It's Just Lola (5 page)

Lola didn
’
t know whether to rejoice that she was leaving Jacoba or to grieve that she was being torn from her home and her best friend and closest sister, Enriqueta. 

~ ~ ~

“
W
hy must I go to lessons?” said Lola.  “I already know how to read and write, and I’m really good with arithmetic.”

“You must learn
what
to write as well as
how
to write.  A lady must know all the rules of social correspondence.”

“I don’t know why I
’
d want to correspond with anyone anyway
,
if I
have
to follow a bunch of rules,”
said
Lola under her breath as she
followed
her sister to the library
to
meet
Señor Gomez,
the tutor.

“Once you show me a properly worded thank you note with good penmanship and no smudges or blotches, we can go to tea at Amelia’s, and visit with Enriqueta.  How does that sound?” 

“Maybe I can give her the handkerchief I
’
m embroidering
.
”

“Or maybe you can give it to Amelia as a thank you gift for inviting you,”
said
Victoria.  “That’s your incentive for making a perfect thank you note and a lovely handkerchief.” 

T
he promised visit got farther away with every ink spot and knotted silk thread. 
Lola’s
days fell into a pattern of distasteful tasks.  In the mornings she was tutored along with the boys
,
although her writing assignments were all about things “a lady should know.”  As Lola worked on her boring thank you notes, she listened enviously to the boys’ lessons.  History, geography, geometry, algebra—even the names were more interesting than thank you notes.  The only bright part of the routine was the French lesson, which Victoria decided she should join. 
Lola delighted in out-shining
Victoria’s children,
in spite of their head start in the language.

After
the tutor dismissed them,
Lola helped the nursemaid
as her lessons in
child care
.  While the children
napped,
Lola worked on her embroidery. 
On the days
Victoria asked her to dine with the adults
, she
was constantly told how to sit, how to hold her tableware, what to say and what not to say.  There was an unending barrage of criticism and instruction. 

Lola often lay awake at night with tears streaming down her face as she thought of her home and Enriqueta. 

~ ~ ~

“Lola, don’t kick your feet like that.  It draws attention to how short you are.  And it jiggles your teacup precariously.  Amelia will never forgive you if you break one of her Italian teacups.”

“Yes, Victoria,” said Lola.  She
’
d been looking forward to this visit for
ages,
and now it turned into yet another lesson on being a lady
.
  Lola took a sip of tea and looked over at Enriqueta.

Enriqueta put up her hand as though to smooth her hair out of her face; while she was shielded from the older sisters by her hand, she crossed her eyes and stuck out her tongue at Lola. 
Struggling to suppress her giggles, Lola wound up making a snorting sound and spattering droplets of tea out of her mouth.

Amelia
looked horrified. 
“I agree with you, Victoria,” she
said
.  “It
is
like trying to make a silk purse out of a sow’s ear.  Now that I
’
m
enceinte
I don’t have the energy.”

“What’s
enceinte
?” asked Lola.

“It’s French for pregnant,”
said
Enriqueta.  “Amelia
’
s pregnant again.”

“Enriqueta
, h
ow many times do I have to tell you?  Only Cholos get pregnant.  Ladies are
enceinte
or expecting a happy event.”

“But I was only explaining to Lola…”  Enriqueta’s voice trailed off as Amelia gave her “the look
.
”

At last the two young sisters were given permission to walk in the garden and visit
, but
with
conditions
.  T
hey must stay within sight of the sitting room (young ladies never went outside without a chaperone)
;
they had to remain in the shade and wear their wide brimmed hats (ladies always stayed out of the sun because their skin had to remain white or they would not marry well)
;
they were to move with decorum (if they acted like small children they would be banished to the nursery
like
small children).

As soon as the door closed behind them Lola muttered in a low voice, “You know what I want to be when I grow up?  I want to be a Chola so I don’t have to obey all these stupid rules
.
” 
T
hat sent
both girls
into paroxysms of laughter.  By the time they reached the garden bench
,
tears were beginning to flow from their near
-
hysterical laughter.  Somehow the laughter stopped
,
but the tears kept flowing.

  “Oh, Enriqueta,
I’ve missed you
terribly
. 
I wanted to be with you
so badly that it made
me
hurt inside.”  Enriqueta agreed that life had been pretty miserable lately.  They soon found that they had been leading almost identical lives since they parted.  Apparently the older sisters had agreed on the proper way to mold them into ladies.

“We
’d
better stop crying,” said Enriqueta.  “If not we
’
ll be all red and puffy when we go inside
,
and I
’
m sure young ladies aren
’
t supposed to get all red and puffy—not to mention we
’
ve soiled our embroidered handkerchiefs.”

