"Ain't life just dandy."
There it was. Just like Frances had directed her. Well, it was a small town and Annie might not be educated but she wasn't stupid either. So, ignoring a young man's whistle as she passed him by on the boardwalk, she marched up to the front door. She wasn't even sure it was open for business, didn't show any obvious signs of life but she wasn't about to peek into the windows to check. Frances had assured her this girl named ...Arabella...would be there. Strange name that. Maybe she was a foreigner. They had lots of odd names.
She gave the wooden door a strong knock - three fast raps. She wasn't about to try the doorknob and open it. Being a total stranger, the last thing she wanted was to be accused of breaking and entering. Some towns' law were quick to pick on her kind, using any excuse. She well recalled that one town where she had been jailed for the night for 'cursing' in the presence of a minister and his wife. She hadn't even been talking to them or aware they were standing there. She had been in a rather raunchy discussion with a would be customer in public. The only way the sheriff agreed to release her the next day was if she would service him. She of course agreed, like she saw much choice.
Her glum memories vanished when the door was abruptly flung open and there was some scrawny young thing.
"Hello....umm, Frances said I could stay here for the night?" she got right to it.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
Arabella was standing in front of the big mirror in Frances' room, posing and practicing lines from the next play she was in. Why they kept the big mirror in the blind girl's room was pretty obvious, of course: because Arabella would never get anything done if it was in her room, she would be glued to the thing.
"Oh, you cad Mr Smith, would you really throw my Mother and I out into the snow!" she declaimed, falling on her knees and clasping her hands together. She shook her head, unhappy with the performance. Darn it. She was fine as a heartless hussy or a conniving countess or a mischievous maid, but these sappy goody-goody roles had her beat. She just couldn't do innocent convincingly.
The raps below her made her jump, she ran downstairs and opened the front door and saw... well, who the heck was she seeing? Exactly the sort of waif and stray she had just been trying to portray! Attractive but careworn, carpet bag, once-nice-but-now-slightly-bedraggled clothing, a good girl fallen on hard times? With fallen being the operative word?!! Bingo! This was going to be a great day after all.
"Hello....umm, Frances said I could stay here for the night?" she got right to it.
"Well, Frances was right! Please come in." beamed Arabella opening the door as wide as it would go and making way for the beautiful stranger.
"How d'you do, I'm Arabella." she said, holding out her hand. "Welcome to our humble abode. If you like I'll show your room and then I'll make us a nice cup of coffee and I've got some freshly baked cookies and..." she skidded the brakes on then: Frances had told her she sometimes overwhelmed people with information. "... well, bedroom, coffee and cookies is probably enough for now!" she declared.
Drat, she wished she had a nice dress on, instead of this scruffy old smock and pinny. A girl wanted to look her best when a stray, beautiful, fallen waif 'n' stray landed on her doorstep!
"Ain't life just dandy."
"Well, Frances was right! Please come in." beamed Arabella opening the door as wide as it would go.
"Oh good, thanks," Annie smiled back though her smile was always more reserved even sort of sad on occasion.
"How d'you do, I'm Arabella." she said, holding out her hand.
"Annie or Ann, whichever you choose," Annie then shook her hand. The other girl had a good grip for how frail she looked. Not that she looked unhealthy, no far from it. She was quite pretty even.
"Welcome to our humble abode. If you like I'll show your room and then I'll make us a nice cup of coffee and I've got some freshly baked cookies and..." she skidded the brakes on then: Frances had told her she sometimes overwhelmed people with information. "... well, bedroom, coffee and cookies is probably enough for now!" she declared.
"Enough? More'n enough. I just figured a cot for the night is all, thanks," Annie liked this place already.
"So who runs this place?" she truly was curious.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"Enough? More'n enough. I just figured a cot for the night is all, thanks," Annie liked this place already.
"Ha! Cots are for babies, you've got a nice clean bed with a bedspread and everything!" smiled Arabella happily. "I mean, I don't know... oh, sorry, this way..." she led Annie (she'd decided to call her Annie, it was nicer) to the stairs up "... I say I don't know what we'll ever do if we get more'n one lady staying any night, but I guess me and Frances would just have to snuggle up together or what not." she rattled on as she led the slightly taller girl up the creaky stairs.
"So who runs this place?" she truly was curious.
"Oh, just me and Frances." replied Arabella, reaching the top of the stairs and turning right into the first room "Not that there's much running to do! We just kinda live here. And we had a spare room, and one day I says 'Hey Franny' that's what I call her, see, 'Franny' I says 'Hey Franny, let's us make this place a refuge for girls who don't have anywhere to stay the night' and she says 'Ooooh, that's a good idea, Muddy, just like Jesus would do' and I said 'Well, I don't think he would because folks would talk' and she says 'You're right, Muddy, but maybe he could get his Mother to run it, seeing as she hasn't got anything else to do until the Resurrection' and I said 'Yes that's true.'"
