The Four 2

                                                                        First Day

                                                                 2

Louise was ready to leave before any of the other girls were up and left as quickly as she could. After preparing breakfast and milking the cow, Louise, in her work clothes, left for town.

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            “Yes, sir” Louise answered to the tall, aged man that was the owner of the store

            “Are you a hard worker, Louise Hanson?”  he asked.

            “ I always try to be, sir,” she said humbly.

            “Are you or are you not?” growled the man.

            “Yes, sir”

            “Good, because, we don’t need any slackers around here. Alright, your hired, here is your list of things that are needed to be done, and I want you to run any errands that Josh, over there, tells you to do,” Josh glanced over checking why his name had been mentioned and slowly went back to work, ”Got it?”

            “Yes, sir,” Louise said, “ I understand.”

            “Alright then start working, and every couple of days I’ll come and check how you are doing.” With that, the old man left the shop.

            “Pretty tough, isn’t he?” asked Josh, the young clergyman,

            “He’s just doing his job,” Louise said politely. Josh stopped to put his hands on top of his broom, laid his head on them, and looked at her curiously.

            “Did you know how surprised I was when you came and asked to work here? Do you know why we don’t have any one already working here, I mean it’s a good job for a lady who’s husband has a low paying job to get some extra money. And I’ll tell you there’re plenty of them out there. It’s because of his temper.  He was a lot nicer to you this morning because you’re new and he didn’t want to scare you off. We have had signs out for weeks and weeks, months even. No one came. All because they knew about his anger, but he refuses to be kind no matter what.” Louise looked at him after starring down at the floor in thought as Josh had spoken.

            “Then why are you here?” she said after some thought.

            “I’m his son,” he stated simply.

            “Oh,” Louise looked at her feet, “Well I better get to work. I don’t wan to be known as a slacker!” and off she was dusting and cleaning. Soon Louise found her way to the cloth and material and fancied the beautiful fabric, Quickly catching herself, she continued to dust.

            It was about three in the afternoon when Josh called he over to the check-out counter.

            “ Louise-“ He began but she interrupted him.

            “ Miss Hanson, please,” she requested, curtsied politely, then waited for him to continue.

            “Miss Hanson,” he corrected himself slowly, “I would like you to watch the check out for me while I run a short errand. I’ll be back soon so don’t worry about not knowing what to do.”

            “What am I supposed to say?”

            “Say ‘Hello, how may I help you’ and I think you can take it from there. I’ll be back before you can say a word!” and then he left the shop, Banging the door. Louise stood at the counter and examined her list of things to do she had already done six of them four to go. Sighing, Louise began to clear the small checking area. There were disheveled piles of receipts, paper and different odds and ends. Louise jerked from her work by the sound of clopping heels.

            “May I help you wi-“ before Louise could finish the plump and gaudily dressed woman spoke in rudely

            “Hurry up. I want two pounds of sugar. Make it quick” the lady wasn’t necessarily dressed richly. She looked like a moderately poor person trying to look rich which made it all the more disgusting. Thankfully the young, inexperienced cashier knew where the sugar was kept and ran to get some. Louise hurried to the old woman and handed her the pounds of sweetness and had it snatch from her with greedy arms. The woman stomped out of the shop.  Few! That was quite the customer.  Louise thought. Just then Josh came in the store with two large burlap sacks on his shoulders.

            “I see you got a customer. One of the mean ones,” he commented. Louise nodded her head. They worked on silently for the rest of the day a costumer would come in every now and then, buy a few things, and then walk out. Finally it was time for the shop to close.

            “Here, Lo-Miss Hanson, is your pay for the day. I’ll see you tomorrow.” Josh said as he handed her two dollars. Louise took them gratefully.

            “Thank you for getting me this job. I am more than thankful.” She acknowledged.

            “You are more than welcome.” He replied. Louise left the General Store and started her trek homeward.  When she arrived home all three girls came rushing forward, Alison called out,

             “Guess what! Guess what, Sister!”

Louise was dumb founded

            “Oh, my! What is it? What is going on?” all four sisters were talking at once Louise didn’t understand a word. “Wait a moment. Calm down, Alison tell me what is going on.”

             “ A new neighbor just moved in next door! That darling big house down the road a few miles, he moved into that one! And there are maids everywhere! Oh but I guess we should go inside and tell you the story and then you can tell us what happened at work,” Alison added. So all the girls walked to the house and sat around their “table” to talk. The story was told.