Oleander (revised)

"She's crazy." said the new girl, Clarissa. "You can't keep your virginity in a bordello for more than... two seconds. If you had it to begin with."
"Well, she swears she's got it, and the doctor said she does. But it doesn't always break, you know," replied Mandy, the dirty-blonde. She tossed her hair. Handy-Mandy, the customers called her.
"Yeah, whatever." said Collette and Candy in unison. They looked like sisters, and often worked together for extra money.1

A black girl nodded thoughtfully, shaking her head full of braids.
"You know," she said, "I believe her though. She's never lied before."
"Don't be stupid Zelda," hissed a tall svelte girl with dark skin. "If she's never actually done it, how would she make enough money to buy those stupid stuffed animals that she always gives to the new girls?"2

Clarissa blushed. She had a stuffed polar bear under her mattress. It was still white and clean.
"Whatever." said Mandy. "Unless she takes kung-fu when we're asleep, there's no way she could keep those men off of her. Especially Fat-McPherson."
The girls giggled, and got in their beds. It was 7:00am, way past their bedtime.3

At 7:30, a door at the end of the hall opened. Clarissa, who was wide awake, cracked her own door open just a tiny bit. A small figure dressed in black with shiny leather boots tip-toed down the hall. It was the girl, the one that gave her the polar bear. What was her name, Lola? Leigha? Lilah? No, some kind of flower. Lily? Lilac? Lavender? Oleander. That was it. O. Oleander. Clarissa rolled the strange name off her tongue in a whisper. The figure down the hall whipped her head around. Clarissa ducked back. The figure quickly stepped inside a dark bedroom, and made no noise. Clarissa crawled back in bed, kicking aside some dirty satin pillows. Her polar bear had a faint sheen around it in the dark. 4

*
Everyday, Oleander got up at eight pm. She spent the next hour in her room alone, got ready in the bathroom at nine, checked in with Madame Tirani at a quarter-past, and went to work at nine-thirty.
The other girls woke up at eight-thirty, checked in at nine-fifteen, and went to work at nine-forty five.5

Business was always good in June. 6

Madame said that that is because the heat drives men wild. Mandy said it was because people were too poor to go on vacation.7

Oleander knew why. June is wedding-month.8

The bordello ran pretty smoothly. There were three floors. On the ground floor, there was a 'lobby' that consisted of a bar, some tables, chairs, and a beaded curtain. Through the curtain was a little room, the 'office,' where Madame assigned men to girls. Some had favorites. Some had preferences. Some tipped, and some stole. Madame, who ran a tight ship, always made sure the men paid first, and if they permanently damaged any of her girls, then she had her hired gorilla follow them to their cars or cabs and give them a little damage of thier own. Except of course, the tippers and regulars, who were free to do pretty much whatever they wanted to. All in all, the bordello wasn't so bad, even when Madame bought a younger girl or two for a couple of nights to rake in some extra profit. Those girls didn't fare well, and it was not good to dwell on them.9

Oleander was one of those girls. But not only did she not become a shaken, broken person, she discovered something in that locked room, and kept the secret to herself. She was a top earner, and never tried to escape- which was just as well. There were no jobs to be found anywhere, and all the girls figured that it was better to choose your own time and be paid for it than to be raped in a dirty back alley while scrounging for food. With Madame Tirani, at least the men were moderately well-behaved, the building was spotless and had a washer and dryer, and Madame paid for doctor visits every two months (to a doctor who was golden for keeping his mouth shut). The only thing the girls had to pay for was beauty products, clothes, and contraceptives, which they ordered cheap off the Internet. It wasn't that Madame was caring or compassionate or even concerned, but she was a good business woman. The only rules were ones about staying clean and protecting the brothel's reputation. Boyfriends have to pay Madame's fee and could not come during business hours, no getting pregnant, keep body fat at around 25%, no using more than your share, etc. Girls could even leave, but it would cost them a few thousand. You could run away too, but even if you were brave enough to, it was stupid. Madame always found you, and she was not forgiving. The one girl who dissapeared the longest came back in the winter, half starved. So yes, the girls stayed, partially out of fear, partially out of security, and marginally because the brothel was home as much as anything else could be.10

To continue, also on the bottom floor was the wash room and Madame's "chambers." The second floor contained the work rooms. Bedrooms, bathrooms, two closets and a faux office fully equipped.
The third and final floor was a hallway lined with narrow converted bedrooms, six on each side, a bathroom that served all the girls, and a locked door that nobody really noticed. Two bedrooms were connected by a retractable wall, and when pulled apart, they made a little crash room for the girls. There were 16 regular girls in the bordello.11

