Once they were through the golden archway the fog closed in over the room and hid all sights and sounds from them. Berni’s beads and tie-dyed shirt disappeared along with her headband. Her head cleared of the effects of the marijuana, and she was once again wearing the silk suit in which she’d been buried.
“I just got here,” Berni said sulkily. “I was just beginning to enjoy myself.”
“By earth time you have been partying for fourteen years.”
Berni could only blink at Pauline. Fourteen years? She felt as though she’d entered the party but moments before. She had been aware that now and then her clothes were different, but surely she couldn’t have been in there fourteen years. She hadn’t slept or eaten, had drunk very little, and hadn’t had a single conversation with her fellow party-goers. She’d meant to talk to them about the Kitchen and about their assignments, but there had never seemed to be an opportunity.
“There is an assignment for you,” Pauline said.
“Great,” Berni said, smiling. If she passed this test and went to heaven, what pleasures awaited her there? Heaven must be some super place to be better than the Kitchen.
Pauline led them down a hallway, past several golden arches that Berni was dying to explore. One said “Harem Fantasy” above it, another “Pirates.”
At last Pauline turned through an arch labeled “Viewing Room” and led them into a large room with a half circle of banquettes covered in peach-colored velvet. All around the seats was thick, white fog.
“Please make yourself comfortable.”
Berni snuggled down into the soft, velvet-covered seat and looked where Pauline did, at the foggy wall in front of them. Within seconds the fog drew back and a scene appeared before them. It was like a movie, only not as flat, and like a play, only more real.
A young woman, slim, pretty, with light brown hair pulled back from her face, was standing before a full-length mirror. She was wearing a long dress with very large puffed sleeves. The dress was of dark green silk with sparkling black beads across the bosom, and it was so tight in the bodice it was a wonder she could breathe. There were three hatboxes on the floor, and the woman was trying on one hat after another. The room was pleasant, with a bed, a wardrobe, a dresser, a washstand, a rag rug, and a fireplace, but it certainly wasn’t a palace. There were invitations open on the mantelpiece.
“I don’t guess she can see us,” Berni said.
“No, she has no idea anyone is watching her. Her name is Terel Grayson, she’s twenty years old, it is 1896, and she lives in Chandler, Colorado.”
“You mean I’m to make a Cinderella out of some antique girl? I don’t know anything about history. I need someone from my own time.”
“In the Kitchen all earth time is the same.”
Berni looked back at the screen and sighed. “All right. So where’s Prince Charming? And where’s the wicked stepsister?”
Pauline didn’t answer, so Berni watched in silence. Terel moved about the room quickly, looking at her invitations, then rummaging inside the big mahogany wardrobe. She sighed and looked disgusted as she pulled out one dress after another and flung them on the bed.
“That’s just like me,” Berni said, smiling. “I always had lots of invitations, and I was always worried about what I was going to wear. Not that I needed to worry, of course. I could have worn rags and been the belle of the ball.”
“Yes,” Pauline said softly, “Terel is like you.”
“I could do something with her,” Berni said. “A few cosmetics, soften her hair. She doesn’t need much. She isn’t as pretty as I was at her age, but she’ll do. She has a lot of potential.” She looked at Pauline. “So when do I start?”
“Ah,” Pauline said, “here comes Nellie.”
Berni looked back at the scene. The door opened, and in came another woman, older than Terel and about twice her size.
“Gross,” Berni said, looking at Nellie. She had a slim woman’s horror of obesity, and Berni’s fear of fat was amplified by the fact that she’d spent most of her life starving herself in order to remain slim. Deep down she feared that if she made the least slip she’d be Nellie’s size. “Two hundred pounds if she’s anounce.”
“One hundred and sixty-two, actually,” Pauline answered. “She’s Terel’s older sister, Nellie. She’s twenty-eight, unmarried, and she takes care of Terel and their father. Their mother died when Terel was four and Nellie was twelve. After his wife died Charles Grayson had Nellie quit school and take care of the house and Terel. Nellie has been Terel’s mother, so to speak, for most of Terel’s life.”
