Darque Wants, page 19
part #5 of Darque Billionaire Series
“I thought I told you to wear a dress,” her mother scolded her as she approached the door to the church.
“I haven't owned a dress since that god-awful sixth grade dance you forced me to go to, Mom,” Nai said, and she hugged her mother. “Besides, I'm not about to do this in some fake-ass get up. Granny loved me just the way I am.” As her mother nitpicked at her hair, Nai noticed one of the Sisters approaching.
“You must be Nai,” Sister Mia said as she grabbed Nai in a hug that was far too tight and personal for Nai's taste.
“Yeah, I'm Nai,” she said as she disentangled herself from the robust nun. “And who are you?”
“I'm sorry, dear,” the nun said as she stepped back. “I'm Sister Mia. Your grandmother talked about you so often, I feel like I know you.”
“You knew Granny?” Nai asked as she tried to get her head around the situation. Granny had never been too religious. Yet here they were about to bury her in a Catholic mission surrounded by her best gal pal nuns.
“Oh yes,” Sister Mia said. “We all knew Nai very well. She came here every year to visit us.” the nun said as she struggled to hold back her own tears. “She was a very special woman. You look so much like her dear.”
“Thanks,” Nai said. “What did she come here for?”
“She came here to visit old friends and to rest,” the nun said. “Nai lived a busy life and needed somewhere safe to recharge herself.” The bell above the chapel began to ring out, and the Sister excused herself. Nai and her mother followed the crowd into the courtyard and back towards the cemetery. It was a dusty, red dirt field with sparse grass, more like weeds, struggling to survive in the harsh sunlight. There were a few rows of stones, mostly worn and cracked with age. When they reached the gravesite, a nun led them to a row of chairs at the front of the crowd. Like an oasis, the grave was surrounded with at least two dozen batches of flowers, and right there, on a wooden stand by the large dirty hole, was the coffin. It was beautiful, if a coffin could be beautiful. It was a rich, dark wood that looked to be hand carved with rows of symbols. Granny was always big on Mayan symbols, and Nai recognized the markings to some degree herself. But as she struggled to look at them, she couldn't handle the thought that this was the last she'd see of her grandmother. As the little service went on, she distanced herself from it by examining the people and surroundings. She didn't recognize most of the people. Granny didn't have much family, but she obviously made an impression wherever she went. After the funeral was over, most of the people cleared out. Nai's mother was chatting with a few people by the chapel as Nai stood by the graveside. She noticed a marker on the grave next to where Granny Nai's coffin had been placed. It seemed a bit odd that the two graves were so close to one another. She looked around the cemetery and saw most of the markers were spread out farther. She knelt down in the dirt and rubbed the dust from the old gravestone. It had a row of Mayan marking across it as well, a date, and one word. “1897 Vagar” was all it said. As she rested on her knee brushing the stone in search of more markings, Sister Mia came to stand beside her.
“This was a special place for Nai,” Sister Mia said. “Every year when she came, she placed flowers on this grave. She was very clear that when she passed she had to be buried here beside him.”
“It's a guy?” Nai asked. “It just says Vagar.”
“It's Portuguese. It means wanderer,” Sister Mia told her. “And yes, he was very much a man.” Her words seemed odd to Nai, but she didn't feel like asking any questions. She just didn't want to be here anymore. So close to the open grave, somehow, was just too much. “Nai left something for you,” the Sister said as Nai rose from the ground and dusted off her jeans. “Something she wanted you to have and no one else. Come with me, and I will get it for you.” The Sister turned and walked away from the grave towards a small building near the end of the mission. Nai, curious, followed closely behind. The few remaining guests didn't notice the two women wandering off. Inside the building was only one room. The floor was the same red clay as the outside. The room was bare except for a large stone chest with a Mayan symbol that looked like a jar carved on the front of it. Sister Mia pushed the symbol, and it moved inward as the top of the chest slid open. She reached inside and pulled out a small wooden box. “This was your grandmother's most prized possession,” she said as she turned to Nai and passed the box to her. “She wore it always. Make sure you take very good care of it, and put it on as soon as you are alone.” The nun looked out the small window into the cemetery, hesitantly, and then took hold of Nai's arm. “Come this way, and you can take the path down to the beach. No one will see you leave that way.” Nai wasn't thrilled to be here in the first place, but now she felt like she was being rushed out the back door. “Hurry now, Nai. Down to the beach.” The woman pushed with considerably more force than Nai would have expected from an old nun, and she found herself shoved out the little back door before she had time to give it much thought. As she turned around to protest, Mia quickly closed the door, and Nai heard the heavy sound of the metal latch clunk through the old slatted door.
