“I remember that song;” in a police station.

The Stray Girl

©2005 by Mae Ondracek

It was a very cold day that Ellen had to come to the police station to pick up her sister. Why couldn’t she behave herself for more than three or four weekends at a time, but no, she was always getting into trouble of some sort. As Ellen parked in front of the station, she heard a song playing and she was sure she had heard it before. What was the name of the song? She’d have to ask the police chief what it was.

She went into the police station and said, “I’m here to pick up, Julie, my sister, but first, I’d like to know the name of the song that was just playing?”

The officer looked up and smiled, “Well, hello again. You know, we’re going to have to quit meeting like this, don’t you?” Officer O’Neil smiled at her, rang a bell and then turned his attention back to Ellen. “Now, let me see, that song. Oh, that was ‘Pretty Baby.’ Do you know it?”

“Not really,” Ellen said, “But I’ve heard it every time I come here for Julie. You men must really like it.”

“Its music, Ellen, and that is one thing we like, music. You hear so much yelling and carrying on, that it is nice to just hear music,” Officer O’Neill said.

Just as they were going to say something else, Julie walked in with Officer Brown. Julie ran to Ellen and said, “Hi, Sis, glad you could make it.”

Ellen said, “You know this is the last time I’m going to come right down and get you out. You’ll have to be more careful from now on.”

“O..o..oh, you know I will be, but how do you expect me to be careful when I come here to see Officer Brown?” Julie replied, batting her eyelashes at him.

Thank God, Officer Brown wasn’t looking at Julie, so he didn’t see the awful way she looked. “Thank you, Officer O’Neil and you too, Officer Brown,” Ellen said.

“Thank you, Miss Maple. Just sign the paper and you two can leave,” Officer O’Neil said.

When they were in the car, Julie asked to be let off at Jake’s Place, but Ellen said, “You are in my care now and I’ll tell you where you are going, and it sure isn’t to Jake’s Place.”

Julie sat back in the car seat and wondered what her life would be like now. Not going anywhere, especially Jake’s Place. She liked going to Jake’s Place because it was a happy place to be. Laughing and drinking and even the dancing was fun. Some of those men sure couldn’t dance, but they were all fun to be with. She’d get back there somehow, you just wait.

“Please carry these two bags of groceries in the house, Julie, and I’ll take in the rest. I hope you’ll help me by being good and there are a lot of things we can do together,” Ellen said. “But you have to give me a chance to prove how much fun we can have.”

“Yes, Sis,” Julie said, “Yes, Sis.”

Ellen knew that Julie wasn’t even listening to her and she walked up to her front door and unlocked it. Okay, Julie, put the groceries on the counter by the sink,” said Ellen. “We’ll put them away after we take off our coats.”

Julie did as she was told but flung her coat into a corner. Ellen said, “Why did you do that, Julie?”

“Why did I do what?” asked Julie.

“You just flung your coat into the corner. Now pick it up and put it in the closet,” Ellen said. “How long is it going to take before you learn anything?”

“Well, I suppose a little while. You know, this is all new to me. Put your coat in the closet,” Julie said. “Do this and do that. My gosh, Ellen, don’t you think I know anything?”

“Yes, you know a lot, but this is my house your going to stay in until you learn where everything goes,” Ellen said. “Now let’s remember where things belong.”

They put groceries away and Ellen wasn’t watching Julie, so she made a bee line for the door. But it wouldn’t open and she very carefully searched for the lock. There just wasn’t one on this door, but how did Ellen get it locked? Julie sat down in a kitchen chair and Ellen came back into the room, “It won’t be too bad after you get used to living here, Julie. I really like it here,” and she busied herself with making tea.

Ellen let the water boil while she got down two cups and the tea bags, then she said, “One tea bag each, Julie. I think that should be enough.”

Julie put the tea bags in the cups and sat looking at Ellen, wondering why she couldn’t go to Jake’s Place. Tears started rolling down her face as Ellen came back to the table, “What’s the matter, Julie? Why are you crying?”

