Chapter 5 - The Sweetheart
Sugar carefully brushed her long hair. Her hair had always been a source of great pride, great humiliation, and great fascination for Sugar.
Her hair always seemed uncertain of what it wanted to be. The color seemed crossed between arctic, frosty blonde, and flaming, vibrant red, varying between the too. Sometimes, to Sugar's distress, it turned a particularly odd shade of orange, which earned her the nickname 'Carrot' from some of the other, more mean-spirited girls. Sometimes her hair was a warm, golden-reddish color, sometimes a burnished sunshine color. But most of the time it was plain strawberry blond, with streaks of lighter blond and darker red. The hair was almost always curly, but when temperature was low or when her temper was riled, it seemed to straighten out to an obedient wave. Sugar's curls never did what they were told. If she wanted them to stay up, they fell down. If she wanted them to stay down, they went up. She envied Bella's beautiful, golden, well-behaved locks; Carmine's sleek and stylish tresses. Karita's seemed trained to do as they were told, and Ariella's hair always was perfect. Even wretched Nini's hair was eternally in place.
Most coveted of all, of course, were Satine's fiery strands. Just one look at the positively radiant Satine's hair could send Sugar into a melancholia that would last for hours. Why couldn't HER hair do that?
Sugar sighed, and put the brush down. Again, she had escaped early from the activities of the night, and she nothing left to do but wait for the "big girls" to come back.
Sugar shared her room with Karita and Bella, the two girls who had taken her under their wings when she first came the year before. At 14, Sugar had been the youngest girl to come to ask for a position at the Rouge, and a year later she was still the baby.
With his soft heart, Harold always kept an eye out for Sugar, and managed somehow to always get her out of the dance hall before dawn. But Sugar couldn't sleep until the other girls were with her.
Sugar had been alone for most of her life. Her parents had died when she was quite young, leaving her with no one but her older sister Anne. Anne had protected her for as long as she could, but before long the underworld claimed her dear older sister. Anne had died two years before.
Sugar- whose name was then Alice- wandered around Paris as a street urchin. Sugar had never been very strong, and the street life did nothing to help her health. At the Rouge, with good food and a warm bed, Sugar was the healthiest she had been in a long time.
But her looks remained fragile, and she had the appearance of a dandelion: something that was pretty for a short time and then destroyed. Sugar continued to study herself in the mirror. The moonlight illuminated the dark room with a thin stream of incandescence, making her milky-white complexion glow. Her best features, she knew, were her eyes, which were shimmering emeralds. Next was her hair, the ever-changing mix of red and gold. The rest of her was non-descript. Her type could be found in palaces and brothels, in parlors or on the streets.
Sugar moved to her trundle bed, which was under Bella's, and sat down. She lit a match, and lit a candle. Though Harold had invested hundreds of francs the year she arrived in installing electricity, Sugar preferred the softness of candlelight.
She then stood up and stretched. She looked once more in the mirror, and saw in its reflection a tiny, lithe figure of a lost little girl with two long red braids down her back and bright green eyes.
She struck a pose, and then began to dance around the room, humming a tune of a song that she had heard the band practicing earlier that day. Sugar had a gift with music, she could hear a song and be able to sing it or hum it even years later. While memories of her parents were vague, she could still hear her mother's voice singing to her, and her father's Irish brogue singing merrily off-tune.
She spun around, her nightgown whirling out around her. Her mind was abuzz with lyrics and songs.
The door opened, and the light was switched on. Caught, Sugar froze.
In the doorway stood Karita and Bella. "Oh, look!" exclaimed Karita. "It's our Sugar-spun fairy!"
Sugar relaxed and smiled at the two older girls. "Hi."
"You really are talented, Sugar baby." Bella drawled, taking the endearment from one of the American gentlemen who had taken a fancy to Bella the week before. Of course, with the American, sugar baby was just a sweet name, in this situation is was a pun. "You should talk Harold into letting you stay out later."
Sugar sat down on her bed. "I like being in here by myself. I can think. And sing."
"And dance." Karita whistled encouragingly. "In a few years, you'll be a valuable asset to the Dogs. Nini doesn't have a thing on you." She then turned and disappeared behind the screen. A few minutes later she emerged in her petticoat and chemise. Bella moved behind, and Ita, as Sugar called her, flopped face-forward dramatically across her bed, facing Sugar. "There were people asking for you tonight, little one. You were lucky Harold didn't come up for you."
"It wasn't for love, I can assure you of that." Sugar said, arranging herself on Bella's bed. Bella's big feather mattress made her look like she was floating, and her feet dangled just above the ground.
"It's never for love, darling," drawled Karita. "It's for physicality."
"Male omnipotence." Disagreed Bella intelligently, her golden head peeking above the partition. "Men need to feel omnipotent. And it's a damn good thing, too, else we'd be out of a job."
Sugar shook her head, her curls springing around her head. "No. They go to you for love. And to Ita, and to Carmine, and to Ari."
