Carla Kelly (43 page)

“Owen tells me that the Finnish men are the cleanest men in Winter Quarters,” she said. “He wonders how they do it. Maybe you'll find out.”

“Mabli, I came here to teach!”

“Didn't you plan on learning anything new along the way?”

To her chagrin, the next three days shot by. On Thursday, Della waited until the canyon was completely dark. Owen stopped by to wish her well, which made her frown at Mabli.

“You weren't supposed to say anything!”

“I couldn't resist,” Mabli said. “This is too good not to share.”

“Care for an escort to Finn Town?”

“Not. On. Your. Life,” she said, biting off each word, which made him turn away, his shoulders shaking. Angharad looked from one to the other, mystified.

“She's going to take a bath in Finn Town,” Mabli explained to her niece. “You can help me roll silverware into napkins next door, and we'll expect your father to behave himself.”

“He always does,” Angharad said.

“I am escorting you to Finn Town,” he declared firmly.

“Very well,” she said grudgingly, picking up her towel.

“You're a good sport,” Owen said as they walked the short distance to Finn Town.

“I like these women, and I promised Dr. Isgreen I'd do what I could,” she told him. “There really isn't any point in being embarrassed around you, is there?”

“None at all. What you did for the Ahos was life changing, and every Finn knows it. We don't understand them too well, and I'll confess that some of us don't treat them as well as we should. It's more than a bath tonight, Della, a lot more.” He tipped his cap to her. “Good night, Butterbean. Enjoy yourself.”

“Is he your man?” Mrs. Koski asked as she came closer to the ladies by the Finn Hall.

“I doubt it,” Della replied, hoping Owen was far enough away not to hear either of them. “He
is
nice.”

“That's a start. The sauna is back here,” she said. “Some families have their own, but this is the largest one.”

When in Rome
, Della reminded herself, as they went into a side door in a small frame building. She stood in the doorway, noticing that someone had built a snow bank about six feet tall around the little structure.

“My Kari thought that would be the kind thing, since you have shy ways,” Mrs. Koski said.

Della nodded, relieved. She looked around. They were standing with ten other women in a chamber with benches and hooks. Some of the women were already undressing.
Oh, dear
, she thought.
I'm not so sure about this.

Uncertain, she stood next to Mari, who was taking off her petticoat.

“Take a deep breath, and take off your clothes. Not cloe,” Mari teased, making fun of herself. “All of them. Clothes.”

Della did as she said, staring straight ahead at the hooks on the walls that were rapidly filling with dresses, petticoats, and drawers. Her shoes and stockings went first, and her skirt and shirtwaist were easy enough to shed. The petticoat came off slower. She had not bothered with a corset, but she unbuttoned her camisole and just stood there. She glanced around. Few of the women were as well-endowed as she was. “Heaven sakes, Della,” she muttered under her breath, and took off her camisole. “Everyone here has two.”

Her drawers took a little longer, until Mari whispered, “You won't surprise us.”

Della laughed and pulled off her drawers, her face on fire. She hung them up with her other clothes.

“Leave your towel too,” Mrs. Koski said.

My stars, what am I in for?
she thought. Eyes down, Della followed Mrs. Koski into the next room.

She took another deep breath and regretted it, because the heat seemed to vibrate from the very walls. She looked at the iron stove in the middle of the windowless room, with rocks placed on it. A bench held branches tied in bundles with dried leaves on them. There was a barrel of water, a dipper, and white enameled dishpans. Against two walls, benches on two ledges faced each other, the stove in between.

She admired the women's easy grace and lack of embarrassment around each other. “I think I am the only one who is shy, Mrs. Koski.”

“Call me Eeva,” the woman said promptly. “It's hard to be formal standing in the nude.”

Della laughed and the others joined in, as if given permission to tease her a little. “Miss Anders, if you make a naughty wish about a man in sauna, it comes true,” someone joked. “Sauna once a week will keep your rump as smooth as baby's bottom,” someone else said. “Men like that,” said another.

Della took her hands away from her breasts and nether parts and put her hands to her flaming face. “Do they really?” she teased back, which earned her a dipper of cool water on her backside from Eeva.

“You're frisky already,” Eeva remarked. “Are you so sure your man doesn't know he's your man?”

“Positive,” Della said, then, “Maybe,” which earned another laugh.

“Here's what you do now,” Eeva said. “Hold still.” She poured a dishpan of water over Della, then handed her a tied bundle. “Take this
vasta
, and dip it in the water. Lay it across the stones. Watch Mari.”

She followed Mari's lead, watching as her vasta's leaves seemed to reconstitute themselves and give off the pleasant odor of birch.

“We will sit here,” Mari told her, as she picked up her vasta. She pointed to the lowest level.

“Why not up there?” Della asked, as the other women sat on the upper ledge.

“More heat there. It would … might be hard for you,” she explained. “As for me … I am with child, so I sit lower. Same reason.” She turned her fine eyes to a woman, much farther along, who sat opposite them. “When her time comes, she will have her baby here, in sauna. Very clean.”

