Fabiola - Part Five

That night, along the road adjacent the Market Square, Fabiola found herself among the women who earn. Having slowly unfastened the lock to her wooden window shutters, she had slid carefully and silently out of her bedroom into the inner courtyard, making sure that the sentry did not see her. The babbling of the water fountain had concealed the ticking of pebbles under her sandaled feet, and a moments conversation between the sentry and one of his fellows had allowed her a chance to unlock and escape through the front gate. She closed it securely behind her, not knowing how she would find her way back into the villa come morning. Right now things like that did not matter. Not here among all these bodies; women, their breasts exposed to the cool night air or--in a few cases--draped in a transparent yellow silk; men, drunken and loud, pushing and roughhousing, fondling the women openly, negotiating their price. Fabiola had heard the warnings of her mother, and knew that these things existed, but those were only stories. This was real, in front of her.

  Suddenly a hand rested lightly on her shoulder. It was a woman's. Fabiola turned to look at her. The woman squinted lightly, inching her head forward drunkenly, as she examined Fabiola's masculine robe. Her other hand, the one not resting on Fabiola's shoulder, held a clay pipe. The woman's words were slow and halting. It was at this moment that Fabiola began to see how damaged and thin many of these women were, how vacantly they sold themselves. "You're new," the woman said.

  She presented Fabiola with the pipe, directing them both closer to one of the torches lighting the street. "It's good," she said, setting fire to a short wooden stick that she then used to ignite for herself the substance in the pipe. Fabiola took in the thick scent of the herbs as the woman dragged in the smoke. "Here," the woman said, exhaling. Fabiola took the pipe hesitantly, but then confidently. The woman held the fire to the pipe for her, and then Fabiola inhaled strongly. Too strongly. It left her bent over coughing for a few seconds.

  In that time some passing men had grabbed the arm of the unnamed woman, pulling her down the street with them, laughing, surrounding her, leaving Fabiola alone with the pipe. Having seen how it was done, Fabiola used a piece of straw on the ground to take another gentle toke. Nothing seemed to be happening, and she did not know any better. When the drug finally took effect, Fabiola was reaching the end of the earning district, among the brothels, where things were quieter. Standing dazed, she could feel the warmth of the torches through her clothing and the hardness of the ground beneath her feet. It seemed to her that the touch of the woman had remained on her shoulder, radiating into her skin. Fabiola ran her finger tips across the nearest wall. The edges of the stone read like letters of an alphabet, sharp and distinct and meaningful.

  She could make out the contours of people fucking in the alleyways. A woman pressed forward against the wall as a man thrust into her from behind, his left hand gripping her breast. Another taking a woman laying on her back, moaning and whispering to the woman what to say.

  Fabiola watched, her pupils dilated and mouth open, a slight wobble in her stance. But when one of the men seemed to look up at her, she startled, and shuffled away as quickly as she could. Realizing now how vulnerable she may have made herself, how far away from home she had wandered, Fabiola decided to try to make her way to safety. 

  However, it was in that very moment of rational clarity when Fabiola heard a voice that would eliminate all reason, all clarity. It was the young man from the dinner, Gallus. He was here on the street, talking loudly in the relative silence of the brothel district, oblivious of Fabiola's presence. Looking over, Fabiola could see that he had taken one of the women who earn under his arm, and was heading for the entrance to one of the buildings. An unexpected jealousy crept into her heart. It inspired her to follow Gallus into the building.