“I see,” Berni said. “A wicked sister and mother combined. Poor Terel. No wonder she needs a fairy godmother to help her.” She looked at Pauline. “Do I get a magic wand for this job?”
“If you would like. We can supply you with any magic you want, but you must supply the wisdom.”
“That’ll be easy. I’ll see that Terel gets whatever she deserves, and I won’t let that fat sister of hers keep her from getting the most out of life. Did you know that I have a fat older sister? She was so jealous of me, always trying to horn in on my life.” Berni could feel the remembered anger rising in her. “My sister hated everything about me. She was so jealous that she would have done anything to make me miserable. I fixed her, though.”
“What did you do?” Pauline asked softly.
“My first husband was her fiancé,” Berni answered, smiling. “He really was the most boring man, but he had a little money, so I made him pay attention to me.”
“You seduced him, didn’t you?”
“More or less. But he needed seducing. My sister was—is—such a bore, and…” She looked at Pauline sharply. “Don’t look at me like that. That man had more fun with me in the five years we were married than he would have had in a lifetime with my fat, dull, stupid sister. Besides, she turned out okay. She married and had a couple of fat kids. They were all quite happy in their middle-class way.”
“I’m sure everyone was very happy. You most of all.”
Berni wasn’t sure she liked the woman’s tone, but before she could reply Pauline said, “Shall we watch?”
Berni looked back at the scene before them, at the two women in the bedroom, and settled back to watch. She had to figure out how to help the slim, pretty Terel.
Chandler, Colorado
1896
Nellie moved about the room, picking up Terel’s clothes and hanging them back in the wardrobe. She also picked up the hats Terel had discarded and carefully put them back into the boxes.
“I cannot decide,” Terel said petulantly. “Why do we have to live in this forsaken town anyway? Why couldn’t we live in Denver or St. Louis or New York?”
“Father’s business is here,” Nellie said softly, straightening a feather on a hat. The hats weren’t theirs but were on loan from the milliner. She was sorry they could afford only one hat and the others would have to be returned, but she meant to keep the ones Terel didn’t want as clean as possible.
“Business!” Terel said, flopping down on the bed. “That’s all anyone in this town talks of. Business! Why can’t there be any society?”
Nellie straightened out another hat, stroking the dried hummingbird on the crown before she put it away in the box. “There was the very nice garden party at Mr. and Mrs. Mankin’s last week, and the Harvest Ball will be at Mr. and Mrs. Taggert’s.”
Terel snorted. “All that lovely money and a family as crude as that. Everyone knows the Taggerts are little better than coal miners.”
“They all seem very nice.”
“Oh, Nellie, you think everyone is nice.” Terel propped herself on one elbow and watched her sister putting away clothes. Just last week, for the thousandth time, she’d heard someone say what an extraordinarily pretty face Nellie had, that it was too bad she was so heavy. Terel had even seen Marc Fenton watching Nellie. Marc was handsome and rich, and if he looked at anyone it should be at Terel.
Terel got off the b
ed and went to her dresser, opened a drawer, and withdrew a box of chocolates. “I have a gift for you, Nellie,” she said.
Nellie turned and smiled at her beloved little sister. “You shouldn’t give me things. I have everything I need.”
Nellie’s whole face lit when she smiled. Terel had heard women say that Nellie could light up a room with the warmth of her smile. “You wouldn’t refuse my gift, would you?” Terel asked, lower lip extended in a pretty pout. She held out the box of chocolates, and Nellie’s face fell. “You don’t like it,” Terel said, on the verge of tears.
“Yes, of course I do.” Nellie took the chocolates. “It’s just that I’ve been trying to eat less and lose some of this weight.”
“You don’t need to lose weight,” Terel said. “You look beautiful to me.”
Nellie’s smile returned. “Thank you, dear. It’s nice to have one person love me just as I am.”