Well, that answered that question.
"Oh, how I do run on!" Arabella twittered "But Frances probably warned you about that. Isn't she just wonderful? Blind as a bat but gets around and does everything just like a normal person. Oh, except I got her to draw a picture onct with a lead pencil and, to be honest, it wa'nt up to much. But I pretended it was good, so she wouldn't be sad. Well, she couldn't see to know any different."
She was getting distracted again.
"Oh! Anyway... I only changed the sheets on the bed last weekend so they should be good and aired, but you can have a warming pan if you feel the chill. I feel the cold something awful, but that's cause I got buried alive in snow onct and a house fell on my head" she explained.
"Ain't life just dandy."
Frances was right, this girl jabbered away alright. She just went on and on. However, Annie didn't mind (so far) and it was with some real anticipation she was going to be able to sleep in a real bed for the night.
"Oh, how I do run on!" Arabella twittered "But Frances probably warned you about that."
"Sorta," even Annie had to smile a bit at that.
Isn't she just wonderful? Blind as a bat but gets around and does everything just like a normal person. Oh, except I got her to draw a picture once with a lead pencil and, to be honest, it wa'nt up to much. But I pretended it was good, so she wouldn't be sad. Well, she couldn't see to know any different."
"I suppose," Annie nodded, what had the girl expected?
She was getting distracted again.
"Oh! Anyway... I only changed the sheets on the bed last weekend so they should be good and aired, but you can have a warming pan if you feel the chill. I feel the cold something awful, but that's cause I got buried alive in snow onct and a house fell on my head" she explained.
"I don't need no warming pan," Annie assured her then looked at the other girl strangely, "You got buried and had a house fall on you?"
Now that had to be an exaggeration or the girl was crazy?
Still she did seem nice and Annie didn't deal much with actual nice people very much.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"I don't need no warming pan," Annie assured her then looked at the other girl strangely, "You got buried and had a house fall on you?"
"Oh sure, but that weren't the worst part: by the time they got me back here, t'Kalispell, they thought I was dead as a doornail and they put me in that big barn back of the General Store and when I come to, I was lying between all these dead people, and especially this one old lady who was lying right next to me staring at me like this..."
She opened her eyes wide and stared at Annie right in the face.
"... and I jumped up and screamed and ran out in the snow and, believe me Annie, I never been so terrified in all my born'd days!" She suddenly laughed weakly "And now dead folks don't bother me at all, cause I work with 'em every day. Oh, I don't mean at the theatre - I'm an actress - I mean at the funeral parlour, I help the undertaker there sometimes, Mister Jolly."
They were up in the room by now.
"Here we are!" beamed Arabella, making a ta-daa! motion with her arms "Nice isn't it? My friend Bridget used to live here, but they carted her off cause she's only got one leg an' she's simple, but me and my friends want to go up a ladder and rescue her, but she's got this boyfriend who wants us to wait, real handsome feller, too, mind, he just happens to like crippled girls... anyhow, he's trying to get her back so he can marry her, and I'm first dibs for bridesmaid." she explained the provenance of the room succinctly.
She flounced over and adjusted the curtains, which were a little skewed. "Course, I don't like fellers m'self. Well, just for friends." she turned and smiled at the pretty guest "I'm too religious fer all that sort o' romantical business."
"Ain't life just dandy."
This girl must have become more than a bit addled after all the horror of almost dying, buried under a house, thought to be dead and such. And that face she made. Annie almost laughed but the girl was not being funny but serious. So she would not be that mean to her, a person who was in fact being very kind to her by allowing her to stay the night.
"That must have been terrible, you poor thing," Annie offered and then they were to the room she would be staying in.
It seemed this...Ara...Arabella was also an actress? In this podunk town? And worked for an undertaker? Goodness!
"My you are certainly a busy young lady," Annie nodded.
"Here we are!" beamed Arabella, making a ta-daa! motion with her arms "Nice isn't it? My friend Bridget used to live here, but they carted her off cause she's only got one leg an' she's simple, but me and my friends want to go up a ladder and rescue her, but she's got this boyfriend who wants us to wait, real handsome feller, too, mind, he just happens to like crippled girls... anyhow, he's trying to get her back so he can marry her, and I'm first dibs for bridesmaid."
No way could Annie follow all that convoluted story. And she definitely did not want to ask for details.
"Hope it works out for ya," she left it at that.
The girl flounced over and adjusted the curtains, which were a little skewed. "Course, I don't like fellers m'self. Well, just for friends." she turned and smiled at the pretty guest "I'm too religious fer all that sort o' romantical business."
