The Second Life of Mirielle West

In the morning, Mirielle dresses, awaiting information from the doctor and discharge from the hospital. Later, her husband, Charlie, arrives. He reminds Mirielle of a social commitment they have that evening, then reads a newspaper while they wait for the diagnosis. The newspaper indicates that a leprosy patient is present there at County General, awaiting transport to an isolated colony for treating leprosy. Mirielle is shocked to learn the patient is Pauline Marvin—the false name that Mirielle gave the hospital.

Mirielle prepares to depart the hospital and board the train to Louisiana. Charlie arrives with numerous trunks, keeping a distance from his wife. He sneaks a flask of liquor to her before he departs. At the train station, a hospital orderly tosses Mirielle’s luggage into a boxcar, instructing her to climb inside. Mirielle is certain a mistake has been made, but a nurse appears, assuring Mirielle she should load her trunks into the boxcar. A Mexican man offers to help her, but Mirielle notices the lesions covering his arms.

The boxcar is dark, but Mirielle can see that the nurse and the Mexican man are there, along with another woman and an ill man on a cot. The train stops at Yuma, and the passengers take a 15-minute bathroom break. Mirielle experiences several humiliations, such as being required to relieve herself behind the boxcar when she is not permitted to use the ladies’ lavatory. When she returns, the Mexican man is missing. She recalls seeing a man running while she was relieving herself and hopes he has successfully escaped.

However, a wagon immediately appears with the Mexican man in handcuffs behind it. His face is “bloodied and swollen” (18), and there is a large cut on his leg. He is tossed into the boxcar, still handcuffed and coughing. Mirielle brings him water, which he drinks and thanks her. Despite her fear of the man’s contagious state, Mirielle cleans the blood from his wounds and plucks the thorns from his body, careful to touch him through a handkerchief.

After two-and-a-half days of travel, the train arrives in New Orleans. It is night, and Mirielle and the others are transported to a building that resembles a plantation home, which is the administrative building and the nuns’ living quarters. Soon, two nuns appear and instruct Mirielle and the others to follow them. Mirielle worries about her luggage and is told to take what she needs for the night and that an orderly can retrieve the rest the next day. Mirielle grabs two bags, not knowing what her husband has packed. She is taken to the women’s infirmary and told they will wait to complete the intake process in the morning.

After the nun leaves, Mirielle looks through her bags, not finding anything useful. Charlie has included a framed photo of their family, and Mirielle falls asleep holding it. She wakes in the morning to find the same nun at her bedside. Mirielle persists that she has been misdiagnosed. The nun says she is a nurse and that Mirielle should call her Sister Verena. Sister Verena begins Mirielle’s intake, collecting personal information. She asks Mirielle what name she would like to use at the facility, telling her that most patients opt to keep their true identities a secret. Mirielle protests that she doesn’t have leprosy and won’t be at Carville for long; Sister Verena says she will refer to Mirielle by her number for now—Patient 367.

Mirielle is examined by Dr. Jachimowski (“Doc Jack”), who finds seven lesions, instead of the five discovered by the Los Angeles doctor. He touches Mirielle’s skin with a cotton ball, and then takes samples of the lesions with a scalpel. Mirielle cannot feel the incisions. When Mirielle asks the results to be rushed, he agrees to examine the samples himself. Mirielle asks about the Mexican man, learning that the handcuffs were successfully removed.

An hour passes, and Dr. Jack returns to inform Mirielle that she is indeed infected with leprosy. Mirielle protests that she does not feel ill and is told that the disease is in the early stage. She wonders if she caught it from passengers on the train, but Dr. Jack explains that the disease incubates for years before manifesting. He assures Mirielle that Carville is the best place for her to be.

Mirielle and her companions are given a tour of Carville by a resident named Frank Garrett, whose hands, affected by leprosy, shock Mirielle. He notes that the false name Mirielle has chosen—Pauline Marvin—is a film character. Mirielle denies the connection, thinking of Charlie, who was the film’s lead actor.

