If Only She Knew by Pamela Crane

Author:Pamela Crane [Crane, Pamela]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Tabella House
Published: 2023-01-03T05:00:00+00:00

Chapter 15

I trained the flashlight on the object Chris held in his hand. A brown prescription bottle.

“It says it’s anti-hysteria water,” Chris said.

Indeed it did. I squinted and read the fine print aloud:

Used to treat hysteria and related symptoms, including nervousness, temper, suicidal thoughts, debility, sleeplessness, irritated throat, stomach pains, rheumatism, laziness, infertility, and more!

“Now that’s some cure-all,” Jonah observed.

The antique bottle had Gertrude Valance’s name scrawled across the label; there was a second medicinal bottle, too, identical except for it lacked her name. I spied something equally curious in the hiding place and pulled it out for a closer look. It was a long metal probe with a ball and joint at one end and a circular piece of metal attached to the other end where the handle was. It took a minute for me to realize what it was, then I dropped it in disgust.

“Gross! I can’t believe there’s a uterine elevator in here.”

“A uterine elevator?” said Chris. “Sounds like something out of a horror movie.”

“Pretty close. Back then they believed the uterus moved around in a woman’s body, and a wandering womb could cause mental problems and fertility issues. So they would shove this contraption inside her to adjust the uterus. It was one of many horrifying Victorian remedies for”—then I air-quoted this—“‘female hysteria.’”

Chris snorted. “What makes you such an expert?”

“I don’t claim to be an expert, dumbass. It just happens that I wrote a term paper on the wackadoodle medical practices of the Victorian age—especially as they related to women’s health—for my senior social studies class. Got an A, naturally.”

“Naturally. Geek.”

“But what exactly is female hysteria?” Jonah asked.

“In the Victorian era that was the blanket diagnosis for people—though mostly women—suffering from anxiety or depression or panic attacks, or even epilepsy. If they didn’t know what it was and you were acting strange, they called it hysteria and did all kinds of crazy stuff to”—another set of air quotes—“‘cure’ you.”

“What other kinds of crazy stuff?” Grimacing, Jonah dangled the uterine elevator between his thumb and index finger as if he was afraid it might bite him. Or catch a disease from it.

“Hydrotherapy, where they sprayed you with cold water. Some doctors went to extremes like performing lobotomies. It was barbaric.” I paused, grinning mischievously. “Then there was the steam-powered vibrator they called the ‘Manipulator.’” That kinky reference got everyone’s attention. “Never mind, y’all aren’t old enough to know about that. I’m not even sure I’m old enough.”

I had barely begun to scratch the surface of the horrors that the medical field called cures, when a loud slam plunged us into sudden darkness.

“Hey, what happened?” Tara screamed.

“Don’t worry. The door just blew shut.” Chris slowly felt his way to the entrance. When he rattled the door handle and I didn’t hear it open, I knew something was wrong.

I joined Chris, and together we shoved our shoulders into the door. It cracked open a little, but something on the other side held it shut.

“Someone blocked us in here!” Tara moaned.

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