“It’s embarrassing.” Another sob. “But it hurts.”
Hailey was growing more anxious by the moment. She glanced over her shoulder, afraid that the man would come barging in the rest room despite her orders that no one interrupt. “What hurts?”
She heard the rustle of clothing before the metal lock was released. The door opened inward and a girl about eleven years old stood in the opening. She was neatly dressed in tennis shoes and shorts and was holding a matching blouse over her thin chest with tight fists.
Dark brown ponytails tied with pink ribbons sprouted from both sides of her head. Through a pair of tortoise-shell eyeglasses, she looked up at Hailey with tearful gray eyes. Her father’s eyes, Hailey noted and wondered why she remembered the color of his eyes.
“Hello, Faith,” Hailey said and stood aside in a silent invitation for the girl to come out of the stall.
“Hi.” She came out and stood self-consciously in front of Hailey, staring at the floor.
“Can you tell me what the matter is? What’s hurting you?”
The child licked her lips and Hailey saw the flash of metal braces in her mouth. “I got… uh … a bee stung me.”
“Oh no,” Hailey said, instantly concerned. “Are you allergic to them?”
Faith shrugged. “I don’t think so. I mean, I don’t think I’m gonna die or anything.” There was a slight catch in her tremulous voice. “It just stings,” she finished softly.
“Where did it sting you?”
“Out by the Sidewinder.”
Hailey bit her lips to keep from smiling, “I know. I mean, where on your body?”
“Oh.” Faith looked up quickly at Hailey, then away just as quickly. “Here,” she said and lowered her shirt with a yank, as though she might change her mind if she thought about it longer.
Hailey saw two red welts on the tender young breast that showed the first signs of budding womanhood. Suddenly she understood. There had been no mother with the anxious father. When the bee stung her, Faith had been too modest to tell him about where she’d been hurt.
Hailey’s heart went out to the child. She remembered from her own adolescence how intensely she had craved privacy, how painfully aware and embarrassed she had been of each change in her body.
She walked to a sink and soaked a paper towel with cold water. She tried to interject a matter-of-factness into her tone. “How do you suppose the bee got there?” she asked with a smile.
“I was reaching up to touch one of the flags on the railing. There are some bushes there.”
“Honeysuckle.”
“Yeah, that stuff smells real good. Anyhow, he must have flown in through the armhole of my blouse.” Her lips began to quiver again. “Do you think my daddy will be mad at me? I think I acted sorta dumb.”
Hailey suppressed another smile while she pressed a wet towel to the narrow chest. She held it for a moment against the fiery welts until Faith took the towel in her own hand. “I think he’ll be relieved to know it was nothing more than a bee sting,” Hailey reassured her.
“Not that the sting isn’t painful. Don’t let him worry you, though. Men don’t understand how we women feel about such things, do they?”
Wide-eyed, Faith shook her head at the beautiful lady who seemed to understand everything. “No. He doesn’t understand anything. He thinks I’m still a baby.”
“Well anyone can see that you’re practically grown up. What did he expect you to do? Tear off your blouse in front of everyone and start yelling that a bee had stung your breast?”
Her silliness produced the hoped-for results. Faith giggled. Hailey pressed her advantage. “Why don’t we slip your blouse back on? Keep holding that cold towel there. We’ll ride in a golf cart to the infirmary and I’ll put this fantastic ointment on the stings that’s guaranteed to make them stop hurting. Then we’ll have a Coke. How does that sound?”
Faith looked nervously toward the door and Hailey added, “The crowd will be gone. I had one of the security guards send everyone away. But we really shouldn’t hog the rest room, you know.”
Faith laughed. She put on her blouse and Hailey helped her with the buttons. Faith folded her arm across her chest so she could keep the cold compress in place. Then Hailey gave her a cool cloth to
bathe her face. The only visible signs of her distress were her puffy eyes and reddened nose.
Hailey draped an arm across Faith’s slight shoulders and they went through the door. As Hailey had hoped, the curious onlookers had scattered. Faith’s father stood frozen, staring at the door, but he came to life the moment they stepped outside. He stalked toward them.
“Faith, are you all right?” he demanded.