’s get a cab dear,” she said soothingly.
Lasse lingered at the top of the steps. “You think a cab is gonna stop in this neighborhood? Not in the Tarot cards, Ells!” he spat.
Shut up!” Ells barked, leading Jana into the street. She fumbled about in her pocket and withdrew a steel whistle. Firmly supporting Jana’s weight with one arm, she blew into the whistle sharply and waved the cane in the air with the other. Horns blared furiously as she stepped into the line of oncoming traffic. A tan, mufflerless El Camino sped past. “Idiot bitch!” the driver shouted.
“Get out of the fucking street!” Lasse bellowed. “You’re gonna get killed!”
Ells secured her grip on Jana and continued to blow the whistle.
Lasse ran into the street and knocked the two women out of the path of an orange Volkswagen bus. “Okay, you crazy coot!” Lasse screamed. “You win! I’ll drive! I’ll drop you off!" He seized the arms of both women and led them back to the sidewalk.
The purple towel unfastened at Jana's chest. She lurched to grasp it, but her hand trembled and it fell to the sidewalk, exposing her bra and Lasse's leopard briefs. A green Dodge Dart slowed down to observe as Ells dropped to her arthritic knees to retrieve the towel.
“How much?” a greasy man with too much jewelry inquired, holding out a wad of bills as Ells scooped up the towel and wrapped it around Jana’s body.
“Keep on moving, you good for nothing hooligan!” Ells scolded. She shook her agate cane menacingly.
“Granny pimp!” the man taunted, laughing as he drove away.
Ells let out an audible sigh of relief as Lasse’s Mercedes pulled up to the curb. Opening the rear door, she eased Jana into the backseat. She had barely pulled the car door shut behind her before Lasse laid into the accelerator and sent the car into motion with a squealing lurch.
Lasse’s head reverberated with the wane of morphine and the scent of blood. He adjusted the rear view mirror and watched as Ells took off her trifocals and rubbed her eyes. Jana laughed detachedly to herself, curling her body into fetal position and resting her head on Ells’ shoulder. “Not in the Tarot cards, Ells,” she mimicked, continuing to chuckle softly.
He eyed Jana derisively. “What’s she laughing about?” he growled. His body twitched with morphine withdrawal. A group of trick or treaters carrying hollow plastic pumpkins filled with candy dashed in front of the car, causing Lasse to slam on the brakes. He stared at her in the rearview mirror. “The fuck you laughing at?” he grumbled, looking at Ells. “What the fuck’s so funny?”
“She’s fine,” Ells replied. “She just needs…”
“My baby,” Jana rambled deliriously.
“What?”
“She’s gone,” Jana babbled, nodding her head and falling asleep.
Horns blared as traffic crawled along the 5. The Mercedes crept a few feet forward and came to a stop. Ells pushed her glasses up the bridge of her nose in a futile attempt to see what was happening. The back end of a semi obscured her view of the freeway. Its exhaust fumes permeated her nostrils.
“Can’t you take a side street?” Ells asked, feeling Jana’s forehead. “She has a fever.”
Lasse snorted. “Why don't you use your witchcraft to make the car move itself?” he added sarcastically.
“Shut up,” Ells grumbled. “You know my witchcraft isn’t good for that.”
An hour passed. Ells cradled Jana in her arms like a baby and turned her head towards the warmth of the sun. Lasse blew his horn at the cars creeping ahead.
“Oh, fuck me,” he exclaimed. He slapped his palms against the steering wheel.
“Not in the Tarot cards, Ells,” Jana mocked deliriously. She lifted her head, pulled her towel open and trembled at the sight of her own blood. Ells pulled the towel back modestly.
“Keep holding on, sweetie. Just keep holding on,” Ells whispered. A trace of fear mixed with the scent of blood in the air.
“It hurts,” Jana whimpered.
Lasse sne
ered as he watched the exchange between the two women in the rearview mirror. “So what's in the Tarot cards, Ells?” he finally asked.
Ells looked cautiously at Jana and the back at Lasse, as if she already knew the answer to the question and was fearful of the outcome. “What? Here?” she asked Lasse bleakly.
“What’s in the Tarot cards, Ells?” Jana asked limply.
Ells carefully replaced her fear with a convincing look of scorn. “Oh, you don’t really want to be bothered with that, do you?” Her eyes met Lasse’s in the rearview mirror. They glared.
