Chapter Two
Julia followed Eric into the house. It was rather spacious considering its outward appearance. The front room consisted of a fireplace on the right with two chairs near it, a table on the left, and a stove in the far-left corner next to the sink. There was a window over the sink that overlooked the trail from the barn to the front porch. Another window next to the doorway in which Julia now stood let in the sunshine and helped to light the room. There was a hallway which opened up in the right hand corner of the front room. Eric started down the hall, then stopped at the first door on the right. “This will be your room,” he announced as he opened the door. “I hate to ask you to live here; I’m sure you’d probably like a place of your own, but town is just too far away. I’ll need you to be closer than that.”
Julia nodded and walked through the front room and looked past Eric into what was now her new room. It was of medium size, with one window, a bed, and a lamp stand. There was a closet on the right hand side of the bed and the lamp stand was on the other side. The bed itself was of medium size, with a large green comforter and two matching pillows. The walls were a cream color and the windowsill was green like the comforter.
“My goodness! For a bachelor, he sure keeps his house clean!” Julia mumbled under her breath.
“What was that?” asked Eric.
“Nothing,” Julia replied as she walked past him and put her things on the bed. “Nice place you have here,” she complemented, looking around and studying the room.
“Thank you. I try to keep my house nice, in case I have any prospective customers come in from the mountains. Then they have a place to stay here and they do not have to go all the way to town only to have to come back later anyway.” Eric began to walk away, then he stopped. “Lunch will be ready in a few minutes. We can eat while we discuss your wages, what you will be doing, and what I will require from you. After lunch, we can go and introduce you to the horses, show you around and let you get a feel for what I do. Any questions?” He paused as Julia thought for a moment, then she shook her head. Eric was directly to the point, something that Julia liked, but at the same time, it caught her off guard a bit at first. “All right then. I will let you get settled in.” With that, Eric shut the door.
Julia collapsed on the bed. She wondered again if she was doing the right thing. She knew that she would love the job; she was definitely not worried about that. She also did not worry about the pay. Julia had lived most of her life with very little money and was used to getting by with almost nothing. The thing Julia worried about was living on the ranch with Eric. His room, it seemed, was right next door and she did not even know him. She would try later to persuade him to let her live in a tavern in town, but somehow she knew that he would say “no.” This type of work had people out from the crack of dawn to sundown. Going to and from the town every day would be hard, even if she had a horse to ride, which she did not.
Julia sighed a big sigh. Maybe talking to Eric was a bad idea. Julia got up and went to the door, searching the doorknob. Yes! It did lock! No doubt Eric had a master key, but she knew that in the event that he did try anything, she would hear him in time to be prepared. From what she could tell, her new employer did not seem like the type of person who would take advantage of someone, but Julia had learned the hard way that appearances can be deceiving and that you don’t take chances.
Julia then walked to the window. There were no locks on it, only one metal bar in between the wall and the edge of the window. It could not be opened from the outside. Julia sighed,
knowing that she would be relatively safe here.
The clanking of silverware and plates came from outside Julia’s room. She walked back over to the bed and dumped the contents of her bag out onto it. There were the clothes from the day before, another set of worn out clothes, some old jewelry, and an old metal box tumbled out. Julia looked at the clothes and huffed, knowing that she would have to go into town to get more as soon as possible. What she was wearing now would not last long. The clothes from yesterday had to be thrown away, and the last set was close to being out of use.
Just then, the clatter of a plate being dropped came from the kitchen. Julia heard Eric curse, then call to her that lunch was served. She giggled slightly to herself. As clean as Eric was and as neat as his house appeared to be, Julia had a feeling that he was more of a bachelor than she could imagine. He probably could not cook very well. Julia shuddered and wondered what they would be having for lunch. Eric called again and she left her room to discuss her new job.
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“It’s all really very simple.” Eric said around a bite of ham sandwich. “You will help me breed my horses, train my horses, and sell my horses. Whatever I make off of the sale of them will be split into three parts. Most of the money will go into maintenance of the ranch. This will include the horses of course, then the house, and the equipment. The rest will be split into your salary and my salary. We will split the money thirty-seventy. I will provide your room and food. You provide everything else. Your clothes, your entertainment, anything else that you may need or want.”
Julia listened intently as she chewed her sandwich and drank her water. As Eric went on to discuss what her work times would be, she reached to the fruit bowl in the middle of the table and finally took an apple. “What days will I have off?” asked Julia as she took a large bite of the juicy red apple. She did not expect to have too many, but having time to herself was something she valued greatly. The occasional day to sleep in and do as she pleased, maybe once every couple of weeks or so, would suffice.
“You will have Sundays off. That is all. We can not afford to let these animals go neglected for more than one day or so. The harder and the more you work, the more horses I can sell, and the more you will earn, obviously.” He paused as Julia took all this in. “I know that this must sound like hard work,” he continued. “And if you feel like you are in over your head, then you are free to leave. But it is really not hard, you just have to fall in to the pattern.”
“Oh trust me,” Julia said, raising her eyebrows and swallowing another bite of apple. “This is not hard work. I know what hard work is and this is NOT it. I can handle this.”
Eric eyed her as he finished his sandwich, trying to decide if she was putting on a show, or if she really meant what she said. He decided from her hard eyes and personality that it was the latter of the two. “One other thing, the barn will be kept locked at night and when we are gone. I don’t want my
horses to be stolen. Any questions?” he asked as he brushed the crumbs off his hands.
