Free Wandering Girl by Glenyse Ward

her lovely fluffy white carpet.
    I never minded cleaning down her dressing table, as I used to love picking up her figure ornaments and her bird shaped ones, and just gazing at them. They looked so real with the reds, greens and blues splashed over them.
    And smelling all the different shaped bottles of perfume! Some were so strong I just about passed out with the whiff of them.
    I put the Bon Ami down on the floor of her shower recess. This was one morning that I wasn’t going to scrub those tiles. I would get myself cleaned up instead. I trotted off to her linen cupboard and picked out her best fluffy pink towels, with the aroma of lavender through them, went back to her room and laid the towels out on her big brass bed, waiting for me there.
    Then I slipped my clothes off, selected one of her fine soaps and stepped into the recess. It was my best shower since being at the farm, oh it was a far cry from the dog house dribble I usually stood under.
    That soap smelt really sweet as I rubbed it all over me, then opened up her shampoo and emptied half the bottle on my head. There were soap suds everywhere, I got so carried away.
    After my shower I pranced out on her fluffy white carpet, not noticing the wet footprints I was making. At the dressing table I just about tipped over one of her bottles and splashed perfume all over me. Then I decided to sprinkle on some powder!
    I finished getting dressed and looked around - I’d given myself a double cleaning job. There were splashes and powder all over the place. The beautiful bedroom looked like a whirlwind hit it. I didn’t mind. I was smelling so nice, it made me feel so good. And when she came home I would be smelling like vinegar again, for I had plenty of work to do.
    Alone for the day, I could ask my old friend to come up for lunch. It was too late for morning tea. Reaching the orchard, I cupped my hands over my mouth and sang out his name a couple of times. I heard him answering back, “Down here, lassie,” so I wandered down the land nearest to the river, and spotted him picking pears and oranges.
    â€œHi,” I said to him as if I had known him for years. He stood up and asked me how I was feeling. I told him I was on my own, as everybody had gone to town. I told him that she wanted more fruit to be picked and bottled.
    He offered to help me straight away. I thanked him and asked eagerly if he would like to come up to the house and have dinner? He said he could. I told him that I’d go and get things ready. He said he’d be there at twelve o’clock and would bring the buckets of fruit up with him on the old tractor and trailer.

NEVER PUT YOURSELF DOWN
    I felt so happy within myself that I skipped all the way back to the house. Even the mess those boys had left behind didn’t dampen my spirits as I went about cleaning the kitchen and getting this particular dinner ready.
    I set the table with her finest crockery, which she only used for very important guests - I felt that her workers were just as important and after all, it was a special occasion, old Bill was a friend of mine. I was buoyant now that I had someone I could talk to and laugh with about things. It was a far cry from walking around gloomy all day.
    I laid the cold meats and salad on the table as I heard the tractor stop outside. Then I went to help Bill bring in the fruit. We put it on the sink, and I directed Bill out to the old wash house to wash his hands as I went back into the kitchen to make the tea.
    Bill came in and I told him to go through to the dining room. He sat down and sang out to me, “Hey lassie, have you got the King and Queen coming for dinner?” He gave out one of his boisterous chuckles which echoed all through the house. I took the pot of tea in to find Bill already helping himself, so I took my place at the table.
    I copied her fashion, and spread the serviette across my lap. I didn’t want my scraps to fall on my good clothes. I