As the tour drags on, Mirielle lashes out at Frank for his cheerfulness and demands to be shown to her room. Inside house 18 is a sparsely furnished room where her luggage has been deposited.

The house orderly, Irene, forces Mirielle to attend dinner, introducing Mirielle (“Pauline”) to the residents of house 18. Mirielle can’t help but stare at the lesions on their bodies. Her thoughts are interrupted by a young girl whom Irene chastises for being late. Mirielle learns that Jean (age nine) refuses to speak. Just then, Mirielle discovers a tadpole in her glass. Irene chastises Jean for the prank, threatening her she will lose radio privileges.

Mirielle is shocked to learn that many of the women have been at Carville for five or seven years, with the longest tenure of 21 years held by Madge. Once a month, patients are tested for the disease. After 12 consecutive negative tests, a patient is released.

Mirielle undergoes additional examinations and starts a regiment of chaulmoogra oil injections and capsules. The medication makes her nauseous, and Mirielle is eager to return home to her daughters.

On her fourth day, Mirielle leaves lunch to vomit in a garden and discovers a man who introduces himself by his real name—Samuel Hatch. Mirielle tries to leave, but becomes intrigued when Hatch speaks of the Carville jail. He is “the reason this whole joint [Carville] exists” (44), as he spent a decade running from authorities who wished to sequester him. Mirielle is more interested in learning how Samuel snuck out of Carville.

That night, Mirielle plans to sneak out through a gap in the barbed wire fence. She packs three pieces of luggage. At the fence, she searches for the gap as described by Samuel but cannot find it. Instead, she climbs over the fence, throwing a suitcase over first. As Mirielle climbs, her skirt catches on the barbs, and she falls to the ground, breaking her arm.

In the infirmary, Dr. Jack pronounces Mirielle lucky to have sustained only a minor concussion and a broken arm. Sister Verena chastises Mirielle though Mirielle tries to deny her plan, insisting she merely fell. However, her luggage gives her away.

Mirielle is placed in the Carville jail, where she thinks up a better way to climb the fence once she is released and her arm has healed. A few weeks into her term, Irene brings Mirielle a letter from Charlie. Charlie recalls the hardship the death of their son, Felix, brought, noting Mirielle’s resulting drinking and the distance that has grown between them. With the letter is a drawing by her daughter Evie. Mirielle delights at the happy family it depicts, until she realizes the smiling figure is not her but the girls’ nanny. Instead, her daughter has drawn Mirielle apart, frowning with a cocktail in hand.

Mirielle thinks of the accusations Charlie made, certain he blames her for Felix’s death. His accusations of selfishness and indifference anger her. Her thoughts are interrupted when Dr. Ross enters. He introduces himself as the Medical Officer-in-Charge at Carville. He is concerned that not only has Mirielle broken six rules while at Carville and attempted to abscond, but she is refusing treatment. Indeed, the untouched chaulmoogra capsules are piled in the cell’s corner. He urges Mirielle to take the treatment seriously, stressing that Carville is a much more advanced facility than other quarantine facilities. Though leprosy cannot be cured, Dr. Ross stresses that Mirielle’s case can be successfully treated. He suggests she make the most of her time at Carville by taking a job. When she asks about the lack of a cure, Dr. Ross tells her that research is underway, and Mirielle replies that she wants to assist.

Mirielle is determined to prove Charlie’s assertion that she “never endeavored after anything in [her] life” (64) wrong. Sister Verena explains Mirielle will rotate between the ladies’ infirmary, the pharmacy, and the shot clinic. Mirielle learns she will be completing menial tasks and protests, wanting to help Dr. Ross to find a cure for the disease. In response, Sister Verena points out that Mirielle has no training in chemistry or medicine.

Mirielle’s first task is to dry the legs of the patients who have been soaking in water so that they can be rebandaged. Mirielle is reluctant to handle their legs, and Sister Loretta explains that the condition is actually not terribly contagious and can be avoided by careful hand washing. Mirielle is surprised but takes comfort in the nurse’s assertion.