“I want to go to Jake’s Place, but no one will let me,” Julie cried.

“Julie, you know you can’t go to Jake’s Place,” Ellen answered. “That is out of bounds for you until you learn how to handle yourself.”

Julie gulped some of her tea and told Ellen it didn’t taste good. Ellen laughed and said she would get used to it. Ellen asked, “How come you like to go to Jake’s Place?”

Julie answered, “Because it is such a nice place to go. A lot of men you can meet and even though, if you don’t drink, you can still have a lot of fun.”

Ellen thought this over and asked, “How come you think its fun going into a bar?”

Julie answered, “I just like going in there, that’s all. You meet such nice people and can have a good time. Those damn cops always come in and break it up. Don’t they like Jake’s Place?”

“Well, I don’t know if they like Jake’s Place or not, but I don’t think it’s a very good place for you right now,” Ellen said, her hands shaking.

“Yeah, well I know why you like coming down to the police station to get me. That Officer O’Neil really likes you and can’t take his eyes off you,” Julie said.

“Oh, come on, you know that isn’t true. I’ll bet he has a wife and maybe even a child,” Ellen said. “I don’t mean a thing to him or to anyone else. Now let’s get to bed. You can sleep in the extra room.”

“All right, but I’d still like to go to Jake’s Place first,” Julie stated.

“Not on a Sunday night, you can’t,” Ellen said. “We can go down there on Wednesday evening for a little while.”

“We can?” Julie cried. “Oh, Sis, that would be wonderful.”

“Good night, Julie. See you in the morning,” Ellen said.

“Good night, Ellen. Will you really go to Jake’s Place Wednesday evening?” Julie asked.

“Yes, I’ll take you there for a little while,” Ellen said. “Now good night.”

The nights seemed to go faster than usual, even though Julie looked a little grey. On Wednesday morning, Ellen made breakfast and then called Julie to come and get it. Julie didn’t answer the call, so Ellen went to the bedroom to knock on the door. It was open, just a little bit, so she peeked in and saw Julie lying on the floor, half dressed. Ellen ran to her and picked her head up in her hands, “Julie, Julie, answer me,” she cried.

Julie’s head went from side to side, no words issued forth. Ellen said, “Oh gosh, now what?”

She couldn’t see anything wrong with Julie, so Ellen lay her head back down and ran to the phone. She dialed 911 and when the lady answered, she told her where to come and to pick up her sister. Ellen told her, her sister was only 24 years old and had just come to visit. The lady told her they would be there shortly.

When the emergency vehicle pulled up, Ellen already had the door open, Julie was dressed, and she was ready to follow in her car.

The men were from St. Michael’s and she could follow them there. They drove off with Ellen right behind. At St. Michael’s, Ellen hurried into the building right behind the EMT’s. The nurse had her fill out a lot of papers and the doctor was checking Julie out. He started to laugh when he was through and said, “I’m sorry, but this woman is drunk. Put her in the bed in room eight. We’ll keep an eye on her.”

Ellen said there was no way Julie could be drunk. She couldn’t get out of the house. “What do you mean, she couldn’t get out of the house?” the doctor asked.

Ellen said she was always careful to lock the doors and windows. She was the only one who knew the combination to open them. How could poor Julie have gotten out?

The doctor said, “We’ll keep track of her today and see what we come you with. You can go to her room now.”

“Thanks, Doctor,” Ellen said, and she sat by Julie’s bed most of the day. Julie did not move or anything and Ellen was wondering if something else could be wrong.

When the doctor returned, Ellen jumped up and asked what he had found out. He walked over to Ellen and took her hands, saying, “I’m sorry, but your sister doesn’t have long to last. She is in the last stages of cancer,” The doctor continued, “Now; we can give her treatments or just let her go in peace. Whichever you prefer?”

“Do..do you think treatments will do her any good?” Ellen asked. “She never said how sick she was. She just liked going to Jake’s Place.”

“Well, from what I hear of Jake’s Place, it isn’t a very good place. Maybe that is why she went there,” the doctor said, “to have peace. We’ll never know, now.”