"Ahh, alright. I've never had a beau or been in love with a man either. But...not because of bein' religious," Annie was not about to come out with it that she was a prostitute. A religious girl like that might just be shocked.
"Say, you wouldn't happen to have a wash basin and a pump to fill it with? I'd like to wash up a little, been a long trip and day. Those stagecoaches throw up enough dust," she decided to risk one little request.
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"That must have been terrible, you poor thing," Annie offered and then they were to the room she would be staying in.
"Yes, it was..." pouted Arabella, clearly enjoying the sympathy, in fact she was as susceptible to sympathy as she was to flattery or any sort of kindness for that matter. She drank it in.
"My you are certainly a busy young lady," Annie nodded.
"Huh! You should meet my friend Jemima! Even she can't keep count of all the different jobs she holds down: she does all sort of chores for her Ma at their boarding house, works in the dress Emporium, cleans and waits on for Professor Brown, same for Mister Smith and Mrs Orr, and, oh, there was something else... 'scapes me now, but boy, is that girl busy!" Arabella rattled on, before showing Annie her room and giving her another five minutes of her life story, including the intelligence that she didn't have boyfriends.
"Ahh, alright. I've never had a beau or been in love with a man either. But...not because of bein' religious," Annie was not about to come out with it that she was a prostitute. A religious girl like that might just be shocked.
This news, unfortunately, peaked Arabella's interest in all the wrong ways. Could this beautiful angel, whose shopworn air only seemed to add to her attractiveness, be another like herself? She tried to push it from her mind; but thinking hard on her love for Miriam and how annoyed Jesus might be if she sinned didn't completely push the idea away. Then Annie herself accidentally sealed the deal.
"Say, you wouldn't happen to have a wash basin and a pump to fill it with? I'd like to wash up a little, been a long trip and day. Those stagecoaches throw up enough dust," she decided to risk one little request.
"Aw, sure Annie, that's no problem..." she swallowed down a lump in her throat. "... or... or I can fill a bath for you downstairs in the scullery, no problem. Just give me a few minutes to heat up some water for you on the range. And you ain't so dusty that I couldn't get in the water afterwards, I'm sure, I'm about due one." she offered with forced nonchalance.
Oh God, what was she doing? She felt like an automaton with no control over her mind, body or, especially, her mouth.
"Ain't life just dandy."
Once more this Arabella went on and on about some other town girl and how busy she was. Annie could care less but she'd learned long ago to just let folks jabber on, that included customers when she was servicing them in her career. Some liked to talk, some did not. But she didn't care either way long as the man wasn't too rough with her. Those could be the dangerous ones.
Finally she got to get in a word edge wise and asked if she might have a wash basin and fresh water, it had been a long day and the stage trip was always a dusty sort of thing. She got better than she expected.
"Aw, sure Annie, that's no problem..." the girl for all her chatter really was nice, Annie had decided she liked her already, "... or... or I can fill a bath for you downstairs in the scullery, no problem. Just give me a few minutes to heat up some water for you on the range. And you ain't so dusty that I couldn't get in the water afterwards, I'm sure, I'm about due one."
"A bath? I would really like a bath. Thank ya, I will take ya up on that then," Annie actually smiled, "Sure, you can use it too. Fine by me."
"Everybody can feather their nest, but it's not just anybody that can lay an egg!"
"A bath? I would really like a bath. Thank ya, I will take ya up on that then," Annie actually smiled, "Sure, you can use it too. Fine by me."
"Well, Okey-Dokey!" beamed Arabella, her eyes going slightly unfocused for a second or two as her brain got ahead of itself for a second. Then she shook her head and she was 'back in the room'
"Well, you get all unpacked , and..." She palpably gulped "... undressed, and come on down in about a quarter of an hour, it'll be nice and full and I'll lock the doors so no-one walks in on us, er, you and there's a nice dressing gown in here you can slip on..." Arabella went, somewhat jelly-legged, to the wardrobe and rummaged around a second and pulled out a somewhat sheer negligee - heaven knows where that had come from: Mr Crabbe had bequeathed them some very odd items.
She handed the lightweight covering to Annie.
"It's kinda skimpy, but that don't matter - after all, it's just us girls, huh?!" she beamed.
"I'll go and get fixin' your bath..." she said somewhat redundantly, backing out of the door "See you soon!"
She nearly fell down stairs in her hurry to get kettles boiling and water pumped and buckets filled and emptied into the venerable tin bath tub and everything just right for when the blonde visitor descended the staircase. She ran from the scullery to the front door and locked out the world. Frances, Jemima, Miriam, her conscience, Jesus: they could all five of them bang on that door as much as they liked, none of them were coming in for an hour at least.