Terel put her slim arm around Nellie’s plump shoulders. “Don’t let anyone change you. You’re beautiful just as you are, and the fact that men don’t like you doesn’t mean anything at all. What do they know? Father and I love you, and even if we’re the only ones, that’s all right. We love you enough to make up for all the men in the world.”
Nellie suddenly felt very hungry. She didn’t know why Terel’s words of love should make her feel hungry, but quite often they did. It didn’t make sense to her, but it seemed that love and food were mixed up together. Terel told her she loved her, and Nellie felt hungry.
“I believe I will have maybe just one piece of that candy,” Nellie said, her hands trembling as she opened the box and jammed three pieces into her mouth at once.
Terel turned away and smiled. “What should I wear tonight?”
Nellie sneaked a fourth piece of candy. “What you have on is lovely,” she said, swallowing. She was gaining control of her hunger.
“This hideous old thing? Nellie, I’ve worn this half a dozen times already. Everyone has seen it.”
“Two times,” Nellie said indulgently, putting the lid on the last hatbox. “And our guest tonight has never met you, so he can’t have seen it.”
“Nellie, really! You just don’t understand how it is when you’re an attractive woman, when you’re young like I am and your whole life is ahead of you. Surely your youth wasn’t so long ago that you can’t remember.”
Nellie was feeling hungry again. “Terel, I am not as old as you seem to think.”
“Of course you’re not old, you’re just…well, Nellie, I don’t mean to be unkind, but you’re just not on the market any longer. I am, and I need to look my very best.”
Nellie ate four more pieces of candy.
At that moment there was a quick knock on the door, and the only servant in the Grayson household, Anna, appeared. Anna was young and strong, but sly, and she spent most of her limited intelligence trying to get out of work. Whenever Nellie complained that Anna didn’t help her enough Charles Grayson said he couldn’t afford a new maid or a second one and Nellie must make do.
“He’s here,” Anna said, her hair falling out of her cap.
“Who is?” Terel asked.
“The man that’s come to dinner. He’s here, and your father ain’t.”
“Isn’t,” Terel snapped. “What could the man be thinking of? He’s an hour early, I’m not even dressed yet, and—Nellie, is dinner ready?”
“Yes,” she answered. She’d spent the afternoon cooking, and now her dirty apron covered her dirty brown housedress. “Anna, show him into the parlor and tell him he’ll have to wait until we’re ready to receive him.”
“Nellie!” Terel said, horrified. “You can’t just let the man sit alone for an hour. Father would be furious. According to Father, the man saved his life, and now they’re trying to do some business together. You can’t just leave him.”
“Terel, look at me. I’m dirty. I can’t possibly receive him. But you look beautiful, as always. You go to him, and as soon as I—”
“Me?” Terel said. “Me? But I have to change and do my hair. No, Nellie, you’re the elder, you are our father’s hostess. You go talk to the man, let me change, and when I’m dressed you can change. That’s the only way it can be. Besides, what would I have to say to the old coot? You’re so much better with old people than I am. You can have him hold your yarn or something. Father says he’s a widower, so maybe you can talk to him about putting up jams or something. This is the way it has to be, Nellie, and I think you’ll agree with me if you look at it unselfishly.”
Once again, Nellie felt very, very hungry. She knew Terel was right. She was their father’s hostess, and she was very good with people of her father’s age, while Terel tended to yawn when in the company of older people. Nellie did not want to offend this man, as her father was trying to persuade him to manage his freight company.
“Tell him I will be down as soon as possible,” Nellie said quietly to Anna. Nellie turned to leave the room, but Terel caught her.
“You aren’t angry with me, are you?” Terel asked, hands on Nellie’s shoulders. “It doesn’t matter how you look, because everybody likes you. They’d like you even if you were the size of an elephant. Me, I always have to look my best. Please, Nellie, don’t be angry with me. I couldn’t bear it.”
“No,” Nellie said with a sigh, “I’m not angry with you. Take your time changing and make yourself pretty. I’ll take care of Father’s guest.”
