Free Ada's Secret by Nonnie Frasier Page A

saw how men hooted and women looked horrified at the mention of her name. So I was sure I didn’t want to meet her, let alone work for her.
    “Frantically, I wandered the streets. I had no food, and the only water I had to drink was from tanks used to water the animals. One cold damp evening, I sat on the street waiting for another miserable night to pass. I knew I couldn’t go on much longer.
    “I shook every crumb out of my satchel, but there was nothing left of the food my mother had packed for the train ride days ago. I tucked the satchel under my head, and hoped sleep would stop my misery for a few hours. With my worsening plight, I began thinking about doing things I would usually never consider.”
    “Ma, I never knew how hard it was for you.” Ada, squeezed her hand, and snuggled closer.
    Ma continued, “I didn’t see the man at first, but suddenly he was too close and reaching for me. I tried to defend myself by swinging the little satchel, but he caught it before I could do any damage.
    “I remember him saying, ‘Hey, hey, hey there Missy. I’m not here to hurt you! I’ve been watching and just want to help you.’ His deep, sad smile defused my fear, and I let him come closer. He reached slowly for my bonnet asking, ‘May I take off your bonnet? I just want to touch your hair.’ He looked so sad and pitiful as he reached haltingly for my hair. I was embarrassed because I was so dirty, but he seemed lost in a memory as he told me, ‘You remind me of my wife. Her hair was exactly the same color and so beautiful. She died of cholera. With my wife gone, my best friend Mac thought we should go work the gold fields, so I came here to work through the grief.’
    “He continued telling me his story. ‘Mac believed that hard work never killed anybody, but a fight over the rights to our claim did. I’m taking what little money we made in the California gold fields back to Kansas tomorrow. When I saw you tonight, I believed you were my late wife’s ghost, but you are very real.’”
    Ma recalled, “He held his battered old hat in his hand as he asked me, ‘I know it’s inappropriate for me to offer this proposition, but I am a very lonely man tonight, and I am willing to pay you well. Would you consider spending the night with me?’”
    Lettie interrupted Ma, and said, “Ada, you must understand. Your ma was starving. She didn’t have any options.” Ada nodded her head. Ma continued her story.
    “I was beyond desperate. This man was offering me a hot bath, warm dinner, and a safe bed. I was so cold and alone that I accepted his offer. I sold the only thing of value I had left, my virtue,” Ma explained.
    Ma continued with the next part of her story. “That night I had a hot bath and a good dinner, before we went to his bed. The next morning, he left me in the hotel. He had paid for everything and had left me a twenty dollar gold piece. I justified my sin, convincing myself that I had helped him with the pain of losing his wife.
    “As I stashed the money in my purse, I came up with what I thought was a good idea. I decided that being a prostitute might be an easy way to solve my present predicament and get a better life for myself.” Ma’s quiet laugh sang out with the anguish that was still very clear in her memory.
    She continued, “I went out into the streets of San Francisco the next evening with the mistaken notion that being a lady of ill repute was going to be easy. I decided I could make enough money to buy a little boarding house, and live happily ever after.” Ma swallowed hard as she continued, “I don’t recall much of the next night, but I remember standing outside a rundown saloon thinking that maybe this wasn’t such a good idea. I had just abandoned my plan for the evening and was leaving to find a boarding house when a man ... ”
    “Now, Annie!” Lettie interjected. “You didn’t deserve what happened to you. That hideous excuse of a human being should be damned to