Rose woke to the sound of the doors sliding back on Bea and Marg’s room. The room was dark. No lamp or candles were lit and the sun had not yet risen. Bea and Marg worked in the kitchens so they had to rise before everyone else in order to have food prepared for everyone to break their night time fast.
Rose tossed back her quilt and stood.
“There be no call for you to rise,” said Bea from the dark barn hallway.
“The rain be pouring from the sky,” said Marg. “You can not work in the garden in the rain or in the dark.”
“I can help in the kitchens until sun up,” said Rose.
“Cook will not allow it,” said Bea. “Go back to thy bed while yea can. Otherwise, yea will only be in the way.”
Marg and Bea left Rose in their sleeping quarters. Rose sat back on her pallet wondering what she could do. She was not sleepy. She would go in search of a candle or lamp to light the room. Perhaps there was something she could do in the room. Rose pulled her dress over her head and smooth down her hair after combing it briefly with her fingers.
She walked down the barn’s hallway, touching her fingers along the wall to help her in the dark. She moved slowly, peeking into stalls as she passed them but she could not see anything. She made it to the building’s opening. The sky in the East was tinged with a hint of light but the castle’s yard was still very dark.
Rose used her memory of the day before to head in the general direction of the kitchens. She managed to find the door when one of the sculleries came out leaving the kitchen door ajar. Rose entered the kitchen and found organized chaos. All of the workers were bent to their tasks, performing without pause. Rose went over to the pantry, thinking this the most likely place to find candles. A young girl was in the room.
“Excuse me,” said Rose.
The girl turned to face Rose. The girl bore a close resemblance to Huard. She seemed to be the same age, too.
“Are you Huard’s sister, by any chance?” asked Rose.
“Yes, ma’am,” said the girl.
“What’s your name?”
“Hanna.”
“Well, Hanna, Huard has helped me several times. Perhaps you can, too.”
The girl stood still, watching Rose.
“Is there a candle in there that I could have?” asked Rose.
“No, ma’am.”
“There are no candles?” asked Rose, her voice rising. Rose moved a little further into the storage room.
“There are candles,” said Hanna.
“Can I have one?”
“No.”
“Why ever not?” asked Rose.
“Because yea do not need one.”
Rose turned to see Cook standing behind her.
“I need a candle to see in the dark of my room,” said Rose.
“Your job be in the garden,” said Cook. “Not in your room. So no candles. Now off with you. You be in the middle of our making the morning meal. If we are late with the victuals, his lordship will be unhappy.”
2 comments:
When the cook speaks, I recognize her speech right away for the way she sounds like she is in charge. When I think of dialog, I first think of Yoda of Star Wars because his sentence structure is so unique. Each character has a personality which is reflected by their choice of words, length of sentences, common or unfamiliar words, complete sentences or broken sentences or just clauses. I'm thinking of going to Amazon and see if I can find a book for Kindel on writing dialog. I got stumped and confused when I was writing for Lammy and couldn't decide if she should say "I don't know what those words mean," or "I don't know what them words mean."
Now you have me wondering why Rose cannot have a candle. Hmmm.
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