Terel smiled and kissed her cheek. As Nellie started to leave the room she handed her the box of chocolates. “Don’t forget these.”
Nellie took the candy, and in the hall she stuffed six pieces into her mouth before removing her apron and starting down the stairs.
Inside her room Terel smiled and went to her wardrobe. Now, what to wear to dinner to meet her father’s guest? As she looked the idea of changing clothes bored her. Nellie was right. What she had on was perfectly all right for dinner with some old man, a man who had come not to see her but to see her father. What did it matter what she wore? He was probably too old to see anyway.
She lifted the spread from her bed, put her hand under the mattress, and pulled out the romance novel she’d hidden there. If she didn’t change, she’d have an hour or so to read before dinner.
Chapter Two
Nellie paused at the bottom of the stairs to take a quick look in the mirror on the wall. Her chestnut hair was straggling about her neck, there was a smudge of chocolate at the corner of her mouth, and there was a green stain—spinach, probably—on her collar. She didn’t like to look down at her old brown cotton dress, for she knew the hem was soiled and there was a permanent stain on the skirt. Terel kept telling her she needed new clothes, had even offered to help her choose them, but Nellie never seemed to have time for clothes. What with cooking, and cleaning what Anna missed, and helping Terel manage her extensive social life, Nellie didn’t seem to have much time for anything as frivolous as new clothes.
Now, on top of having to see to dinner yet, plus all the instructions she had to give Anna to try to get her to be of some help in serving tonight, their guest was an hour early. Why, she wondered.
She walked into the parlor, and he was standing with his back to her, looking out the window. She knew right away that he wasn’t an old man.
“Mr. Montgomery,” she said, walking toward him.
He turned toward her, and Nellie nearly gasped. He was a fine-looking man. Very fine-looking. Terel was going to be happily surprised when she saw him.
“I’m so sorry to have kept you waiting. I—”
“Please don’t apologize.” He had a voice to go with his face and form. He was quite tall, slim, muscular, with dark hair and eyes. “I have been insufferably rude at appearing this early, and I…” He looked down at his hands.
Nellie had always had insight about people, somehow knowing what they needed. He’s lonely, she thought, and she smiled. This very handsome man was just lonely. A handsome man come to call on her would have sent N
ellie into a dither, but a lonely man, handsome or not, young or not, was something she knew how to handle. She forgot all about her dirty dress.
“We are pleased to have you, whatever time you arrive,” Nellie said, and she smiled at him, that smile that transformed her already pretty face into one of beauty. She didn’t notice that Mr. Montgomery’s expression changed. He stopped looking at her in embarrassment for having arrived an hour early and started looking at her as a woman.
Had Nellie been aware of his change of expression she still would not have known what it meant. Handsome men looked at Terel, but not at her. She continued smiling. “We have a lovely garden,” she said, “and it’s much cooler there. Perhaps you’d like to see it.”
“Very much,” he said, returning her smile. There was a dimple in his right cheek.
She led him through the parlor, down the hall, and out the side door to the garden behind the house. The garden was one of Nellie’s great pleasures. Her father thought that using any space for flowers was frivolous, but in this one matter Nellie insisted on having her own way.
The late fall sun was setting on the garden, and it was beautiful. Amid the tall corn grew marigolds, and chrysanthemums lived beside the cabbages. Poppies grew along the back fence, and in front of them were herbs that Nellie used in her cooking.
“Beautiful,” he said, and Nellie smiled in pleasure. She rarely got to show off her garden. “Did you do this yourself?”
“A boy comes twice a week to help me weed, but I take care of it mostly myself.”
“It is as lovely as its owner,” he said, looking at her.
For a moment Nellie thought she was going to blush, but then she realized he was just being polite. “Would you like to sit down?” she asked, motioning to the little swing set up under the grape arbor. She hurried forward to remove the string beans she’d been breaking when Terel had called her to help with the hats.
“Yes, thank you,” he said, taking the bowls from her. “You wouldn’t mind if I helped, would you? It would make me feel at home.