At that moment, as if on cue, the two girls mentioned appeared. Both seemed a bit breathless.
"Speak of the devil." Quipped Karita.
"Good night?" asked Bella smartly, coming out from behind the screen in a blue silk robe.
"What philosophies Sugar tellin' us tonight?" asked Carmine, ignoring both the statement and the question and going to lounge on behind Karita on her bed, stretching like a cat. Carmine was always simply elegant.
"She's explaining the men to us." Said Bella. Turning to Sugar, she instructed: "Go on."
"Men go to you for pleasure. They come to me for comfort."
Ariella nodded. "It is true. Sugar's more soothing than any of us. She listens."
Bella looked at their reflection in the mirror she was sitting at. "Whenever does she not?"
Sugar looked down. "From you, they want-"
"To get physical." Supplied Carmine. "With you-"
"They want understanding." said Ariella.
"Do you have any idea how good you have it, Sugar Sweet?" said Karita wistfully.
Sugar looked down at her lap. "It's just a matter of time before..."
"Before?" asked Carmine softly.
Sugar shrugged, and looked up at the other four girls, her face devoid of emotion. "I'm not sure."
~*~
All the girls were asleep in the room. Carmine and Ariella had declared themselves too tired to go to their own room, even though it was directly across the hall. Carmine was draped over their chaise lounge, looking like she had posed herself; and Ariella had taken over Sugar's bed, sleeping with her hand under her cheek.
Bella looked like a princess on her elegant sleigh bed, her golden hair framing her face, making her look truly angelic, and Karita's blissful expression on her pretty face made sleep look like a good idea.
Sugar could not sleep. She was sitting on the floor, immersed in her thoughts. Snapping out of her reverie, she stretched childishly, and then reached into the bedstand drawer.
There was wooden box, with a tin heart on the top. It had belonged to Sugar's mother, and it meant a great deal to her.
She opened the box, and her eyes were accosted by the unearthly glow of diamonds.
It was well-known that the "Sweetheart" of the Rouge had an infatuation with diamonds and nothing else, and that was invariably what the men paid her in. It was true that when she arrived, she had been astounded by the diamonds, but now she was almost tired of them. Every other girl had a dazzling array of all sorts of trinkets and different stones, and Sugar always (and only) got diamonds.
The only time she had ever gotten something else was when a kindly older gentleman whose young wife had just died came to the Rouge in search of comfort, and found Sugar. The next day a box appeared at the Rouge addressed to her. In it was a diamond the size of her fist- made of rock candy.
She reminded herself of how far she had come- from a ragamuffin to a street urchin to- well, whatever she was today. Most girls would've died on the streets, but not Sugar. She might have frail health, but damn it all if she wasn't determined.
Sugar had no great aspirations of leaving, like all the other girls did, Karita in particular. Sugar knew her station. She knew she was lucky to be where she was, and would probably remain there until she died.
She pushed the diamonds aside, and felt along the bottom of the box. She fond what she was looking for, and pulled out the wooden rosary.
"Goodnight, Maman." She said softly, kissing the wooden beads.
She placed it beneath the heap of the icy stones, and slid the bow back where it belonged.
Sugar yawned, and decided to attempt sleep again. Just as she had pushed the sleeping Ariella over and was sliding between the sheets, there was a loud scream.
Ariella shot up, her flailing arm wacking Sugar soundly across the face. Bella was so startled she fell ungracefully from her bed on top of the two girls on the floor. Karita sat up and demanded loudly while everyone had disturbed her dream, she had been having such a nice one, and Carmine just sat aside, watching the melée of Ariella, Bella and Sugar with interest.
When the three had disentangled themselves, and the noise of the four talking ones had died down, they heard hurried footsteps in the hall and the voices of all the Diamonds Dogs, Harold, and every prostitute in the Rouge.
And then, above it all, Satine's voice could be heard.
All five girls tiptoed to the door, and nervously peeked their heads out. They must have looked quiet amusing, one head on top of the other.
Satine stood in the midst of the fray, clutching her red silk robe to her throat as she directed people around. The acrid scent of smoke reached the girls, and they started to cough.
At the noise, Satine turned to them. Her eyes widened. "Girls! Get out of there!" Without hesitation, she pulled the door open and began to usher them out.
"What is it?" asked Bella.
"A fire." Informed Satine. "Now, get out."
"My- but my-" objected Karita.
"It's alright, you can get it later." Said Satine, prodding her out.
"I need to get-"started Carmine.
"Not now," Satine said. "Now, be good girls and go!"
Ariella held back. "But, my-"
Satine blew a strand of her hair back. "Get out! It'll be fine!"
Karita, who had made it down the hall, came back. "Is Sugar with you?"
The three girls looked around. "No."
Satine looked at them disbelievingly. "Please tell me Sugar's a cat."
"The little one." Explained Ariella. Bella held her hand up to her shoulder to indicate Sugar's height.
"Strawberry blonde-" supplied Carmine.