Della nodded, remembering what Emil Isgreen had told her. She sat down beside Mari. “I'm happy for you,” she said. “You will still come to my class?”

“If I can,” she said. “I do not think Miss Clayson will care for big belly.”

“Probably not,” Della said. “Mari, my eyeballs are cooking!”

The other ladies laughed. Before she climbed to the upper level, Eeva took another dipper of water and splashed it on the hot stones, making them pop and hiss. The rocks were so hot that the steam vaporized.

“Now we sit and enjoy,” Mari sat, closing her eyes. “Someone will toss more water on the stones later, or not.”

“It's not steamy,” Della said, surprised.

“Just hot. Lie down if you want to, but sit up slowly or you might faint,” Eeva said from her higher ledge. “If you have questions, ask.”

Della nodded, watching her skin turn red and then begin to sweat. She did as Eeva suggested and lay down on the bench, not shy anymore. Sweat rolled off her body and dripped from her curly hair. Some women sat and some lay on the ledges, their expressions remote, probably much like her own. She felt herself relax as she sweated.

She heard a faint swishing sound and looked around to see some of the women gently slapping themselves with their birch bundles. Della did that too, enjoying the stimulation to her skin. Then it seemed like too much effort, so she stopped.

Mari touched her shoulder a few minutes later. “Let me pull you slowly upright,” she whispered.

Della held out her hand and let Mari help her. “Slowly now. If you feel faint, tell me,” Mari said. “Dear teacher, we go outside and lie down in the snow.” Mari spoke to the more pregnant woman in Finnish, who was already on her feet. Della steadied her and the woman smiled a drowsy thanks.

The three of them walked into the next room and left by the door that opened onto the snow-fenced field behind the sauna. Della looked up at the stars, so clear in the night sky, big enough to touch almost.
I am hallucinating
, she thought but felt surprisingly unconcerned. She reached up to touch them, then laughed at herself.

“Roll now,” Mari said, after helping the more pregnant woman down.

Della sank down, not cold at all, but relieved as the snow contacted her sweating body. With a sigh, she lay full length and rolled in the snow, content to lie there, stare at the stars, and pull snow over her like a blanket.
Everything washes away
, she thought.
Maybe fear and anger
.

She turned her head when the door opened and other women came out. Eeva sank down beside her. “What do you think?”

“Bliss,” Della said. “May I go back in?”

The ladies around her laughed. “Still no men in there,” someone called. “What a pity.”

“No matter,” Della teased in turn. “I wouldn't know what to do with one, anyway.”

“You'll figure it out,” another lady said.

Mari stood up. Della could see now that she had lost her waist and was gently round.
Maybe someday for me
, she thought. Anything seemed possible, after sauna.

Mari held out her hand. “I will not go in again. Come with me. We will sit in outer room and dry us.”

“Ourselves,” Della corrected.

She followed Mari back into the first room, drying herself, then sat on the bench, content.

“I'll see you tomorrow, dear teacher,” Mari said and left.

The room was full of women now. Della followed them back into the sauna, pouring water over herself this time and lazily slapping her bare body with the vasta. When she felt drained of all the sweat in the universe, she looked at Eeva. “Tell me. Can I soap myself and wash off in here?”

“Yes. In fact, some of us are done. We will do that too, then go in the snow again. These other ladies are tough.” Eeva smiled at their mild catcalls. “I will finish when you do.”

Every inhibition was just a distant memory now, as Della soaped her body, unselfconscious, relaxed. She breathed deep, her eyes closed. Eeva poured cool water over her and washed away the soap.

After a last roll in the snow, Della sat for a long while in the outer room, wrapped in her towel, clean as never before. “It's more than just a bath, isn't it?” she asked Eeva.

“It is sauna. I cannot explain it more. You understand now.”

Dry, dressed, and comfortable, Della let herself out of the sauna and walked around the Finn House. A door opened in the house across the road, and Owen came out. She looked at him, surprised.

He turned and waved to the miner in the doorway, then took her arm. “Victor Aho thought you should not walk home alone after sauna, so I waited. He said some people get dizzy. Well?”

“The Finns must be the cleanest men in the mines. My goodness, Owen, that was wonderful. Every single pore in my skin worked overtime.”

He smiled at that. “You didn't feel, well …”

“Shy? At first. It didn't last too long. Don't let me embarrass you, but Mari reminded me that we all look alike. You should try that. Know any Finns?”

Owen threw back his head and laughed. “One or two! And I have my own invitation tomorrow night. Should I?”

“You won't regret it. Aren't you always telling me to broaden my horizons? Take your own medicine, Owen Davis. Finnish men probably look like Welsh men. I know that much, even if I teach the lower primary grades.”

“You're saucy tonight.”

“Blame it on sauna.”

auna became part of Della's rapidly filling week. It took her three Thursdays to work up the nerve to do what Dr. Isgreen wanted.