Witch Hazel
Chapter 5 part 6
“It’s right behind me, isn’t it?”
Hamilton’s clothiers and Cafe, situated on the corner of Brighton and Steel in the heart of their little town.
Karisme was still so jittery from the ride to the shop that she scarcely noticed the bright LED sign and hurried towards the door. She was eager to be as far from the truck as was possible.
Benita could see how anxious Karisme was just from the look on her face. She tried to give her a reassuring smile on their way in but she wasn’t sure the other woman even saw it. She was focused on where she was going, as if tunnel vision could protect her from the harrowing modern world.
“Gracious,” whispered Karisme, face going slack as she took in the clothing hanging on racks, on the walls, on mannequins and everywhere else. “How will I ever decide what to get?”
“I know it’s a lot, but try to remember we have plenty of time. If you see something you think you like, we can get you a fitting room to try it on.”
“If you want to leave, let me know. I know this venture out is pushing you a bit far, a little fast and if you feel like you need to go home, we’ll drop everything and go.”
“I do not know how to properly express my gratitude,” murmured Karisme and she managed an actual smile. “I… where do I begin?”
Benita herself smiled and took Karisme’s hand. “Let’s go get you fitted, so we know what sizes you need.”
“Your clothing has been quite comfortable,” Karisme said. “Perhaps we can just go with those sizes?”
Benita considered this. “Even the bras?”
“I… yes,” she blushed at the mention of undergarments. “I suppose they work well enough.”
The younger woman’s eyebrows about hit her hairline. “We don’t want them to just be ‘well enough’ they need to fit you correctly.”
“Okay,” she consented with a fidgety twist of her hands. “Can I peruse the store beforehand?”
“Of course.”
“These are for very special occasions now? Goodness, I used to have to wear a dress at all times.” Karisme had been drawn in by the lovely satins of the formalwear section. “Such soft material. A very revealing design though.”
“It’s fairly modest for our day,” chuckled Benita, as a parentless child stared at the same dress and judged them harshly for their approval of it. So much hate in a small face, it’s a wonder it didn’t light on fire.
At the cosmetics counter, Benita helped her sister in law with the crazy clusterfuck that is make up. Though this detail had not been part of the plan, it interested Karisme so they got into it a little earlier than she’d expected to try to explain it all. It turned out (to no surprise) that cosmetics had gotten a good deal more complicated since Karisme had last seen any of it used.
“Yes, like that,” Benita said. “I don’t think you need much foundation, your complexion is lovely on its own. Maybe just a touch to highlight your face.”
“This cream smells delightful.” Karisme was patting on a moisturizer and reveling in its fresh scent. “These items must be quite expensive.”
“They’re not too exorbitant,” smiled Benita. “I don’t think Leo will mind if I get you a few things to make you feel your best.”
Her make over was no miracle, for certain, but the girl was still new at this. “You’ll get the hang of it,” Benita chuckled. “Would you like to get these, then?”
“I-if it isn’t too much trouble,” Karisme stammered, suddenly shy again. She glanced back at the mirror. Maybe with cosmetics and a new wardrobe she could just pretend she was someone else? A new identity, that was what she needed.
After a lot of shopping worked up an appetite, they put their bags in the truck and went up to the cafe for some lunch. Benita ordered for them to spare Karisme a little stress.
“I cannot believe how good the food is,” Karisme said. “What has changed since my youth?”
“Better trade, better farming, more exact cooking techniques, so many things,” Benita explained. “Now you see why I struggle to lose weight.”
“Oh, I shall be quite fat by the new year!” exclaimed Karisme enthusiastically and without a trace of remorse.
“Wait until your brother sees you, all dressed up and looking sharp. He won’t know who you are!”
Karisme smiled and nodded, mouth full of omelet. When she’d swallowed, she said, “I had been thinking perhaps what I needed was to remake myself as… a new person. A new me. Someone who can face this world and not fear it.”
Her sister in law considered this and patted her shoulder. “I can see why you’d want to do that. Put everything behind you and start new.”
With a deep breath, Karisme nodded. “You are so understanding. Your gentleness has given me the bravery to do this.”
Poor Benita wasn’t used to all these compliments. Leo was a very loving mate, but Karisme had told her at least twenty times a day how good, kind and wonderful she was. If it were coming from anyone else she would have worried about having a lesbian paramour to upset her husband. Karisme, though, was just from an age where it was polite to be so generous with warm words.
“And you are very brave for continuing on,” Benita managed.
“This has been a rather fun adventure, despite my initial hesitations,” Karisme said. “I imagine you are quite worn down after it all.”
“Worn down?” Benita laughed. “After six hours of shopping? My dear, I’m exhausted. I’m fantasizing about my pillow right now. After we eat, we’ll go home and you can show off to your brother. Oh, I almost forgot. We have one last small stop to make.”
“Holy Connoli, Karisme you look amazing!” Leonardo exclaimed when he saw his sister.
She came into the nursery, gave him an odd look because he was wandering around without a shirt on, but managed a smile. “Do I really?”
“Benita took me to a hair dresser and she taught me how to straighten my hair so while it grows out, it isn’t a matted, curly mess,” she said. “And look at these lovely clothes she bought me.”
“You look wonderful, sister of mine,” Leo said.
Leonardo’s cell began to ring and seeing the number, he took it to another room to answer it.
“Hey ma,” he said. “Things are ok here. How have you been?”
“Look, she doesn’t want to see you. I understand it’s hard to accept but you’ve got to look at it from her perspective.” There was a pause as the woman spoke on the other line. “I don’t give a damn. You went along with it and it hurt her. The whole experience hurt her. I know you could see it early on but you didn’t do anything about it.”
“She lives under my roof and she’s under my protection. Until she decides otherwise, you’re not welcome here.”
Benita walked into the room carrying an armload of freshly folded laundry. She glanced over at Leo, whose face was twisted with frustration, as she put the clothes away in the dresser. As he said good bye and hung up, she gave him a puzzled look. “What’s going on?”
“Arguing with madre about why doing nothing about the abuse is as bad as being the abuser,” he muttered. “I suspect padre is behind her constant inquiries. He wants to know if she’s stable and… useful.”
“Leo, that’s appalling.”
“That’s my father,” he said grimly.
“I think that more went on at that sanatorium than we know,” Leo said. “I don’t know what, but something happened to her.”
“If it was anything like the sanatoriums I read about in school, any number of terrible things could have happened to her,” Benita said. “They used to experiment on women. Rape, torture, all kinds of dreadful things.”
Leo clenched his fists. “You think that’s what they did?”
“I don’t know,” she said carefully. “And your sister doesn’t want to talk about it, so I don’t know when or if we’ll ever know.”
“Sweetheart I know you’re feeling a lot of things right now, but please don’t pressure your sister into telling you stuff she’s not comfortable talking about yet. She’s clearly been through hell and the poor thing needs to come to terms with normalcy now. You’re only going to make her feel threatened.”
“How am I supposed to protect her if I don’t know what happened?” he said. “I should go kill those so called doctors. And my father.”
“You’re not killing anyone,” Benita said. “For the sake of your family, take a deep breath and focus on the good things you have and don’t fuck it up. Your ancient idea of vengeance isn’t going to pan out well in this day and age.”
Leo looked at her for a long moment but then his face softened. “I suppose you’re right,” he sighed. “I’m an old wolf with old ideas of justice.”
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