Caroline in Richard's Mother's Womb

Chapter 6

Richard and Caroline arrived at his apartment. Despite the fact that they had both just woken up after a night's sleep, both were tired. Richard was tired due to his fitful sleep in the waiting room, and Caroline still suffered the after effects of her drinking. Though still tired and depressed, Caroline was happier than she had been in weeks. Though she knew he still loved Julia, the mere fact that she was in his presence raised her spirits.

"Caroline, we both need to shower, and some rest. You go first. No offense, but you need it more. Go pick out some of Julia's clothes to borrow, and I'll get you some towels."

Caroline went to the closet and picked out a simple shirt and pants. "Are you sure Julia won't mind?"

"She'll never know" Richard answered, truthfully.

……

After showering, Caroline looked at herself in the mirror. "I'm a real mess" she thought, not untruthfully. She had cleaned herself up, so the grime and stink were gone. Still, she hadn't been taking care of herself, she had lost weight from her already slender frame, and had become slightly haggard. She gathered her scattered hair, tied it in the back, looked in the mirror again, and sighed. "How have I come to this?" she wondered.

……

When Caroline got out, she saw Richard and smiled. She saw that he had pulled the Murphy bed down, and that he was ready to take a shower.

Richard looked at Caroline as she emerged from the bathroom, and held his breath. Now that she was clean, despite the fact that she wore no makeup, her hair was pulled back and unstyled, and she wore plain clothes, he thought she was the most beautiful woman he'd ever seen. He forced himself to be nonchalant. "Why don't you go to bed, and get some rest. I'm going to take a shower, then I'll do the same."

"Where will you sleep, Richard?"

"On the floor."

"Richard! I can't put you out of your own bed!"

"Caroline, you're my guest. I won't hear of anything else. Now go!"

Caroline was too tired to argue. "Okay" she replied. "He always takes care of me" Caroline thought, smiling inwardly.

……

After emerging from his shower, Richard tried to lie on the floor and rest. But despite the fact that he got little peaceful sleep the previous night, he found himself unable to fall asleep during the middle of the morning. "Maybe I should call Del. He might not even remember what he agreed to last night" thought Richard. "But I have to make sure that Caroline is sleeping." He listened, and heard deep rhythmic breaths, punctuated occasionally by a slight snore. Richard got up and watched her. Despite all her recent troubles, now she seemed totally at peace, lying on her side. "Look at her. Peaceful, calm. I wish I could always keep her safe, my little angel."

Richard went to the table and dialed Del's number, and spoke as softly as possible, so as not to disturb Caroline. "Del. Hi, this is Richard Karinsky."

"Richard, you don't have to tell me your last name. I know who you are."

"Sure Del. It's just that it's been several months since we've spoken."

"So, what's up, Richard?"

"Well Del, first I want to apologize for calling you so late last night, but it was an emergency. I need some money, but it's not for me, it's to help out Caroline."

"Yeah, I know. Charlie told me a friend of his found her in his alley yesterday, and she was in pretty bad shape" Del replied. "Is she okay?"

"Physically, she's not great, but she's okay – for the moment. The problem is, she's depressed and she's an alcoholic. She needs treatment, and the only ones that can afford to pay for it are her family, but she doesn't even want to talk to them. I think I can convince her, but I need time. Anyway, I know you're busy, and I can't afford to be away from work. I hate to ask, but maybe you could afford to pay me while I'm not working. I need your help." Richard tried to keep up his pride, and not sound like a beggar, but that's what he was.

Despite the seriousness of the situation, Del couldn't resist needling Richard. "Excuse me. I couldn't hear that. Could you repeat that, please?"

"I need your help, Del" Richard forced himself to say.

"Could you wait a minute? My tape recorder isn't ready."

"Del!!" Richard forgot himself and nearly yelled. "God, I hope I didn't wake Caroline" he worried. Richard turned around and saw her eyes were still closed.

"Alright, alright. Just havin' a little fun. So, Charlie tells me you paint houses now. What's the union rate nowadays, one hundred, two hundred bucks a day?" Del asked.

Richard reluctantly replied, in an even softer tone than before "Well, actually… I don't exactly get paid union wages…" Richard could have used the extra money. But he couldn't lie, under these circumstances. It would have been like stealing.

"Richard?! You?! A scab?!" a surprised Del asked, laughing.

"Please Del. My level of self-loathing is already high enough. I needed money immediately, and didn't have time for the apprentice program. And the "off the record" work is steadier, if lower paying, than union jobs" Richard guiltily explained.

"That's okay Richard. We all do what we have to. I'll tell you what. When you're done, you just tell me how many days you took off helping Caroline, and I'll write you a check for one hundred dollars a day."

"Thanks Del. I really appreciate this."

"Don't mention it. Tell me something Richard. How is Julia with all of this? I thought she was pretty jealous of Caroline. I thought that's why you stopped seeing her."

"Del, if you promise to keep this a secret, Julia and I have just split up."

"Tough break, Richard. I know how hard it can be, I've gone through it a couple times myself. You have my sympathy."

"Thanks Del."

"Although to tell you the truth, I never really thought she was right for you. Anyway, please let me know if there's anything else I can do to help Caroline."

"I will Del. Goodbye" answered Richard. "That Del's actually a pretty good guy" a surprised Richard thought, as he hung up the phone.

Unbeknownst to Richard, because his back was turned, Caroline's eyes were still closed, but she had a broad smile on her face.