I hesitated and glared back at him. Mama would have said someone stepped on his hand when he was a baby and formed his personality in an instant.
I trailed after Mary Margaret, suddenly feeling the jet lag
that everyone at home had warned me about. I felt more like I was floating along, walking in my sleep. Why didn't they at least give me a chance to adjust? I wondered. If I complained, would I sound ungrateful?
I was beginning to wonder if I cared.
.
"So yer the Yank come ta study ta be an actress, are ya?" Mrs. Chester said after Mary Margaret brought me into the kitchen. She had her hands on her hips.
She was a stout little lady with rolling-pin arms and heavy hips and an ample bosom. Her hair was blue gray, pinned in a tight bun. Her cheeks were rosy on the crests, but her complexion was the shade of faded old paper with some age spots under her temples and a small mole on the right side of her neck.
She wiped her hands on her apron and looked at me. "Well, yer a pretty bird. I'll say that, but can ya hold up ya end?"
"Hold up my what?"
"Do your part?"
"Oh yes," I said.
She nodded, looking at me with a tightness around the corners of her mouth. "We start preparin' breakfast at six-thirty. Mr. Endfield likes a cup of tea taken up ta 'im by seven. Who's ta do that now?" she asked looking from Mary Margaret to me.
"I do that," Mary Margaret said quickly, almost as if she was afraid I would volunteer and take the pleasure away from her.
Mary Margaret wasn't unintelligent. I couldn't help but wonder why she wouldn't want to do something more with her life. Was it just shyness? She acted like she was from some lower caste of people who were forbidden to address or confront their betters. She made me feel even more class conscious than I did back home with some of those rich girls at Dogwood.
"Good. I just don't want the two of ya confusin' yer duties and buggerin' up so that I gets the gov on me arse, hear?" she asked firmly. Mary Margaret nodded, her eyes wide.
"Who's the gov?" I asked.
"Who's the gov?" Mrs. Chester looked at Mary Margaret. "It's Mr. Boggs, it is. 'E's in charge. [ thought ya was supposed ta be a smart one," she said. "Ya open yer mouth just once to 'im and you'll know who's the gov round 'ere, eh Mary Margaret?"
"Yes, mum."
"Yes, mum," Mrs. Chester mimicked. She turned to me again. "Ya don't want ta cross Mr. Boggs when 'e's got a cob on. Now as ta what you'll do 'ere," she said. "First, I don't want none of me dishes broke or me glasses or cups, 'ear? Ya carry them around with care and watch 'specially during the washin' up. I don't need no clod e mess up me kitchen. We keep everything shipshape. See 'ow me cooker shines," she said nodding at the stove. "Mr. Endfield, 'e's a regular Captain Bligh when it comes to 'ow this 'ouse is run." She thought a moment and then added, "Ya better know right from the start, should 'e ask ya for a cup of tea, 'e's a mif, see?"
"Mif?"
"Milk in first, girl. I thought ya was supposed ta be smart," she said with more disdain this time.
"I just got here a few hours ago, Mrs. Chester. I don't think it's fair to expect me to have learned all of your funny expressions by now?'
"Funny expressions!" She looked at Mary Margaret, who, of course, looked down. "Ain't she the sassy one?"
"Mrs. Endfied wanted you to give Rain a cup of tea and a tea biscuit," Mary Margaret practically whispered to Mrs. Chester.
"She did now?"
"I don't need it.I'll wait for dinner," I said sharply.
"Will ya? That's a relief. All right, Mary Margaret. Show 'er 'ow ta set the table. For yer information, we eat after we serve them their evenin' meal, so you'll be waitin' a while," she told me. She stared at me for a moment.
"What?" I asked.
"You and ya family on the dole in America, are ya?"
"The dole?" I looked at Mary Margaret.