June 09, 2020
Review, Edit and Update
The effects of Covid19 play a fairly large role in What’s Up? This is a conversation between Cook and Brigitte, Emelina's personal maid and only house cleaner for the upstairs of Beaufort Estate. Their topics were about hair, social distancing and is Miss Emelina attending the upcoming staff meeting a good idea.
Edits have been minimal - the addition of detail, a few typos and some improvement to sentence structure.
What's Up?
“Madam ~ Mrs. Beaufort ~ Miss Emelina ~ whatever she wants to be called, she’s still the boss and the lady that pays me. Past times, if we hadn’t kowtowed to her, our jobs would be on thin ice. She would at least make our lives difficult. She wants to come to the staff meeting all of a sudden! I’ve never even seen her put a toe on the stairs to the kitchen let alone come to a staff meeting. She’d better not want to come into my kitchen and tell me how to stir the soup!”
Cook was nervous and not a little bit prickly. She was not about to apologize for it. She had been away from her kitchen for over two weeks and these two grown women ~ really, strangers to her ~ had been living in her kitchen and eating whatever they wanted. The kitchen was not as bad as Martha had led her to believe. But then, Martha was fussy about the tiniest details. Oh, but it did feel good to be back in her kitchen. The herbs on the windowsill were growing well. A little bit shaggy, like her hair was getting to be, so a little trimming was in order. Not her hair ~ just the herbs. The refrigerator was looking quite empty. The freezer was still fairly full, but it was definitely in need of more soup stock. She’d saved a ham bone and with some carrots, onions, potatoes and mushrooms. That gap would be filled up pretty quickly. The stove top just needed a wipe down, but oven was another issue. Cook put the oven on self clean while she checked the pantry. Mrs. Beaufort must have gotten into my stash of tomato soup.
From the deep pocket in her glistening white apron, Cook pulled out a well used little notebook and a stub of a pencil. With a fresh cup of tea, she sat down at the kitchen table. Bent over her work, she began a grocery list, not noticing the distant whine of a vehicle approaching the mansion. When the noise became louder, then come to a gravelled stop at the back door. She hesitated and turned towards the back door “Must be Brigitte. That motorcycle hasn’t gotten any quieter.”
“Cook. Are you here? I saw your little VW out there. I’m here to get some cleaning started.” Cook could hear Brigitte hang up her helmet and jacket. She was a real orderly person. Cook had liked her from the first moment she laid eyes on her.
“What do you think about Mrs. B coming to the staff meeting? Good to see you Cook. Hope your kitchen is not too out of shape.” Brigitte normally would have given her a hug. With great difficulty she did maintain her distance. Being out at the cabin and only seeing birds, deer and otter she didn’t quite no how to act in this distancing world. The only contact she’d had with humanity had been at the grocery store and at the gas pump. In those situations, all the plexiglass protectors and people wearing masks was a bit disconcerting.
“I’m not sure I know what to think, Brigitte. I’ll admit it makes me a bit nervous, but Martha said Mrs. Beaufort seemed right nice. Martha’s usually right about these things, but I’ll believe it when I see it. Don’t you think it’s strange that she’s had this turn around?”
When Brigitte came into the kitchen, she immediately made herself a cup of coffee, then sat at the table with Cook. “Don’t know whether it’s strange or normal. When I was out at the cabin with only the woods and wildlife for company, I had a lot of time to think about what I want to do with my life. And I suppose Mrs. B. has had that experience too. The difference is that she’s had her sister here. They hadn’t seen each other for a long time, right? Helping each other through whatever’s happening in the world must have been interesting. Maybe this is just what Mrs. B. needed. A real jolt to knock her out of feeling sorry for herself all the time. And we’ve all been there to pick up the pieces when she really lost it. It does sound to me as though she may have picked up a lot of those pieces.”
Brigitte drained the last of her coffee, rinsed out the cup and set in on the draining board. “I’m so glad we’ll be getting back to work! My time out at the cabin was great.....Don’t tell anyone, but it's almost been like a little vacation. I don't know if I could have handled any more time out there though. Still and all, I am very grateful to still have my job. From what I’ve learned, there are too many people out there who have lost their jobs. You don’t suppose Mrs. B. is going let go of some of us and that’s why she’s taking an interest in the staff meeting?”
“Apparently not. According to Martha she has some kind of plan to do a community outreach sort of thing. But she wants to know if we have any ideas. I suspect she wants to know if we’ll help out. It just feels, well uncomfortable, that she’ll be at our staff meeting. We talk about a lot more than just what Digby has on the agenda. Speaking of Digby, Martha wanted me to remind you that both her room and Digby’s room need thorough cleaning. While we were away, Desperanza ~ of course, you know she’s Mrs. Beaufort’s sister ~ slept in Martha’s room, Mrs. Beaufort slept in Digby’s room. The two of them had isolated themselves here in the kitchen. By the way, if you find any bits of green tape on the floor when you wash it, that’s another story. Just pick it off and throw it away. “
”I’ll take a quick run through of my supplies, upstairs and downstairs. If I need anything, I'll get what I need first. It will probably take me the rest of today and most of tomorrow to get the house ready to be lived in again. Did Martha tell you that Mrs. B. had changed her room? She’s apparently in the den now?”
“Yes, that’s right, she's in the den. You’ll be up there and you’ll get to see it first hand.” Cook wanted to say something about her suspicions regarding Martha and Digby, but kept still. She couldn’t be sure there was anything going on, so thought it best that she keep her funny ideas to herself. “Well my dear Brigitte, it’s been so very good to see you and talk with you. I’ve got my cleaning done and have a big grocery list made. I’m off now and am calling Martha tonight about what we need. But I’m just not sure whether Mrs. Beaufort at the staff meeting is a good thing or just plain frightening. Guess we’ll have to wait and see.”
“There can be no security where there is fear.”
~ Felix Frankfurter
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