“Thank you, Doctor. I’ll sit with her for awhile yet,” Ellen said.

“Maybe you should get something to eat first and then come back. I don’t think much will change in the little while you are gone,” the doctor said as he patted her arm.

“Thank you, Doctor, I will,” Ellen said.

After the doctor left, Ellen said to her sister, “Well, Sis, I wish you could hear me. Why didn’t you tell me you had cancer? Maybe we could have saved you. I’m going to get something to eat and then I’ll be right back,” and she kissed Julie on the forehead.

She was almost to the door when she heard her name being called. She turned around and Julie was softly calling her, she wanted to tell her something. Ellen hurried to the bed and asked Julie what was the matter. Julie could hardly talk but she managed to get out, “I love you, Ellen. Take care of yourself,” then fell back onto the pillows.

Ellen took her hands and asked why she didn’t tell her she had cancer. Julie just shrugged one shoulder, and lay back quietly. Her breath coming in short gasps was all Ellen could hear. Ellen laid Julie’s hands down and covered them. Then she went to the dining room to get something to eat. But what did she want, nothing much; maybe some soup and half a sandwich? She ate quickly, and then headed back to Julie’s room.

There was a nurse and the doctor doing something to Julie, and she rushed over and cried, “What are you doing? My sisters’ all right, isn’t she?” Then the doctor grabbed her before she hit the floor. The doctor waved something in front of her nose and she choked, sitting up. “Is my sister gone?” is all she said.

The doctor said, “Yes, Ellen, I’m afraid your sister is gone. You might just as well go home now and we’ll call you when we have everything taken care of.”

“No, no, I can’t. I’ll never be able to drive right now,” Ellen cried. “Just let me rest for a little while. Please.”

“Okay, you come with me and you can rest in the lounge up here,” the nurse said. “Now just take it easy.”

The nurse put Ellen in an easy chair, told her they had to finish with Julie and then she’d be back. Ellen was to just take it easy, maybe even sleep; she’d be back as soon as she could.

Ellen sat there thinking about Julie and why she loved going to Jake’s Place, it kept her from thinking about herself. “Oh, Julie, Why did you have to go like this,” she yelled, then went to sleep.

The nurse looked in on Ellen and when she her sleeping she covered her with a blanket and left. Ellen slept for five hours straight and then she didn’t know where she was at first. She looked around and finally realized she was in the lounge at the hospital. She got up and folded the blanket and put it in the chair, then she decided to go to Julie’s room, but no one was there. Then she knew that it was all over. She turned to leave, and then she noticed the doctor near the coffee pot. “Doctor,” she called out, “Please wait a minute. I’d like to talk with you.”

The doctor turned around, surprised to see her still there, and wanted to know what was wrong. “Doctor, would Julie have lasted very long? I mean, she went to Jake’s Place almost nightly. Did she know she had cancer?” Ellen asked.

“Yes, I’m sure she knew something was wrong, but I don’t know if she knew it was cancer or not. Why?” he asked.

“Well, she really liked going into Jake’s Place. It has been a habit with her for the last two months,” Ellen said. “She never went anyplace like that.”

“Wow! Two months,” the doctor exclaimed. “She must have known what was wrong with herself then. I’m really sorry for you.”

“Thank you, Doctor. I guess I’ll go home now,” Ellen said.

“All right. We’ll let you know everything later on,” the doctor said. “You need more sleep, now. Goodnight.”

“Good night, Doctor,” Ellen answered and left the hospital and drove home. She threw away the food she had prepared that morning and did the dishes. Then she thought she had better lay down for a little while. She wanted to go to Jake’s Place to let them know about Julie and of course she had to go to the police station, too.

As Ellen was taking off her dress, the zipper got stuck. “Oh, drat,” Ellen cried. “This is all I need right now,” and she pulled the dress back down. She looked at the zipper and said, “Well, will you look at that,” and she pulled it off without any trouble. She said, “Thank you, Julie, for helping me with this zipper,” and she laid down for a nap before she went out to take care of business.