Tunnels

The little ones were following her again.

They did this at night when they became scared.

She understood this but it did not make her happy, night time was her time not theirs.

She had decided to have a tea party with them, even though she’d out grown those notions long ago….or if there had been time for such childish things such as playing tea parties then.

The little ones loved to play….anything really. They never got the chance when they were alive. Some had never really even lived, but they tried their best to mimic her. Most had wondered in from the Alley of Angels out behind were the House of Mirrors had been, and they had found her here and they learned.

As she poured the tea she remembered the gorgeous silver service at the House of Mirrors. All of it needed polishing daily, a task she loathed….so much so that when the offer came to not do it any more she jumped at the chance. She had loved her time there and wished that she could find it again.

Now to be fair, the House of Mirrors was a thing of beauty. The main parlour was filled with floor to ceiling sheets of glass mirrors imported from Paris and each contained gold instead lead. They gleamed and bounced the light like a million diamonds. The room was filled with rugs from Persia, silk brocade from Prussia, and glass and marble gewgaws from Italy. There was even a baby grand piano that a Negro gentleman played to keep the callers spirits up, and to cover up any noises from upstairs.

Miss Lacy was the current owner of the House of Mirrors since winning it last year in a duel. The duel had been the talk of this part of Portland at the time, mostly because Ladies didn’t duel. But, since Lacy and Mari would proudly tell you that they were most definitely not Ladies since they worked for a living, so duelling was very much a done deal, especially since it was over a high paying costumer’s patronage.

It looked as if it was going to be another hot day that August morning when the two Madams faced off in front of the Mc Mannis. Mari was in high spirits and finished off a bottle of rye before tossing it in Lacy’s direction. Mari laughed and bragged about how she was going to gun down Lacy, and put her dead body on display in her Parlour when this was all over with. Lacy stood there getting redder in the face but never saying a thing. The crowd of men and working girls were loving it. Mari decided to play it up some more and went on a long diatribe about Lacy’s possible parentage and the impossible ways in which she was conceived. The crowd cat called and egged Mari on. Mari was loving the attention, and Lacy was crimson with anger.

The Mc Gaa stepped in and was wondering if this was going to be a hen party or is there was going to be a duel, and the crowd roared with approval. A gentleman behind Lacy handed her his service revolver and Mari pulled a small .38 that she had tucked in to her stalking. The crowd whistled and guffawed at the show of leg…yep…this was going to be quite the show.

Mari, being the “wronged” party was allowed to shoot first. Her aim was unsteady as she pulled on the trigger, and seconds later there was a cry as one of the bystanders in the crowd fell to the cobblestones. The crowd moved back now as Lacy hefted the revolver and took aim.

Lacy slowly squeezed the trigger and Mari was gut shot and fell to the ground as Lacy handed the revolver back to the man that had loaned it to her. Mari screamed at Lacy all manner of foul curses until there was nothing but the murmer of the crowd as they faded back to the nearby pubs.

For lacy, the real reason for the duel was to get her hands on the House of Mirrors and it’s tunnel that connected it to the Mc Mannis. So much profit to be had the from high class gentleman unwilling to walk in through the front door, but were more than willing to go through the tunnel, it added to the sense of the illicit, and helped stoke the fires of the men who used it.

After Lacy took over the flow of bodies went both ways to the mutual benefit to the owners of the Mc Mannis and Lacy. It was on one of these trips that she had gone on, her first time and she was to meet with The Mc Gaa.

It had gone as the girls had told her and she had done what was expected of her. A bellboy had escorted her down the back stairs and to the tunnel. The lamps were out, but she knew that it was straight shot to the door at the other end. The bellboy closed the door on the Mc Mannis end and she put her hand out to feel her way along the wall.

There was a sound of shoe leather twisting on the dirt, and then a small pain in her back.

When she came to, the little ones were there. None of them could talk, none of them could tell her what had happened, and none of them would show her the way out of the tunnel. She hated them at first, only showing up when they were scared, looking to her for comfort, leaving when they were fulfilled.

It was like she was a crib girl, alone in the tunnel, meeting the needs of others but not getting any comfort herself.

Things went on like that for a time, and she named some of the little ones…the ones that showed up the most. She resented that they could leave but she could not. She wanted to see light and the sun again and…and…and…she wanted to leave the little ones behind.

At some point she became aware that there was some light. A pin prick off over yonder…just a hint of shape and color. She tried her best to feel her way back down the tunnel but that had never worked in the past so she focused on the prick of light.

It grew and bricks fell silently as men with round yellow hats were looking in from the other side. One appeared to shiver as if caught in a draft others were holding sticks of light. She made her way past them and in to the back way.

Everything had changed, it was now well lit a carpet was on the floor, and it seem to go forever down the hallway. Nothing looked as she remembered it, and then she heard it. The first real sound in ages, a load squawk with a man saying something about having traced the other side of the tunnel to the parking lot across the street. The sound was all that mattered since the information did not make any sense at all. But the Sound...a human voice...it spoke...from a weird little wooden box hanging from his belt.

She said “Hi!”

Nothing.....

She tried again. “Hi I’m Josie frm the House of Mirrors and I was wondering if you could help me?”

Nothing....except that the man seemed to be playing with a small nob on the top of the little box.

She sat down in the hallway and watched the people as they continued to ignore her. She was shocked by their clothing and behaviour. Woman in pantaloons just like the men, men taking orders from the woman. The world had gone crazy it seemed.

She watched them until they cleaned up and left a yellow and black streamer across the opening. The little ones had made their way out of the tunnel and huddled around her as she followed the man with the talking box. It felt alive to her...as did most things now. The lights as she passed under them bowed to her presence, as did the odd little pipes on the walls and ceiling. They entered what she felt had to be the lobby, she wasn’t sure since she had never seen it the only time she had been in the building.

The man walked out the door and the little ones clung to her and would not let her follow, and in an instant he was gone. The little ones released their grip on her and started to play again. While they were distracted she walked over to the front desk and went behind it. The people manning it seemed not to notice her as she passed them and in to the room behind them. She saw a good sized black box and it glowed with life and she was drawn to it....so....she touched it.

She could feel it die, it’s life fading from it.

Soon a man in an odd little red vest came over and pushed a button on the box....and waited.....he pushed it again.....and waited. Finally he kicked it and head back started talking with a man that came to the counter and looks as if he was in need of something. That was when she saw him, the bell boy that she had seen when she had entered the tunnel.

• The McGaa
• The Bellboy