The group separated as Chocolat ran by carrying a bucket of water, which he handed to Harold, who, in his long underwear, was throwing water in the room next to theirs. His face was bright red, and his flaming hair stood out in all directions.
Satine clicked a maribou-feathered-clad foot. "I'll get her. YOU need to get out. OUT!"
"Satine, we can't leave without her-"
"She's awfully spooked. She gets scared easily-"
"She's probably cowering somewhere-"
"She'll come with us!"
Harold looked over his shoulder at the noise. "What are you still doing here?" he bellowed! "Sacre bleu! My beautiful Moulin is burning down, and mes bijous are NOT going down with it. OUT!" He motioned to Chocolat, and the big man began pushing them out.
"Demoiselles, this way. On y va. Maintenant, s'il vous plait. Allez! Allez!"
Satine stood in front of the door. A tell-tale plume of smoke snaked out form under it, teasing the hem of her robe and dancing playfully around her feet. Taking a deep breath, Satine opened the door and went it.
Black smoke billowed in the room, as Sugar felt around blindly. The smoke made her eyes tear.
The box and the rosary were all Sugar had left of her family. She was not leaving without it. She hit something, and she realized dimly it was the footboard of Bella's bed. She had to be close.
"Sugar!" came a voice through the oily smoke, which Sugar barely recognized. She kept moving forward until a perfectly manicured hand streaked with soot reached out and grabbed one of her braids.
"OWWWWW!" howled Sugar, her hands reaching back to attack whoever had yanked her braid and felt ridiculously soft but gritty hands.
She turned to find herself facing the Sparkling Diamond herself.
In spite of the situation, Sugar was awed by the sight of Satine. Even in the smoky room, Satine looked like she had spent hours preparing of this very occasion. Her gorgeous hair held up with a loose ribbon, and the red silk stood out brilliantly.
Satine, however, was looking at her like she belonged in a mental hospital. "Are you out of your senses?" she asked politely.
"I- I n- I need-" stuttered Sugar.
"Whatever it is, you'll replace it."
"My-"
"Honestly, you silly little girl, you're risking your life!" Satine began pulling her back towards the door. Both were coughing, but Sugar resisted.
"All I have of my mother is in this room!"
Satine stopped. "This is insanity." She said in a defeated voice.
Sugar lunged across the room and grabbed the box that she had been holding in her lap minutes before. She ran her fingers over the tin heart, and Satine grabbed her arm. "We've got to go," she gasped.
Sugar nodded- the heat was unbearable. Wisps of her hair were plastered against her neck and forehead with sweat, and her eyes stung.
The room- which normally seemed so small, being as it was that 13 young women shared it- suddenly was miles long. The vanity they had sat at, their closet, filled with the multitudes of dresses shared betwixt Karita and Bella and the ones worn by Sugar herself, the ivory combs and elaborate hair clips, the pots of rouge and the pitcher of icy cold water Bella insisted on to 'refresh her skin'. Sugar's whole life was being collected and destroyed in one horrible night.
A flame shot through the wall behind them, and Sugar saw Karita's bed get engulfed by flames. There was the door, and Satine yelped at the scorching doorknob when it touched her fair hands. She would sport a practically invisible scar from that for the rest of her life from that night.
At the same time when Satine and Sugar emerged, the fire brigade, having been asleep, arrived, with their powerful hoses of water thanks to Napoleon's advanced thoughts in sewage systems. The fire in the two rooms were quickly put out.
It turned out later that a clumsy girl named Charlotte had knocked over her oil lamp and started the fire. It had spread to Sugar's room because it had the misfortune of being next to it. No one dared to reprimand Charlotte for her stupidity because the poor girl's hair had gone up in flames, and only quick thinking by Satine had put it out.
Down in the Elephant garden waited the people of the Rouge, including Bella, Karita, Carmine and Ariella, who were relieved to find their friend had survived- and were completely aghast when they found that she had gone back for a box of diamonds.
"Darling, Harold would take care of us, you know that!" admonished Bella.
"And we'd have taken care of you, Sugar baby." Stated Karita.
"You should've stayed with us. You scared us!" said Carmine, and in a burst of emotion, she embraced Sugar.
"She was just scared, weren't you, Sugar sweet?" asked Ariella understandingly.
Satine pushed back a strand of her hair exasperatedly. "The important thing is that she's alright."
Sugar pushed away from Carmine. She looked up at star of the Moulin Rouge, with the sudden realization and very real possibility that Satine might hate her.
Satine let out a sigh, and tapped her foot. "We're going to be a wreck tonight."
In the distance, Charlotte burst into tears as it hit her that not only had she caused so much trouble, but that her hair was gone.
Satine motioned over to her, and it was understood that she was going over there. She looked at Sugar, and the small girl trembled.
Satine smiled at her, and with a wink, was gone.
Harold arrived outside. He announced that the fire was out, and that the damage was small and that repairs would be made within the week.
Karita, of course, was rather upset that her bed had been destroyed.