“That’s all right,” said Lola, “I was only allowed to keep this one because the stitching was so uneven Victoria declared it an unfit gift.”  They both laughed again as they dried their tears.

“Maybe we could convince them that we know how to be ladies and they
’
d let us go home,” suggested
Enriqueta
.

“If they believed we knew how to be ladies
, we wouldn’t be here, would we?”

“What about being troublesome?  Amelia already complains all the time because she’s
enceinte
.”

“That’s it!”

“No, it isn’t.  I knew it was a bad idea when I said it.  They’d tell Papa, and our li
ves
would be even more miserable.”

“Not
that
—the French.  Is Mateo learning French?  Are you learning with him?”

“Yes, and
it would move a lot faster without him.  He hates it.”

“Because you’re better.”  Enriqueta nodded and grinned.
 
“So pick something else he studies, and learn it faster than he can.  You can listen
to the lessons
and
still
write those dumb thank you notes and invitations, can’t you?”

Enriqueta
smiled
.  “I already
listen to the history lessons all the time.  I just wish I could read the book.”

“Why don’t you ask?”

“Amelia might not let me.”

“Then give Mateo your desserts for a week
to read his
.”

For the next few weeks, even the social correspondence went smoothly.  Lola found that algebra was not that hard.  She began whispering answers to Ricardo. 
Once he got over his suspicions, he eagerly accepted
the prompts
.

It didn’t take Señor Gomez long to
un
cover the arrangement
.  He
began giving Lola more difficult problems to keep her busy.  He also began to give his other lessons in a slightly louder tone of voice
when he noticed her interest
.  He even forgot his science book on Lola’s desk a few times.  As Lola’s mood improved, so did her penmanship and her willingness to learn Victoria’s rules.
 

Less than a month later another bed was moved into her small room.  Amelia wasn
’
t doing well, and Enriqueta was coming to stay with Victoria.  Even changing diapers and coping with knotted silk threads couldn
’
t dampen Lola’s spirits.

After
the
lights were out that night,
Enriqueta told Lola that
the
plan had worked.  One evening when she and
Mateo had joined the adults in the dining room, Amelia had asked Mateo about his studies.  He said he
’
d learned
how
Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand discover
ed
America.  Enriqueta had giggled and
Mateo had asked her
what
she
thought they had done.  Enriqueta was prepared.  She talked about the unification of independent regions into modern Spain—and, of course, they provided the funds for Columbus to make his historic voyage.

“I told him kings and queens don’t actually do any discovering, and I laughed again.  The silly boy burst into tears and asked his mother how he was supposed to learn when I was always picking on him.”  Enriqueta paused.  “
So here I am.”

The next day Enriqueta and Lola went to the library when it was time for lessons.  Ricardo glowered at them.  When Victoria appeared for her daily chat with the tutor about how the lessons were going, Ricardo jumped out of his chair.

“I’ll never learn anything now that there are two of them.  It was bad enough
with just
Lola
flirting with my tutor, but now he won’t even notice I’m in the room.”

Two days later the girls were driven home in Victoria’s carriage.

~ ~ ~

“
Rosa?
”
Enriqueta
’s voice seemed to echo in the empty hall
.

“Strange no one heard the door,”
Lola
said
as
the driver
carried
their bags inside.  They showed him where to put their things and thanked him.  As soon as the door closed behind him, the two girls raced to the kitchen.

“Pilar!”
T
hey ran to the cook and threw their arms around her.

“My lost lambs are home
—w
hat a wonderful surprise
.
”

“Surprise?” asked
Lola
.  “I heard
Victoria
give instructions for a message to be delivered s
aying we
’
d be coming today
.”

“Where is everyone?”
Enriqueta
plopp
ed
down on the plank bench.

“
Y
ou poor dears
.
” Pilar reached out and grasped Enriqueta’s hand.  “Oh, Sweet Jesus, help my little lambs.  That explains everything
.
”
T
ears flowed down her cheeks.

Lola had a sick feeling that their homecoming was going to be far from the exciting event they had anticipated.
 
“What does what explain?”

“Two days ago a messenger
brought an envelope
.  Señora Jacoba,” Pilar’s nose wrinkled as she gave Jacoba the title of respect, “
took the envelope from Rosa.”

“
W
hen your father came home
,
she told him she needed to go to town with him to be fitted for a new gown.” 
Pilar smiled
.  “He may be El Patrón, but he
’
s still a man.  When the wife gets her head set on something he has no choice.  He protested that she could make better gowns than anyone in town, but she said she no longer had time for such things. 
T
hey left this morning
and
will
be gone
for
two nights.”

“Never mind,” said Lola brightly.  “You
’
re here and we like you more anyway.”  Enriqueta nodded her agreement.