Free Wandering Girl by Glenyse Ward Page B

for answering back to the nuns.
    While I was peeling the fruit and cutting it up Bill came in and out with armloads of wood. I dropped what I was doing and rushed to his aid, to see if he wanted any help as I had a guilty feeling seeing him coming and going. He kindly told me to get my fruit job done as he couldn’t wait to get to the piano. And I thought that I was the eager one..!
    By the time Bill came in to let me know that he’d finished chopping the wood and stacking the boxes I had all the fruit peeled and cut up and all the jars filled with sugar water. I left them standing on the kitchen cupboard. Bill explained to me that most of the wood was cut and what he’d done was cleared all the stacked wood from the top so that at least you could see the rafters, and this would make it easier to get at.
    He said, “That should be enough to keep the boss happy for the time being, it will take at least a month to get through the lot.” He went on to explain that he would come again to give me a hand at the chopping. Then he said, “How’s the kettle going?” I gave out a bit of a shy giggle. “Oh,” I said, as I rushed to the sink, “I’ll put it on.”
    â€œShouldn’t be long before it boils,” I sat facing Bill just knocking my knuckles on the table. He said, “Lassie, you look so much happier, you’re blooming just like the flowers you were looking at when I first came across you and startled you out of your wits.”
    I asked what blooming meant, as I didn’t understand. He said, ‘You look pretty and full of life.” All of a sudden, I got real shame! I buried my head in my hands as Bill got up to switch the kettle off and turn the cups over on the saucers so he could pour our tea into them when it was ready to drink.
    He said: “What’s up?” I got up giggling in a bashful way. As I went to the pantry to get the sugar, I shouted back at him, “Choo, I am winyam , big shame!”
    Bill asked what I meant by that? I told him, “That’s our way of speaking in the mission if we never had the looks, or had nothing going for us, we were winyam , or open.”
    Bill didn’t see it my way at all! He sounded a bit angry when he said, “Lassie, never put yourself down.”
    I giggled, and said, “Na, oh I won’t!”
    I slumped down Into my chair and gulped a mouthful of tea, feeling more shame as half my tea went down the front of my dress.
    Bill said, “My gosh, you are a nervous one, aren’t you?” I told him, I couldn’t help it.
    He said for me not to worry about what people said. I was to hold my head up and not feel shame about myself. I was good as anybody else, if not better.
    I said, “Choo, that’s shame!”
    As Bill laughed at my last exclamation, I guess I must have sounded quite humorous to him.
    Now that we both had finished drinking our tea we cleaned up our mess and went into the visitors’ room. I lifted off the pure white linen cloth she had draped over the antique chairs and drew them up to the piano. Bill sat there, rubbing his two old bony hands together as his weary eyes scanned every comer. “My, lassie, isn’t this a grand room?”
    â€œYes Bill,” I sighed, wishing my bedroom was as beautiful as this; but I knew this could never be.
    As I ran my fingers over the piano keys, I felt real glad that I had some company. It was so much more fun! Before when I used to come in here on my own, when she went into town, I had never felt as glad as this.
    It was more human having someone to answer you back, than you answering only yourself back. I found I was getting into that habit since I’d been working for this boss.
    Bill startled me out of my thoughts, when he began clearing his throat. He asked if I knew a song called, “Little Brown Jug?” He started to hum the tune to see if I could recognize it.
    â€œOh, of course I know