Julia thought for a minute, then shook her head. “No.” she said. “I don’t believe so.” She too dusted the crumbs off her hands over her plate.
“Good. You can start tomorrow. I will let you use this afternoon to get fully set in. See you bright and early tomorrow morning. We start as soon as there is enough light.” He walked out the door. Julia cleared the plates and her apple core, noting that it was just like a bachelor to leave them sitting. Then she gathered her money and went to town.
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Julia decided to take the long way into town. She walked through the meadows, which were bright and full of brilliant patches of flowers, next to the river, and through the small patches of bushes. Getting a feeling for where things were was not at all hard. The town could be seen from anywhere, and there were basically no trees or large hills to hide anything. This valley was very open and any threat would be seen coming half an hour before it could become a problem.
Julia followed the river until she came to the bridge, then took the road the rest of the way into town. She entered the village well into the afternoon, and began her search for a place that she could get some clothes ordered or made.
Julia walked the neat streets. People were everywhere, milling about, talking in groups, carrying baskets, and yelling at children. Many were out taking care of their yards, weeding the gardens, and trimming the bushes.
Julia jumped back as a pair of boys about 10 years old chased one another around her legs, laughing. Julia laughed to herself. These people were happy and it was hard to be gloomy yourself when you were among them.
Julia finally found a clothing shop, much do her delight. It was small like the rest of the buildings, and was painted white. It had a large, light blue sign in the front window with black letters, which read,
MARTHA’S CLOTHES
I MAKE, CUSTOMIZE, AND FIT
ALL YOUR CLOTHING NEEDS.
This looks like a good place, Julia thought as she entered the building. The inside was brightly lit from many large windows. Clothes of all kinds were wrapped or strewn about the place. Dresses, pants, shirts, socks, any kind of clothing Julia could imagine laid around the room. Some were hung up, some were lying on the ground, and some were still on manikins, not fully finished yet.
A short plump lady in about her mid-40’s came strolling through a door in the back, humming an off-key tune. She was very cheery, with plump rosy cheeks and graying hair. She spied Julia instantly. “Welcome to Martha’s Clothes. My name is Martha. Oh of course my name is Martha, why do you think the store is named Martha’s Clothes, you silly.” She said this last bit to herself as if introducing herself had been the dumbest thing that anyone had ever done. Her voice had a medium tone, but it was a pleasant one. “What can I do for you honey? Do you need new clothes, or do you need to alter clothes? New clothes will take about a week to make; altering will take ‘till next Tuesday.” Martha almost talked too fast for Julia to understand.
“I just need some working clothes. I’m working for Mr. Norman now and all my clothes are out of shape.”
“Well. I can fix you up in a jiffy. Let’s get your measurements, then we’ll see about fabrics.” Martha hurried around the room looking for her measuring tape and a notepad. She moved clothes around and looked under things, looking everywhere for what she needed. She finally located her writing pad under a stack of papers. She then continued to look for her pencil and tape measure, all the while talking to herself and wondering where she could have put them down. Julia giggled and was about to tell Martha that the tape measure was around her neck and the pencil was in her ear. She almost wondered if Martha would realize her glasses were on her face, should she go looking for them. Just before she could say anything, Martha whisked out of the room and scurried back into the back room where she came from.
Julia stood by herself for a moment wondering how long it would take Martha to locate the missing items. Suddenly, Martha returned, the tape and the pencil in hand.
“Silly me!” she exclaimed. “They were both on me the entire time. I should have known that, I always put them there. I do that so I won’t lose them!” Martha laughed continued to talk to Julia as she gathered Julia’s measurements. “So sweetie, whatever is your name? I am just so forgetful. Here comes a customer and it takes me ten minutes to even ask your name. Now what kind of sales-woman does that make me? Speak up sweetie. Don’t be shy!”
“My name is Julia.” She wondered if this woman ever stopped to take a breath. No sooner than she had given her name, than Martha began to talk once again.
“Julia! What a beautiful name! I always wanted a little
girl and if I had had one, why I would have named her just that. The perfect name for a young lady. My, my. I should have known
that you were a Julia. You look a bit like a Julia.”
Martha continued to take Julia’s measurements and jot them down. When she was done, she went over and began to pull bolts of cloth down from the wall over the back counter. She laid them out in front of Julia. They were mostly different shades of brown and green.
“Now these are the strongest of all the materials I got, and if your working for Mr. Norman you WILL need them. He is just the hardest worker I ever saw in my life. Why, it seems that he is in here every week just to get more clothes because he tore his others!” she said. “They all have the prices marked so just choose what you like.”
Julia ran her fingers over the bolts, immediately selecting a bolt of green material for its durability, yet soft feel. She then selected two others, a brown and a tan. Both would make good, sturdy work clothes, and the green would make a nice set
of clothes for occasions that were slightly more formal than work. She then made plans for the style, picking out each one and the trimmings to go with them. Each instruction was neatly written down by Martha, followed by this comment or that comment, or a suggestion on the next little perticular. After about twenty minutes and thirty comments, all the details were worked out.
“I will have these done for you about a week from now. Maybe a little more, maybe a little less.” Julia nodded and said nothing, already having figured out that getting in more than a “yes” or “no” in edgewise was next to impossible.
“It was so nice to do business with you Julia dear. I hope you will come back soon! Maybe we can have a nice chat sometime!” She walked out of the store with a slight nod of her head.
Or I could come and listen to you ramble! Julia thought to herself.
Martha watched as Julia walked down the street. “Such a nice girl!” she said to herself. “She is ever so quiet though!”