Read Online Toward the Sea of Freedom by Sarah Lark - Free Book Online Page A

putting on her makeup.
    Kathleen imagined the road to hell was like this, or similar. But the girls did not seem at all diabolical; rather, they looked quite normal. A few were also not as young as they looked at first glance. Miss Daisy had certainly already passed forty.
    “And we’re supposed to hide her? What is this, an inn?” Miss Daisy asked.
    “Not hide,” whispered Kathleen. “No one, no one is looking for me. And . . . I didn’t want . . . I . . . I can just go.” She turned around.
    The woman laughed. “Oh, and where’ll you go? A young girl, all alone on the street, in this quarter? Out there, the boys will all too gladly take for free what they have to pay for here. I know Michael; he’s an honest one. His whiskey was always the best, especially the last batch.”
    Kathleen sighed. So Michael had delivered his moonshine to this establishment as well. How did the women pay for it? She felt something almost like rage arise within her.
    The word “whiskey” seemed to make Miss Daisy think of something. She quickly drew a bottle out from under one of the dressing tables, poured a glass, and handed it to Kathleen.
    “Here, drink. You look like you’ve seen a ghost.”
    “I should probably get going,” said Harry.
    Miss Daisy smiled at him and pulled some candy from the same hiding place. “Not without some provisions, my boy,” she laughed. “The only man all of us here love,” she explained, turning to Kathleen. “The girls are already fighting over who gets to take his virginity.”
    Kathleen blushed again, but Harry grinned at the good-natured madam.
    “Not a chance, Miss Daisy. I’m looking for a proper girl like Michael did. That’s what he told me: ‘Harry, look for a good girl.’ Then he mooned over his sweetheart and her beautiful eyes, green like Irish glens, and her golden hair.”
    Miss Daisy laughed even louder and pulled the shawl playfully from Kathleen’s head. The shawl fell down to her shoulders, giving a clear view of Kathleen’s hair and face.
    Miss Daisy whistled; a few of the girls let out sounds of amazement as well.
    “My lands, you,” the madam managed. “A girl comes up from the country and you expect a shy little mouse. But you look like a real princess. He’s kept you well fed, that Michael.”
    Miss Daisy looked longer at Kathleen’s body. Kathleen pulled the shawl lower. Her stomach was still rather flat, but her gesture alone led Miss Daisy to draw the right conclusion.
    “Oh, my little one. And here I hoped I might convince you to do some work, but you wouldn’t be much use for long. Is Michael the lucky man?”
    Kathleen yelled, “Of course it’s Michael! What do you think? I, we, we were going to marry in America. We . . .”
    Suddenly Kathleen felt like crying. She sobbed into the whiskey Daisy handed her, and despite her condition, she took the smallest of sips. It was her first-ever taste of whiskey, and it burned her throat like fire. She coughed.
    “Well, nothing more is likely to come of that,” said Miss Daisy. “You won’t see him again anytime soon—at least not as a free man. You can visit him in prison if you give the guard a few pence. But by the time they let him out—if they even do—the baby will be grown.”
    “If they even do?” Kathleen asked, horrified. “Do you think they’ll hang him? My God, they can’t hang him for taking three sacks of grain.”
    “He stole too?” sighed Daisy. “Dearie, dearie. But no, they won’t hang him. Just ship him out. Botany Bay, Van Diemen’s Land. Ever heard of ’em, child?”
    Kathleen tried at once to nod and shake her head. Naturally she had heard of the colonies. Of Australia, where prisoners were sent as forced labor. But they couldn’t do that to Michael.
    “If you get more than seven years, you’ve got it tough,” said Daisy. “And they’ll easily slap him with that. Even if he hadn’t stolen. It’s a shame, and I’m sorry for you. You can stay here if you