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Epilogue
Blanka
I look out onto the cloudy sea green water through my window, watching the tourists in the small boats taking in everything that is Venice. While the water is cloudy, it’s a clear day and I can see the homes and churches across the vast distance.
It’s early and for some odd reason I awoke after five in the morning. It’s now seven, although, I have a gut feeling signaling me that something is wrong. I’ve always been like this, feeling odd before something happened. I sip on my espresso that I made in my room earlier, continuing to stare out at the view people would literally kill for. That is, until my phone begins to vibrate on my dresser.
I turn and walk over to it, not recognizing the number and pick it up. “Hello?” I answer in English, figuring it’s the best course of action.
“Hello little white one,” Immediately I know the voice, an old friend who I haven’t seen in years. In Czech my name means ‘small white one’, and so my sister Regina, and one of our friends Galina would call me it. Almost like Galina was another older sister of mine.
“Galina, where are you?” I switch to Czech.
“I’m in Venice, silly. I’m hoping you’d be available for coffee. You don’t have clients this early, right?” She giggles, poking fun at my job but I pay her no mind. Almost everyone who knows what I do makes fun of me or bullies me about it in some way. But it pays my bills and gives me a good life, so I won’t complain.
“Sure, there’s a café a few blocks away. Would you like to meet there?” I ask her, getting a reply that she’d love to meet and for me to text her the information. I text her quickly and we agree to meet in half an hour. Meanwhile, I hop in the shower, blow dry my hair and put on a little bit of makeup.
Galina has known me since I was a little girl. My sister actually introduced us. We grew up in Prague. A very poor part of Prague I should add, and the four of us became good friends. The fourth one is Galina’s younger sister, Ivana.
My phone buzzes again and I see another text from Galina, telling me that she looks forward to seeing me but she wants to know if I can put in a good word with my boss because she needs work, a place to sleep, and she’s pretty much homeless.
If she’s homeless . . . then how does she have a cell phone? So, I ask her, and she replies this is the last month she’ll get service. I guess that makes sense. Galina is like family to me, so I do something I wouldn’t normally do and ask her to send me a photo. When we were younger we had to do what I do now. It was either, fuck anyone who was willing to pay, or starve.
She sends me a photo and thank goodness she still has her striking good looks. I’m also thanking the heavens above that Regina wasn’t the one who decided to run back into my life. Regina and I have a tumultuous relationship at best. Now, Galina is a lot like Regina . . . but Galina has always had a better head on her shoulders.
I finish getting ready to leave and decide to stop downstairs in my Madame, Cecilia Bianchi’s, office. “Belladonna, what can I do for you?” Cecilia asks, looking over paperwork. She calls me by my stage name of sorts, the name that all the clients call me.
“I have a girl who’s looking for work. She’s beautiful and she’s been in this type of work before.”
“Hmmpf,” She mutters, continuing to do what she’s doing.
“Her name is Galina and she’s a year older than me. She’s from the Czech Republic.” Cecilia’s eyebrows raise up, and now I see she’s interested.Bingo.
“You could’ve started with that, girl. We’ve been looking for more Northern European girls, and I need Kenyan’s too. The men love when you girls tag team, dark and white chocolate,il meglio del meglio,” After being in Italy for five years, I’ve learned a bit of the language. Cecilia wants the best of the best, and she believes the combination is just that. I take a few steps closer to her, and show her the picture Galina sent me. “Ah, yes, bring her in. I have a few clients who would love a woman like this. But you tell her the rules,Belladonna.”
“Yes, of course. I’ll bring her back with me in a bit.”
“Alright, don’t be too long. You have to meet one of your new clients tonight.” Cecilia so graciously reminds me. This new guy is one who will come here to the brothel. We have a few men like that, but others prefer we meet them wherever is convenient with their schedules.
I quickly leave Cecilia’s office and walk the few blocks so I can meet Galina on time, and run into her outside on the street. We both walk up to one another, embracing after not seeing each other in years. “I spoke to my boss and she will hire you,” I state, making sure I speak in code and don’t go into too much detail. You never know who’s listening. “Let’s go to the back of the café so I can speak to you in more detail.” I suggest, leading her toward the back of the restaurant, ensuring we speak in Czech.
“So, I’m going to give you a rundown of the rules,” I say as we take a seat and wait for a waiter to come up and take our order. “You can’t start fights with the other women. You can’t take drugs, have a boyfriend or girlfriend. No side swiping Cecilia and trying to start your own business. No families. You have to honor your contract and be taking birth control. The schedule is as such, you work four weeks straight and you’re off one week. And if you get pregnant, your contract will be extended for another year.”
“Okay, this is easy to follow. Do you have regulars or anything?” She asks.
I nod, “You can, but our boss will always mix up clientele so you don’t fall in love with them. She doesn’t like us just seeing one person, especially if we have a lot of time left on our contracts. One girl fell in love with a john, and had a baby. The woman had her contract extended and the baby will be given to its father after it’s born. Cecilia has made it clear to the man that after the other year is honored, then he can have the mother.”
“Wow. She sounds cold.”
“She is, which is why you shouldn’t cross her.”
“Noted.”
“Hello ladies, would you like something to eat?”
“Yes, please. I’m starved.” I state, hoping the rest of this conversation can be used getting caught up. I still have that odd feeling that I can’t shake, and hopefully I figure it out before whatever it is slaps me across the face.