“Sister,” she said but got no response. “Sister Mia?” Nai grabbed the door handle and sure enough, locked. She turned around to survey her position. The wall of the mission ran along the edge of the small ridge. The only way to leave the little door was a pathway leading down to the beach. So Nai shrugged her shoulders and started walking. As she came to the beach she found a large rock sticking out into the water. Nai climbed up and made herself at home, holding the small box in her hands. As she watched the waves break around her, she opened the box. Inside was a gold bracelet, intricately ornamented with thirteen small images of jars around the rim. On one side of the circle was a small hinge and on the other a tiny bolt. The bracelet lay in the box open, the two halves hinged open. Nai had seen it before, many times. Sister Mia was right. She had never seen her grandmother without it on. She had asked about it as a child several times, and Granny Nai would tell her a story about how the jars were the contents of creation, or something like that. She couldn't really remember. She had begged several times for Granny to let her wear it, but she always said, “Just you wait, you will have your time.” Now that it was her time, Nai just wished it was still on her Gr anny's wrist, that she was there beside her now, telling her the story again.
Nai laid back on the rock and let the sun warm her body. She held the bracelet up toward the sky and looked it over. The sunlight bounced off the gold band and sparkled in her eyes. She had seen it so many times before, but now it was like she was really looking at for the first time. The little jar designs were spaced out over the whole band, except where the little hinge was on one side and the bolt that acted as a clasp was on the other. The ends slipped into one another, and the bolt went through them both to hold it in place. Part of Nai felt guilty at the thought of putting it on, but she was proud of it, none the less. She wrapped the band around her wrist and slid the ends together. She pinched the tiny bolt between the tips of her fingers and tightened it down. She turned it hard to make sure it was fastened. The last thing she wanted to do was lose the bracelet. As she twisted the little bolt, her fingers slipped.
“Shit,” Nai cursed out as the tips of her fingers sheered on the bolt, causing a few drops of blood to trickle down. The drops ran down around the edge of the gold band, encircling the tiny jars as Nai held it up between her eyes and the sun. It looked odd to her, really. The little stream of blood seemed to flow around the whole bracelet, leaving just the raised images of the jars above the red sheen. As she watched, the blood swirled around on the gold surface and then began to flow, it seemed, into the tops of the jars themselves. The sun burst out overhead. It grew in intensity so much that she lost sight of her hands right in front of her, and she had to clamp her eyes shut. Nai felt hot and suddenly dizzy, as she laid there on the rock. The sun burned through her eyelids blindingly, and her thoughts spun in a nervous panic until she tried to sit up. She felt as if a hole had opened up inside her and was sucking her in, and she opened her mouth to scream. Nothing came out of her mouth, no sound or breath. The light quickly faded, and she fell into darkness.
*****
*****
The Santa Casa Mission had been here longer than the town itself. It had been a temple of the Mayan empire, though a suspiciously far removed one. The original temple was mostly underground inside a vast cave system deep in the limestone. The mud brick mission had been built on top of the existing structure to hide it from the outside world. The Sisters had been surviving mostly on their own for years, when the gold was discovered over the bluff and down towards the opening of the desert. Their lives went on much as they had, as the bustling town grew around them. There were always two things that followed settlers and prospectors to a new gold rush town in the West, wives and trouble. Many of those wives arrived just in time for a mine shaft collapse or a rough night in the saloon to leave them husband-less and desperate in a rough new territory. Not long after the main street had been lined with shops and bars, the Santa Casa Mission became a home for many of the widowed women of the western town. Those who couldn't go back East or didn't have the disposition to find work in the brothels wound up working the small farm at the Mission.
As the gold rush grew, so did the number of women seeking refuge at the mission. As the gold dried up and the prospectors faded, so did the bars and brothels, leaving the mission as the sole place in Santa Casa where one could find a host of unattached women. The trouble started small. One or two drunks banging on the door late at night or firing their pistols at the bell and raising hell. As the decent intelligent folk became fewer, the gall of those others grew. There had been some hard nights at the Mission, and avoiding more serious trouble was becoming more and more difficult. Guy Richards was the richest man in town. He owned the gold mine and half the land around. He owned all the brothels as well and used them to keep his men in line. Incentive, he called it. However, with no more gold and no more prostitutes, Richards was having trouble keeping men on his payroll. So, he waited for the railroad to come through and bring his property values back up. As the local sheriff made his money off Richards too, there wasn't much help for the ladies of the Mission. Sister Marjorie knew she had to protect the women of the mission, but there was more at stake. She knew she couldn't have strangers roaming free through the Mission. That's what they were there to protect in the first place. Even though she knew what it would mean, the Sister had already sent out the word for help, and she knew he would come. And that meant “She” would come soon as well.
“Wake up, dear,” Sister Marjorie said as she nudged Nai's shoulder. “Wake up, now.” The nun stood by the rock, leaning over Nai as she slept.
“What the hell?” Nai said as she started to regain consciousness. She rubbed her hands over her eye as she felt a dull ache pulsing in her head. 'What the hell happened?”
“Oh yes,” Sister Marjorie said as she stood over her. “I had forgotten about your mouth. You always did talk like a man.”
“What, what the hell do you mean?” Nai said as she sat up and swung her feet down into the sand at the base of the rock. “Who the hell are you, anyway?”