“Just tell us what’s in the bloody Tarot cards, Ells!” Jana managed with all of the energy that she could muster.
Ells gasped and clutched at her heart. “No need to get testy,” she scowled. She opened her purse and withdrew a black silk bundle. Inside was an ancient, gilt-edged deck. She placed it on her knees and began to shuffle, all the while glaring at the back of Lasse’s head.
“Cut the deck,” she prodded, urging the cards towards Jana. Weak but satisfied, Jana lifted a shaking hand and divided the deck into halves. Ells restacked the deck and carefully laid the cards face up on her lap.
Ells peered at the cards and held them up to her failing eyes. “Let’s see,” she began. “I’ll translate the Celtic into English for you. Two Sceptres, Wands or Clubs. Three inverted Phials, Cups or Hearts, two standing ones. One inverted Barter or Diamond. Nine Glaives or Swords. Inverted Tower. Death. The High Priestess. Oh, dear…” she trailed off.
“What?” Jana moaned. “Death? Tell me! What happens? Am I going to die?”
Ells regarded the bleeding woman soberly. “Your time of death is entirely unrelated to the relevance of this reading. The magic of the Sceptre will always surround you. Death in the figurative sense represents change. An inverted Barter indicates a change in your career.” She winced. “Your tower is going to fall. Nine Glaives will plague you throughout a difficult time. Two Phials will sustain and nourish you, even when all the others around you have dried up.
“What does it mean?”
Ells scratched Jana’s back gently. “Life is a circular journey that ultimately completes itself in one way or the other. We often choose difficult paths that we perceive to be mistakes, but the truth of the matter is, there are no mistakes. Do you understand?”
“I think so."
Lasse looked up into the rear view mirror. “Are you getting blood on my seat?”
“You're a dunce, Lasse.” Ells mumbled. She turned back to Jana. “Until a lesson is learned, circles have a way of reappearing over and over again. Embrace your fate or it will remain unresolved. Look to your family.”
“I don’t have any family!” Jana burst into tears.
Ells gathered up the cards and wrapped them up with the scarf. “What about the father?” Jana shook her head vehemently and sobbed.
Tears of sympathy welled in the older woman's eyes. “Oh, my dear, I am sorry to hear that!” She reached for Jana's hand. “It might not be with him, but you will have a family someday, I assure you.” She continued to comfort the younger woman and hold her hand. Gradually, the traffic eased, and the car made its way towards the hospital.
✽✽✽
Lasse stopped the Mercedes several feet away from the emergency room entrance. “You can make it from here, right? I have to call Margaret."
“Go away!” Ells snapped. Jana leaned against the old woman’s shoulder and allowed herself to be led through the main entrance, past the front lobby and into a waiting area.
The walls were pasted with cardboard Halloween decorations. A group of tables were clustered to the back of the room behind two sofas. A receptionist looked up at the sound of their entry, picked up a telephone, and helped Ells ease Jana into a wheelchair. “Someone will be right with you,” she said, handing Jana a clipboard with paperwork attached. Exhausted by the course of the day, Ells sat down on a sofa and nodded off.
A boy was drawing with crayons and paper at the table adjacent to Jana’s. He was around six years old, and had red hair that stood straight up to the sky. He looked feverish. Clutching a crayon drawing in his hand, he approached Jana and smiled shyly.
“I’m Finn,” he said. “What’s your name?”
“Hi, Finn. I’m Jana.” She extended her hand and tried hard to conceal her discomfort. “What’s this?” she asked, looking at the paper in his hand.
He handed the drawing to Jana. She stared at the waxy depiction of leafy green trees with giant brown trunks shrouded in a dark blue sky. A large yellow moon loomed in the upper right hand corner. A multicolored castle with multiple spires surrounded by a gate was drawn in the distance.
“Who lives here?” Jana asked.
“It’s a healing forest,” Finn explained. “Sick kids and…” he looked at the bloodstains in Jana’s lap and paused, “…ladies who need to be healed go there to experience the magic.” He smiled and exposed the gap where his front teeth had once been.
“It’s beautiful.” Jana said softly. She urged the picture back towards the boy. “Thank you for showing it to me."
“I made it for you,” Finn said. “That way, when you get there you’ll know you’re in the right place.” He took Jana’s hand in his own and patted it. Then he sat back down at his table, picked up a crayon and started a new drawing.
