Page 20 of Hank and Elsie
Elsie didn’t know what an embassy was. A kind of palace, maybe. She knew India was an exotic, foreign country.
“He described theTaj Mahalto me.” Miss Taylor used both hands to make a bulb shape. “A huge,ivory—” she smiled at Elsie “—palace, with roofs shaped like this. An emperor…a type of king, built the palace as a memorial to the wife he dearly loved who died. They’re both buried there.”
Miss Taylor took a folded terry cloth towel and a small terry cloth square from the shelves and handed them to Elsie. “I’ll leave you to enjoy your bath.”
Relief flowed through Elsie. She hadn’t wanted to disrobe before the woman and expose the poor condition of herundergarments, gray and frayed from numerous washings, in spite of drying them in the sun.
Elsie held the towel to her chest. “I’ll enjoy every minute. I’ll soak till my fingersandtoes wrinkle.”
With a laugh, Miss Taylor left the room.
For a moment, Elsie stood motionless, letting happiness flood her body. This day was better than any dream she’d had about working.
If Ma and Pa make me leave this job, I don’t know how I will bear it.
Despite relaxing in the bathtub,so much happened today that Elsie’s thoughts remained awhirl. Foremost among her musings was earning money and buying what she wanted and her family needed, as well as the primary drive to pay back Miss Taylor as soon as possible. Not being beholden to anyone was too firmly engrained into Elsie for her to be comfortable with the debt, necessary as it was.
While soaking in the bath, Elsie had come up with at least twenty things she wished to purchase—she’d put the idea of a Sunday best dress for herself into far future possibilities—and figured she’d better tidy up her mind by writing everything down. The idea of using a sheet of paper for an indulgence such as a list, instead of going over and over the items in her mind until she’d memorized them, felt so extravagant as to be almost wasteful.
Once dressed and back in her new bedroom, Elsie walked over to the small table under the window, with the decorative box holding stationery, an inkwell, and writing implements, andtook a seat. Earlier, Miss Taylor had told her to feel free to use both.
Taking the top off the box, she searched among the pens and nibs for a pencil, to no avail. That left only a pen and ink, something she’d never used before. For a moment, she wished for the family slate and a piece of chalk, and then dismissed the idea. Even if Mary didn’t need them for her studies, keeping a list on a slate, not being able to use the surface for anything else, just wasn’t practical.
She lifted out the heavy cut-glass inkwell, opened the brass cap, and peered inside to see what looked like enough ink. She searched for a pen with the nib already inserted and pulled it from the box.
Gingerly, Elsie dipped the tip of her quill into the opening of the inkwell and began to write. The nib made a scratching noise on the paper. When she paused the pen, the ink pooled into a blot.
Oh, no. I’ve ruined the pristine paper.But she couldn’t be wasteful and take another sheet.Probably would mar that one, too.Hastily she lifted the pen, resting the nib on the interior edge of the inkwell, and glanced into the box at a black-spotted cloth, wondering if she should wipe off any excess ink. Deciding not to, she finished the sentence.
1. Pay back Miss Taylor for the new clothes.
She stopped for a few minutes to gaze adoringly at her new shirtwaist and skirt, hanging on hooks near the door and then started adding up hours and her rate of pay.Six weeks. She hoped her guess was correct.
2. Buy boots for Pa. One month for the cheapest pair. Six, seven weeks for ones of better quality.She wavered.Better quality would last longer. I’ll decide closer to the time.
Elsie paused her pen, thinking a sudden anxious thought.What if Ma and Pa don’t let me keep working when my month is up? I won’t be able to buy Pa’s boots!
She perked up, remembering that a month wouldn’t be long enough for her to repay Miss Taylor for all her new clothes. With their dread of debt, her parents would, at least, let her keep working until all was repaid.And by then, maybe they’ll have become used to my absence.
Another drop of ink slithered off the nib to splat on the paper. She let out an unladylike growl of frustration.Writing this list with a pen is harder than I thought.
Elsie debated which to add next, new shoes or a second shirtwaist. People will probably notice my waist more than my feet. Although she was reluctant to choose, she wrote down,
3.Make a second, frillier, shirtwaist.
Elsie figured she could sew a shirtwaist using one of Miss Taylor’s patterns in about a week.
She glanced at the sentence again, pleased she’d managed to write without making a blot. Looking down at her stocking feet, she added:
4.Buy new shoes.She thought of the shoes she’d seen in the mercantile and the price of her favorite pair. She sighed and wrote,One month after I buy Pa’s boots.
5. Make Ma a new dress, withpuffedgeego sleeves, (regardless of if she’ll scold.)Since Elsie would be fashioning the dress, the cost was merely the expense of the fabric and trimmings. She made a mental note to ask Miss Taylor how to spellgeego.
6. New winter coat.
Elsie paused to think about her shabby, too small coat, and then added up her timeline so far.Almost five months.“Perhaps I’d better move purchasing a winter coat up to numberfour and change Ma’s dress to number five,” she said to herself. “Then Mary, who’s also outgrown her coat can have mine.”
I can give Ma the dress for Christmas.She stopped to daydream a bit about what Christmas could be like if she could afford gifts for everyone and let out a happy sigh. Extravagant Christmases had come to an end when she was ten. Her last grandparent died and there was no one to send them a box of presents.
