"Ruin and Redemption"

Derrick, Esme and Lizzie in Charleston prt. 4 The Theatre

“Well, she agreed to meet me, too. So I’ll be having the same as you, Derrick. Esme already agreed to it.”

“We’ll talk about it later, I suppose. Let me help you out.” They were now at a beautiful white house, with flowers bursting out all around it, and more flowers behind the gate that walled off the garden area and the slaves quarters from the street. Derrick felt uneasy with the roses, and comforted, too. He shuddered involuntarily as the old memory came up and he remembered the partial consolation he had found in his mother’s garden. There had been bright pink roses there, too. And bougainvillea. To his relief, their precence was recognized before his hand even reached the brass knocker.

The door was opened by a slave, but very soon afterwards, Lizzie’s cousin Eugenia and her husband Wendell were reaching out to hug Lizzie. Lizzie brightened when she opened her arms to her cousin and her husband. Derrick enjoyed seeing them as well. He wished he had not just been with Lizzie on a date with Esme and that Esme had not invited Lizzie to watch them making love. He wished it were all a bad dream, and he could just blink his eyes a few times and it would fade from his memory and disappear from his life completely. Why did such things happen to him?

            Derrick thought it odd, but the Master and Mistress of the house took his and Lizzie’s jackets themselves, sending their houseslave Sadie back to her tasks in the kitchen with a quick word. Then, they were invited to sit in the parlor and enjoy themselves. Derrick did not feel at home. What would Lizzie’s relatives think of him if they found out? What would they do? Derrick was frightened by the vague possibilities. He was certain now that what he had done earlier today was highly inappropriate. Hopefully, Lizzie would not mention it. He had not even had the chance to ask her not to tell it. And he would have felt badly asking her not to mention it, anyway. Perhaps she would have to tell her cousin later. It would almost be better than the tongue lashing he would get from Patsy should Lizzie confide in her instead. As long as Eugenia didn’t confide the confidence to her husband, Derrick would at least suffer no repercussions here. Maybe he should even encourage Lizzie. Maybe Eugenia would talk Lizzie out of hers and Esme’s plans to have a lesson. Surely Eugenia would advise her cousin against it. Or maybe Lizzie would have so much fun tonight that she would forget all about Esme’s lesson. He could leave Lizzie here, safe, with her cousin’s while he saw Esme on his own tomorrow, and explained why Lizzie was not a good candidate for lessons.

He would write her a letter now and have it hand delivered to her home, so that she wouldn’t even show up at the hotel. But he would have to ask for paper and pen and wax, and borrow a houseslave to deliver the message. It seemed a great imposition, but it would spare himself and Lizzie another encounter with Esme tonight, and he could take Lizzie on an outing she would, hopefully, never forget.

The night had turned cold and rainy, as Derrick and Lizzie bade farewell to their hosts. Wendell, who was one of the few men Derrick knew who did not take lovers, looked at Derrick with suspicion and disapproval, although he was too polite to say anything about Derrick’s letter. He held his wife by the shoulder and watched Derrick with a warning look, which Derrick took to mean he should be discreet. Oh, if Wendell only knew how indiscreet he had been! Why hadn’t they come by here sooner?

Lizzie’s eyes gleamed with excitement once they were inside the carriage.

“So where are we going tonight, Derrick?”

“I’m not sure, Lizzie. I’m thinking. Perhaps we should find you a costume first? You look a little too proper to come to the Fisherman’s Daughter with me. You need something a little more, um, brash, don’t you think?”

“Of course! That would be wonderful! But where will we find a costume now?”

“Never fear, my lady, I mean my, um…”

“Companion. Partner in adventure, Derrick.”

“Alright, my, um, my partner in adventure.” Now Derrick was truly feeling nervous. The last times he remembered taking Lizzie on adventures she had wound up soaking wet, with a broken leg, or God knows what would happen this time! And they weren’t little children anymore; She was his wife and deserved to be treated as such. He couldn’t simply consider her his companion could he?

“Yes?” Lizzie asked expectantly.

The theatre! The thought hit him. They would go to the costume shop and rent something for her; hopefully something that fit and wasn’t too indecent.

He opened the small panel in the carriage and spoke to the driver, handing him some money through the hole.

Derrick had the carriage driver wait for them, then escorted Lizzie down. She practically jumped out of the carriage with a lightness to her step that made her seem like the young woman he had known years ago. His face stretched up and pulled taut in an unfamiliarly wide smile, something he had not expected in the least. He took her gloved hand in his, as she held up her dress to go through rather than around the puddle which met them at the street edge. He hardly cared right now that the edge of her dress would get damp. How it would have bothered him another day! How cautious they would have been! But he found himself, just as eager as her for the adventure. He pulled her behind the building, and spoke with the guard, mentioning his father’s connections to the man who owned the land on which the theatre was situated. The guard, reluctantly decided to let them in to the prop room and unlocked the door with one of the large metal keys on his belt. He then went around the room, taking some fire from outside the theatre to light the four metal lamp bearers fixed on the walls. When he had closed off the lights by shutting the metal boxes and extinguished the torch, he gave them a brief introduction to the costume room, showing them the wardrobes and chests with all sorts of costumes from various plays, settings and time periods.

Derrick and Lizzie were first intimidated by all the choices. The pirate costumes hanging on the rack, complete with swords, the court jester outfit with the hat bent with jangling bells. Derrick tried on that one first, looking around to make sure his father or business associates were nowhere around before rushing to the mirror and adjusting it just so. He felt like jumping up in the air and doing a little dance. Lizzie came up behind him and playfully flicked a bell, then gave him a quick nibble on the ear, before turning away and feigning innocence. Derrick blushed, was this really his wife? Lizzie turned away, the shape of the mirror reminded of her of the one at home which she still had. In the unfamiliar context, the mirror again reminded her of the man who had been sold to a different plantation unbeknownst to her, so that she could own that object. She stood sadly for a minute or two trying to remember the features of his face, and how he had smiled at her before he had been sold away.

“Lizzie?” Was his wife embarrassed that her husband was wearing a jester’s cap? Derrick pulled the cap off his head and set it longingly on a pile of clothes. He so wanted to put it back on and dance around the room until he was transported back to the Middle Ages and could spend his days making others laugh.

“Oh, I’m fine, Derrick. I was just remembering something. It’s alright.”

Michael, Derrick though sullenly, his smile gone.

“Let’s have fun, Derrick! Don’t let my mood spoil yours now. Look at all the costumes we’ve still to try on, my, my partner in adventure!”