“I'm Sister Marjorie, Mother Superior of this order,” the nun said. “Now be careful. It takes some getting used to, and this was your first time.”
“What the hell are you talking about, lady?” Nai said as she lifted herself up from the rock. Her legs wobbled, and she felt weak. Sister Marjorie grabbed her arm and steadied her before she folded completely and fell to the ground.
“I told you to be careful, Nai,” the nun said as she helped Nai get her footing. “It can be very disorienting when you first use the bracelet.”
“Use the bracelet?” Nai looked at the woman who was holding her up. “What the hell do you mean?”
“I will explain it all to you inside. Come on, Nai,” Sister Marjorie said as she tugged at Nai's shoulder and started her back up the path to the wall of the mission. “And do try and watch your mouth, young lady, or everyone will know you don't belong here.” Nai, still struggling with the pounding in her head, figured questions would be best left for later, and she followed the nun up the path and back through the little doorway. Back inside the little room, Nai felt better. The darkness helped with her head, and the cool shade felt good on her skin. She had no idea how long she had laid out there, but she felt like shit.
“Here, Nai dear. Chew this. It will help with your head,” Sister Marjorie said as she shoved a small handful of leaves into her hand and continued to rummage round a set of jars on the shelf. Funny, Nai hadn't even noticed the shelf when she was in the room earlier.
“Chew?” Nai asked, “the leaves?”
“Yes, dear. They are coca leaves. They will make the headache go away,” the nun said as she returned with a small bottle, which she dug her fingers into and began to smear some strange jelly on Nais face.
“Hey, lady,” Nai said in protest as she tried to back away from the onslaught of the nun's mothering.
“Put the leaves in your mouth and chew, girl,” The nun insisted. “And you got too much sun on your face. If you don't let me do this, you will regret it.” Nai relented and slipped the leaves in her mouth and began to chew them. The green bitter taste wasn't too bad, she thought as she let the woman rub the jelly into her skin. Her burning face instantly felt cool, and it sent shivers down her back. “Now, what are we going to do about those?” the nun said pointing at Nais breasts, the exposed cleavage shimmering with sweat. “We don't want people thinking you're a whore, dear.”
“Whoa! Wait a fucking minute,” Nai said as she pushed away from the counter. “I don't know what the hell you think, lady, but I'm not signing up here,” Nai said as she pushed past the woman and moved towards the opposite doorway. She grabbed the door latch and yanked the door open firmly. As she turned to step outside she stopped. The air in her lungs felt like it had been sucked out instantly. As she looked out into the cemetery, she couldn't believe her eyes. Where just a short time ago there was a large cemetery, dusty and dry with sparse weeds popping through the clay, there were rows of crops. The ground was green, and there were women working between the rows. And the women looked, well, they looked old-timey. Sister Marjorie walked up behind her and took the door from her hands and slowly pushed it closed.
“You always were a stubborn one, Nai,” Sister Marjorie said as she moved the stunned girl back against the counter. “Chew the leaves a minute, and then we will head down into the temple.”
“Why do you keep saying that?” Nai asked as she leaned against the wooden counter top. “I don't have a clue who the hell you are, lady. And what the fuck it going on out there?”
“Farming is what the fuck is going on out there,” Sister Marjorie said calmly. “We don't have a Walmart in Santa Casa in 1866. They don't have one in 2014 for that matter. 2014, that is where you were wasn't it?”
“OK, lady. I think you had better back off the sacramental wine a bit,” Nai scoffed.
“Yes, well, that you may be right about,” the nun said as she went to the large stone chest and began pushing at it much like Sister Mia had earlier. “Never the less, it's 1866 now, Nai. And, of course, you don't know me. You just met me. But I have known you most of my life.”
“Hey, I got..,” Nai said as she vigorously chewed the small handful of leaves. “These are coca leaves, right? You nuns baking up a bunch of coke in here? Is that it?” Suddenly the floor rumbled, and the chest slipped downward into the floor. Behind it was a large hole in the floor of the small room. The nun walked to the edge and stepped in. The shadows hid a set of stone steps.
“Come on now, Nai,” the nun said with a wave of her hand back towards Nai. Then she quickly moved down into the hole. Nai walked to the edge and saw the dust of the floor spilling over the edge and raining down on the stone steps below.
“What the hell?” Nai mumbled under her breath.
“Come on, girl,” the nun shouted as she kept spiraling down what seemed like an endless set of steps. “And stop cussing, I said!” Nai carefully stepped down into the hole and followed down the staircase. As she went, she noticed some of the stone blocks that made up the walls had carved symbols on them. They looked like the little jars on her bracelet, but she shook it off and kept moving downward. The mystery of it was just too much to withstand. She reached the bottom of the stairs, where Sister Marjorie waited for her. “Now, on the other side of this door is the real temple,” Marjorie said. “And I will explain everything to you. But I know you. So save the question and answer phase for after I'm done.”
“You keep saying you know me,” Nai said. “I've never met you. I don't have a clue what the hell you are talking about.”