The real total of girls was different every month.12

One room, on the second floor, was unofficially Oleander's. She arrived early to secure it, and left late to make sure no one saw in it. One time, a new girl got up early enough to beat Oleander to her work room. Oleander caught her just entering the door. The girl returned to her room shortly sporting a big, red hand print and holding a sock monkey.13

The girls had to admit, Oleander was strange. She didn't service the most customers, but made a pretty hefty profit, enough for Madame to concede with some of Oleander's unusual requests. Extra large dresses, two photo albums, a man's hairbrush, twice the number of binding toys as the other girls asked for, and one time she even asked for a copy of Where the Red Fern Grows. The girls never saw the book in the bedroom Oleander slept in, so they all supposed it was in her work room. Not that the girls saw her much, anyway. As soon as they woke up, it was make up and primping time. Some of the friendlier girls got breaks during the night working down in the fake lobby teasing customers. The tall, skinny, dark girl was often recruited by Madame Tirani to entice new customers in off the streets by lounging her sinewy body against the door post and showing pointed teeth through seductive smiles. (Her name was Heras, and nobody knew where she came from. Probably one of the cities closer to the coast. She had shared a room with Oleander before one of the older girls bought her freedom, and always refused to talk about it.) As sad as it is, there wasn't much special about the bordello other than the afore-mentioned way Madame Tirani ran it. It was still a place for sex and breaking souls. Even sadder, occasionally young virgins were sold to the bordello, either by poor farming families who cared less, or kidnappers who ran a slave trade through the country side. Madame Tirani could get a lot of money off a virgin, 12 to 13 being the best age. 14

What was special, was Oleander. She procured a clean, if slightly used, stuffed animal for every new girl, often finding out what their favorite animal was. No one was really sure where she got them. Collette and Candy swore they saw her recieving a box from Madame, but Zelda and Mandy thought she stole them. A green eyed blonde girl with misaligned teeth said that she made them, because they had obvious stitch marks. Heras knew. At least half the stuffed animals were gifts from her customers. But she never told the other girls, because half were not. And those that weren't, Heras hated.15

Oleander was also special of the way she worked, but that is yet to come.16

July wasn't as busy as June, but it was hotter. Clarissa retired early at 4:30 in the morning to the girl's two-bedroom crashroom. She plopped on Collette's bunk bed, or was it Candy's? She wanted to shower badly, but Madame made it a rule to not run water when the customers were at the bordello because of the noise the pipes made. Clarissa wiped her skirt front compulsively. That last one was disgusting. 17

"A damn drunk who could couldn't even keep it up." she said to nobody. Most people would have been surprised to hear a fifteen year old girl speak like that, but most people don't live in houses of ill repute. All in all, Clarissa had had a good day. Five hours, two hour-long customers who paid very nicely, four twenty-thirty minute customers, and then the drunk who made it seem like an eternity. Half of her customers had been the nervous sort, and weren't bad at all, at least in that kind of work. One had even been a new-timer, and was very gentle. If he had been under thirty, she might have kissed him. But she didn't. Clarissa pressed down on her abdomen as if to push out the dirty feeling she had. 18

She reached over to a stack of magazines and grabbed a French one. She didn't know where it came from, but figured that whipering words in "the language of love" might earn her an extra dollar or two. She flipped through ads for perfume and Christian Dior, and had just memorized "mon cheri" and "mon dieu!" when Collette came in.
"Get off my bed."
Clarissa rolled off without a complaint. There was a big bruise on Collette's wrist and nasty looking bite marks on her thin neck. When she laid down, Clarissa saw an imprint of a wrist watch on her bare back.
"I'm sorry, Clarissa," sighed Collete.
"No, it's fine!" said Clarissa. "Can I get you something? Some anti-bacterial stuff, or a bandage or something?"
"Nah," said Collette. She let her brown hair fall over her face, and lay perfectly still, as if she was trying to fake being asleep.
Clarissa let her be and flipped through some more magazine ads.19

