Bloom (Part 5)

Thick, warm blood slid down my thigh as I squat over the chamber pot. I cried silently as I watched my body rid itself of the child. There were no tears shed for the life lost, but rather for the pain. I had felt nothing like it before, at least not physically; heartbreak is the worst pain of all and lasts much longer than this did.

The bleeding finally ceased and the pain and nausea subsided. I cleaned up the mess as best I could, and covered the blood in the pot with the other bodily functions that had come about during the purge. The Hare Lodging House was hardly an establishment high class enough to have chamber maids clearing out the pots, so I knew I could easily discard of the contents myself and all in the house would remain none the wiser that the “man” in the corner room had just miscarried.

Another full day had come and gone. I knew that if I didn’t leave my room daily as a normal man would, it would begin to cause suspicion, especially to my innkeepers who were very closely watching for any sign of imminent death of their lodgers.

The next afternoon I decided I would leave for several hours to take in a much needed stroll in the fresh air, peruse a shop or two on Princes Street, and act in a manner that a normal man who wasn’t a woman that killed her husband would act.

As I stepped out of my room, I came upon Hare and another man, standing at the door where the dead man had been carried away from two nights before.

“Good day, Mr. Bloom,” said Hare. “How are you?”

“Quite fine, thank you. Just heading out for the day,” I said in my deepest voice.

“My mate Burke here and I were just heading downstairs for a tipple. Please join us!”

“You’re a small chap!” said Burke before I could reply to Hare. He was actually quite a handsome man, at least standing next to Hare who had the face of a rodent.

I was a petite woman, which made me an even more petite “man.” I swiftly thought how to explain this. “Ah, yes. Me dad was a dwarf.”

 “A dwarf!” Burke let out a hearty laugh and frothy spittle collected at the corners of his mouth. Maybe he was not so handsome after all. “Well, this is a story I’ve got to hear! Come along with us, Bloom!” He gave my back a hard slap and pulled me along with himself and Hare down the hallway.