Moments later, a woman with a short white afro wearing a white medical coat with a low slung belt came into the room. She appeared to be in her late sixties and held a chart. “Jana Montgomery?” she asked. “I’m Dr. Nell.” She approached Jana’s chair and held her hand.
“Am I going to die?”
“Not on my watch.” Dr. Nell took Jana’s pulse before wheeling her into an adjacent room.
✽✽✽
“Would you like to see her?” the receptionist asked Ells a few minutes later, rousing the older woman from her nap. She nodded and followed the receptionist through the partition door and down a corridor to a small room where Jana was being prepped for a transfusion. Dr. Nell looked up at her and smiled.
“You’re welcome to stay with her if you’d like,” she said. “It might keep her calm to have family nearby. Are you her mother?”
“My ride is waiting for me, I’m very sorry.” Ells said, leaning forward on her cane. Relieved that the younger woman was in capable hands, she started to walk away but hesitated.
“Wait!” Ells fumbled with a clasp behind her neck. A Celtic cross carved from moonstone dangled from a silver chain. She placed it around Jana’s neck and fastened it. Twitching slightly, Jana clutched Finn's drawing in her hand as Ells kissed the top of her head.
“Seems fitting you should have this, being that it’s Samhain.” Ells explained, leaning in closer. “So you’ll always be able to find your way safely. God hold your hand through the Celtic New Year, and throughout the circle of life.” Leaning on her cane, she pushed up her glasses and bowed her head for a moment. Then she walked out of the room and quietly closed the door behind her.
✽✽✽
She was vaguely aware of being helped out of the wheelchair. When she regained consciousness, she was lying in a shallow metal tub filled with warm water and clutching the crayon drawing. “Can you ease your legs up a little?” Dr. Nell asked gently.
Jana obliged.
“You’re a very lucky woman. All that bleeding was caused by gashes to the outer cervix and vagina. You shouldn’t have any problems whatsoever if you choose to have children in the future. Your blood count is stable now. Heat will ease the cramping. Has the sedative kicked in yet?”
Jana closed her eyes and nodded. She hung her head to the side and stared at the drawing in her hand. Comforted, she swirled the picture along the surface of the bathwater and watched as the waxy paper sunk to the bottom.
She spent the evening resting comfortably in a private room. The following morning, dressed in clean clothing that the receptionist had given her, she thanked Dr. Nell and waited for a cab.
Dr. Nell gave her a
brown paper bag filled with antibiotics and painkillers. “Take it easy for the next few days. If you have any problems, get in touch with me immediately.”
“I will,” she lied. She hoped the painkillers would make it possible for her to return to work that very afternoon.
She waited ten minutes before donning a pair of dark sunglasses and walking towards the rear entrance of the hospital. She stepped outside, hoping to duck into a cab unnoticed but found herself accosted by a moderate sized group of people blocking the back entrance.
“Dr. Jana Montgomery?” A voice shouted. Despite the dark sunglasses, a flashbulb blinded her. Dazed, she stared ahead.
The more obtrusive members of the group were holding microphones. “Dr. Montgomery! Is it true that you illegally terminated your pregnancy a few hours ago? Are you aware that the procedure is illegal? You practice as a pediatrician in the state of California. Given the circumstances, is it a conflict of interest to continue in your career?”
“Baby killer!” An elderly man holding the hand of a little girl screamed at Jana. “Baby killer,” the little girl mimicked, sticking her tongue out at Jana. Several rosaries were thrust in her face. Hail Marys rang from multiple directions.
“Over here, Dr. Montgomery! Sources say you were raised in a loving, Southern Christian home by a pastor father and God-fearing mother. Is this the example they taught you, to kill the innocent? Do they condone murder?"
“Over here, Jana!”
“Hail Mary, full of grace!”
“Dr. Montgomery!”
Jana inched backwards. By now, the staff, led by Dr. Nell, had come to the door to rescue her from the commotion.
“Get out of here before I have you arrested for trespassing! All of you!” Dr. Nell screeched. She grasped Jana’s shoulders and pulled her back into the building. Shutters clicked as she braced herself for one last flash of blinding light.
Everything went black.
When she opened her eyes, she was naked in a river of scalding black water. Burning mud shackled her ankles in a death grip below the surface. Despite an impenetrable thickness of trees sprouting around her, she could see the faint lights of a castle in the background.