"Je suess. Je swiss. Jesus." she said, trying to get some pronunciations down.
"Je suis. Pronounced "'Jeh' and 'swee.' It means 'I am.'" said a voice from the doorway.
Clarissa dropped her magazine in her lap. Oleander stood at the doorway, holding a bag of ice and a wet washcloth. She was beautiful, or almost. Pale, dark hair and eyes, small waist and small breasts amped up by an ancient leather boustier.
Oleander moved across the room and sat on the edge of Collette's bed. Collette didn't move.
"It's okay," said Oleander softly. "I've had him too." She placed the bag of ice around Collette's wrist. She then untied the back of Collette's summer top, and lightly ran her fingers on either side of the girl's spine. Collette still laid without moving. She wiped the bite marks gingerly with the washcloth, and reached in her back pocket.
"I swiped these from Madame," she said over her shoulder to Clarissa. "Vitamin E. I don't really know if it helps, but maybe it fights infection." The younger girl nodded quietly.
Oleander pinched a yellow pill, and golden liquid spilled onto Collette's neck and shoulder. Oleander smeared it across the bite marks, and then, almost as an afterthought, leaned forward and gave Collette's wounds a kiss. The younger girl was surprised, and then touched, in a way that she had never been before. After tying back Collette's shirt, Oleander stood up to leave.
"I'd stay, I got off early, customers with business trips you know, but I'm in the middle of a really good book. Will you excuse me?"
"Of course," said Clarissa, surprised at her quick response.
Oleander paused at the door before leaving.
"I've seen you watching me," she whispered. "You don't have to be afraid of me, you know." Then she was gone.20

Collete shifted on her bed. The worn blue sheets under her shifted as well, too big for her little bunk. She spoke plainly.
"He told me that I wasn't good enough, then he beat me. I mean, it happens, yeah, but then he told me that I'd never be somebody's wife, that I'd never have kids. He said he'd keep coming back and raping me until I had his brats."
Collette was stony faced under her hair.
"He paid Madame an extra 200 for me."
Clarissa nodded sympathetically. With money involved, Madame would be sure that he had first preference until one of the girls was seriously hurt.21

At 5:00 am, Collette was sound asleep, and Clarissa had left for the shower room. Zelda and Candy entered the room with ratty towels around their wet hair.
"I'll have an afro all week if Madame won't let me go out and get rebraided," Zelda was saying. Candy laughed and pretended to do an African dance. Zelda swatted her with a towel.
"Keep it down, will ya?" groaned Collette groggily. "Tryin' to sleep."
The two girls laughed and sat on their respective bunks.
"Where's Isadora?" asked Zelda, glancing towards the bunk above her.
"You did hear the commotion?" replied Candy incredulously.
"No, I was trying to look pretty, because it doesn't come naturally to all of us."
"Don't be a punk, I was just surprised. Well, this morning, her boyfriend came to buy her out."
"Her boyfriend?" Collette popped up, interested.
"Yeah," continued Candy. "Her boyfriend. Apparently it had been a secret from Madame, and it came as quite a shock. She was furious in fact, that Isadora had lied to her. But he offered an extra two thousand for her. Madame even tried to pretend like Izzy was a big seller and she needed a higher price, but he convinced her in the end. Offered up a pearl necklace. I think it was his dead mom's or something."
"What!?" screamed the other two girls.
"That's incredible," said Zelda. "Isadora worked pretty slow, and was only moderately pretty."
Collette nodded. "Where did she find time for a boyfriend?" The three girls talked for a little longer, but eventually rested on their own bunks and thought about how crazy Isadora's boyfriend must have been. They also thought, right before they each fell asleep, how great it would be to have a real boyfriend. Somebody like on TV. Flowers, candy, shy dinner dates, the lot. Somebody who would give up something precious to save them.
"Do you think they were together before she came?" asked Collette sleepily. No one answered her.22

Down the hall, Clarissa was still vigorously trying to scrub off the imagined scum on her thighs. The water in the sink just couldn't get hot enough. A knock on the door, and Heras stepped inside.
"Give it up," she said. "I've tried more than you know." She took the soap from Clarissa and started to wash her face. Clarissa plopped on the counter.
"I know," she said. "I know."
A few more wipes with a towel, and Clarissa silently started to leave the bathroom.
"Hold on, little sister," said Heras. She grabbed Clarissa around the waist and gave her a big hug, her hip-bones poking Clarissa's stomach. "It'll be okay one day. I know it."
Clarissa was shocked for the second time that day.
"Thank you," she muttered. Heras granted her a rare smile and pushed her towards the bedrooms before resuming her stony expression. At the end of the dark hallway, Clarissa saw a pale face in Oleander's doorway. The door quickly shut and all was dark. Back in her room, her roommate Genie was snoring quietly, holding an stuffed panda that she had never seen before. Clarissa took her polar bear and climbed the ladder to her top bunk.23

Still in the bathroom, Heras brushed her teeth, tears running down her eyes. Oleander stood on the other side of the doorway in the dark hall.
"That was a wonderful thing to do, Heras," she whispered softly. "Do you remember when I did that for you? Except, I called you 'ma petite seour.'"
Heras muffled a little sob, and then became angry and snatched her toothbrush from her mouth.
"I'm older than you, you little whore!" She screamed, pulling the door open violently.
Oleander was gone from the hallway.24