Andromeda, a novel by Joe Nobel, Part 46 -- Aida

joe.nobel (55)in #writing • 6 years ago

Andromeda

image source: https://conchigliadivenere.wordpress.com/2012/01/01/pascal-moehlmann-1969-german/
Pascal Moehlmann (1969, Dutch)
Fighting Girls

Anna, Liudmila, and Aida did escape from behind the Iron Curtain with the help of the British Consulate. They flew out of Budapest via BEA, British European Air, with hastily arranged diplomatic passports. Thanks to the sympathy they elicited from the male members of the staff, they flew first class.

Anna remembered that flight like it happened yesterday. The girls huddled around their tiny oval window as their jet flew west. Anna didn’t exhale until she saw the lights of Vienna float by below them. Only then did she believe she was free.

Thanks to the British social system, they were given a flat in a working-class neighborhood of London. Anna was warned not to return to America. The CIA had labeled her a traitor. The photographs of her sipping coffee at the Gerbeaud with two female KGB agents was evidence enough for American intelligence. The Brits, however, saw things through more sympathetic eyes, and were ready to believe her story of submission and slavery.

The former slaves decided to live together, as they had promised — to never abandon each other. They had already lived successfully together for years. If they could do it under Uri’s tyranny, they could do it by themselves as a democracy of three. After all, they’d become a family.

Money was always tight. Their welfare payments barely covered their living expenses. Since they didn't have work permits, there was no way to supplement their income. Aida started going out at night and often didn't come home until the early hours of the morning. When Liudmila and Anna questioned her, she'd just shrug her shoulders and tell them she was out. Guys would buy her drinks and occasionally pub food. At least, she told them, she didn't have to live on a diet of boiled potatoes.

They'd gotten behind on their rent when they miscalculated how much clothes would cost them. After all, they’d left with nothing, only the rags the gods had given them. While Anna and Liudmila sat at the kitchen table lamenting their shortfall, Aida threw a pile of cash on the table. More than enough to make up for the difference.

“Where did you get this?” Liudmila stood and confronted Aida.

“I just got it.” Aida crossed her arms. “Okay?”

“No, it's not okay.” Liudmila said, her voice shaking. “Where did you get it?”

“Some guy just gave it to me.”

“You prostituted yourself, didn't you?”

“None of your business how I got that money. It's there to solve your, our, rent problems.”

“Whore!”

“Look who’s talking: the biggest sex pig in the world.”

“At least I never did it for money.”

“Ha, you were his dog. Willing to do anything for him so he'd throw you a scrap of attention. That makes you the whore.” Aida then stormed out of the room and locked herself in the bathroom, the only place she could get privacy in their small flat.

“If you're sleeping with strangers, you're not sleeping with me. I don't want to get crabs or something from you,” Liudmila yelled after her.

“Okay,” Anna said, remaining quiet until then. “I'll talk to her when tensions simmer down. I'll explain we don't need the money that badly.” But even as she spoke, she realized that they did need the money that badly. She looked at the pile of cash Aida had thrown down, then at the calendar on the refrigerator. They were already a week behind. That would mean their landlord would be stopping by soon, banging on the door. “We'll have to use that money,” Anna said quietly.

It was never the same between Liudmila and Aida after that.

Anna thought back to the time Odin took her time traveling; back to Florence and that girl who was the image of Aida. “Popular,” they had called her. Then she remembered the story Aida told her of how Uri rescued her from a brothel. It was the only thing she knew how to do.

Aida left them two months later. She’d had enough of the cold shoulders and icy stares from her once lover, Liudmila.

“If you must know, there was only one guy.” Aida said, as she hastily threw her few possessions into a shopping bag. It was only her and Anna home at the time. “He was always nice to me. He only gave me money to help us make ends meet out of sympathy.”

“He's just using you,” Anna said.

“Oh, yeah? Then why did he ask me to marry him?” Aida huffed as she threw in the last of her shirts and tied the bag shut.

“Aida, I didn't know. You should have told us. This puts a whole new light on things. Um, what am I saying, I should be congratulating you!”

“Never mind, it's too late,” Aida said walking out the door.

“Wait! Don't leave like this. Can we at last meet your fiancé and wish the both of you well?”

“We're leaving this afternoon on a train. We're getting married in his hometown, Stromness, as soon as we arrive. He owns a hotel up there in the Orkneys. And, no, you can't meet him.”
“But, Aida —”

“Sorry, Anna,” she said, closing the door behind her.

Anna didn't know how she'd break the news to Liudmila when she came back from the grocers.

… to be continued …