[Primrose Bolger]

‘What a long day it’s been,’ thought Ginger as she dragged herself up the back kitchen stairs to the little rooms above. She untied the ribbon that held back her curls, letting them fall forward to frame her brow and cheeks. Her arms and shoulders ached from the unfamiliar task of carrying trays loaded with food and drink and her legs were a bit sore from the running up and down the steps from the common room to help with the cleaning of the dusty attic rooms for the expected guests.

Buttercup and Ruby were still in the kitchen washing and drying the last of the dishes; heads together as they reviewed the tidbits of gossip they’d picked up that day. Cook had cleared the kitchen’s big table and set out the bowls, pans, oil, yeast, and flour she’d be needing for her early morning baking. A clean dishtowel had been thrown over it all and served as a signal that no one was to move what she’d put there. From her vantage point on the stairs, she could just hear Cook saying goodnight to the two other girls and then the firm closing of her door off the kitchen as Miz Bunce settled in for the night.

‘Bright and early, my dear,’ she recalled Cook telling her, just before she’d hustled Ginger out of the kitchen and up to her rest. ‘The sugar and cinnamon buns will be cool enough then for you to ice them. Oh, and make sure you’ve brushed off your blue skirt and pin on a clean apron before you come down. We’ll want you looking nice tomorrow.’

Once in her room, she hurried out of her clothes, draping them neatly over the backs of two ladderback chairs. A light cotton shift replaced them for the night, and she managed a few swipes at her skirt with the clothes brush before declaring her arm just too tired to do any more. ‘It’ll have to do,’ she said, a light guilty flush creeping into her cheeks. Two or three swipes with a wet washcloth did for her nightly washing-up, And with a grateful sigh, she climbed into the covers of her little cot, pulling the quilt up snugly about her shoulders. A few restless twitches as her aching muscles relaxed under the weight of the blankets, then sleep claimed her.