Helena’s mouth dropped agape when they passed two men kissing standing at the bar-rail. Helena wanted to go back for a closer look, but Lane gripped her hand firmly, dragging her through the dive. Their guide took them up the broad stairs, the farther away from the dance floor they traveled, the less pervasive the music became.
It was finally quiet enough for Helena to ask a question, “Did you see--”
Before she finished her sentence, Lane cut her off, “Yes, I did, please don’t ever ask me about it again.”
The man leading them deeper into the den of iniquity stopped at the door then tapped three times. Helena could plainly hear a man’s voice from the other side of the door say, “Come in,” the door opened for them. They walked into what would best be described as a gaudy attempt at elegance, with an overabundance of nude male statues.
The elegantly dressed woman spoke from behind a colossal desk, “You’re here, that means you either showed somebody something interesting or paid money to see me. Tell me how Lady Deloris Rolph might help you. My word child, what have you done to yourself?” Deloris said inspecting Helena’s face.
Helena was confused, she listened to a man’s voice tell them to come in, but the only one in the room seemed to be Lady Deloris. Something about her voice, it sounded intense yet alluring, Helena thought she would do just about anything to speak like that. She was surprised when the woman stood up to greet her as an equal. Helena didn’t know what to say.
“Sir, I can feel you’re uncomfortable, you are dismissed, you may wait outside. Trust me, the Young Miss here is in as safe as hands as any she might ever want to be in.”
Lane also confused didn’t argue and left Helena alone with Lady Deloris.
The lady took Helena by the hands and guided her to a sofa at the far side of the room. “Now please tell me who did such a terrible thing to such a lovely young face?”
She licked her thumb and started removing the black grease from Helena’s nose and cheek.
Helena stammered, her disguise penetrated before she even opened her mouth, “My cook, she helped me with my disguise.”
“You’re not going to fool anyone, at least you hid your breasts. Now you look like a flat-chested woman dressed up as a boy,” the faster Lady Deloris spoke, the deeper her voice got, “There are places a woman can’t go, most of those places don’t take young boys either. If you want to come explore, let me know I’ll help you.”
“I didn’t come here to explore, but can you teach me how to look more like a man?” Helena stared fascinated by the paint on the woman’s face.
Lady Deloris laughed the most decadent and happy sound Helena had heard in a long time, but it had a distinct male tone to it before she continued.
“Honey I’ve spent my whole life trying to make men look more like women,” chuckling with his natural male voice.
Helena couldn’t help herself, her right hand reached out slowly, and almost touched Lady Deloris’s chin.
“Yes honey, I’m a man, but you’re safe with me, you’re not my type. If you really want to learn about makeup, I can teach you, but that will take longer than what I can do now. I can fix it where you can at least escape the Barbary Coast without being attacked.”
“How do you control your voice so well?” Helena couldn’t understand how Lady Deloris could so effortlessly change voices while speaking.
“How do you get good at anything, you practice. You come with me and let’s see if we can’t do a little something with your face.” Lady Deloris brought Helena to a small side room which had real electric lights, a huge mirror, and more makeup than Helena ever knew existed. Deloris sat Helena down and started working on her face while she spoke.
“For the longest time, I was an actor. I chiefly worked traveling shows, the stage is where I learned makeup. More importantly, traveling so much allowed me to watch people and observe them, examine the real differences separating all of us. I had always enjoyed playing female roles, and when I came here, well let’s just say that Lady Deloris is a role I was made to play. Here on the Barbary, I can be what I want to be inside these four walls, my saloon, I can live the dream. I can allow others to come here and live a dream. As long as the vigilantes don’t burn the place down or try to clear us out again, everything will be golden.”
With the addition of a few shadows and highlights and the deft use of a pencil, Lady Deloris added ten years to Helena’s face. She no longer looked like a young teenage boy but a twenty-five-year-old man with a baby face.
“Do you want a mustache and beard?” Lady Deloris held up a batch of dyed wool almost exact color of Helena’s cropped hair.
“I don’t think so, not yet but I really want you to teach me how to do this. I also want you to teach me how to control my voice like you do.”
“Honey everything on the Barbary can be bought, and everyone has their price. I’m sure you didn’t come here for makeup tips.”
“I came to ask about this cork.” She felt her pocket where the cork should be and found it missing. “Lane has it, I’ll be right back.” She rushed to the door and opening it she found Lane leaning against the wall talking to a woman Helena assumed was a female impersonator.
She smacked Lane on the arm, “I need to cork back,” and held her hand out to him.
Engrossed in his conversation Lane didn’t even look at her just reached into a
