Chapter 4
It took a great amount of days for Tabitha to reach her destination, Madrid, the capital of Spain. The journey was grueling, because after all, the summer's heat in Spain could be very threatening. Few times she was picked up along the road and was allowed to rest her feet while riding in the back of horse drawn buggies. It was a relief to finally set foot inside the Madrid city limits. Tabitha had never seen so many people in one place. She had only been a small babe when she had lived in the great city of Paris. The L`etoile's had stayed almost her entire life in Adja.
The streets of the huge capital city where littered with buggies and merchant's carts. The cries of "fresh fish" and "nice copper pots for sale" were really starting to get to her. She was trying her hardest to navigate her way through the cobblestone street and perhaps even find a place to stay for the night. The loud shouts from the merchants were not helping her proceed.
Finally she came to a large square. Some of the largest buildings she'd ever seen framed the horizon above. One of the largest structures stood to her left. Gigantic columns stood before it and large tendrils of summer ivy crept up its gracious walls. "Hospital," she read aloud. If there were any place that she would be able to fit in unnoticed a Catholic Hospital would be it, above all.
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"Er...hello," Tabitha smiled timidly. The three ladies quickly turned their attention away from their simmering tea to stair at the meek girl in the lounge's doorway. Tabitha was utterly surprised at their appearances. "Are you Americans?"
"Is it that obvious?" said the shortest of the trio. The young lady's chubby cheeks twisted into small dimples as she smiled gingerly.
"Well, yes... but only by appearance," Tabitha replied, "Your clothes are very pretty."
"Is there something that you wanted here?" snapped the tallest, her thinly plucked eyebrows raised in question. It was apparent that she was the leader of the group. It seemed that she had probably taken the position by force from the meager looks upon the other girl's faces.
"Aw, come on, Glenda. Give the newbie some slack," the last of the ladies said, taking Tabitha's hand and ushering her away from Glenda's glaring pupils. "I am Martha and that's Patty over there." The large girl waved happily at the mention of her name.
Tabitha rummaged uneasily throughout the green suitcase. Finally she found what she was looking for. "Here," she said, holding up the small passport. She cringed at the sight of her mother's name. She had taken the wrong suitcase, so now she was labeled as a 42-year-old, married female. Tabitha carefully covered up the evident information except for the name and picture and yielded the slip of paper for the girls peering eyes to see.
"Well, Mary Le-toe-lee...er.." Martha fumbled with her strange last name. "It's nice to have you on the force."
"Thank you. Just call me Mary Lee," Tabitha smiled, utterly relieved to see that her new acquaintances had not found her out.
"Goodness, Mary! You look about half-starved," exclaimed Patty, quickly pulling her over to have a seat on the small sofa. Glenda glared at the three from across the room as they sat and chatted profusely while munching on small tea crackers. There is something about this Mary Lee girl that she is definitely not telling us, Glenda thought to herself.