by E. Walsh
“Yes, yes. I know that situations always have the potential for being far worse, but it still doesn’t take away the fact that my fingers are raw and my hands are going limp from all of the pulling and tying.” Emily wasn’t much of a complainer, but for months now she had been hoping that by some twist of fate her life could be altered. She wasn’t necessarily unhappy, but she was still convinced that there was more out there in the world than she had yet seen.
“Maybe Finn will promote you, and then you can help him with the dyeing process, instead. Jessie and Carmine seem to like that phase of the industry work.” Leila shrugged and then decided that there really wasn’t much that she could do to appease her cousin’s woes. As far as she was concerned, it was decent work with decent pay, and she didn’t think it warranted too much to complain about.
“Maybe Finn will promote you, instead.” Emily raised her eyebrows and then gave her cousin a playful smile. “I see the way he looks at you every time he walks through here with a loom to disassemble. You know he is on the hunt for a good, pleasant wife.” Emily wondered why Finn wasn’t married, already. He was a fairly attractive man and he had a lovely home up in the Lancaster valley. Emily knew that he had a real soft spot for Leila, but she also knew that Leila would have no interest in him because of his age.
“I think that the two of us would benefit from some time away from this place, even though I really don’t mind the work.” Leila smiled and pulled a long strand of yarn from the pile. She threaded it around the spool and then lifted it up above her head. Emily watched as Leila spun it around the spool. Just as Leila was about to comment on how much she liked the color of the yarn, the door swung open, and Finn stepped inside.
“Good afternoon, Emily and Leila. I’m happy to see that you are both hard at work. You might be glad to find out that I am letting you both out early this afternoon. I just received a report from further up in the hills that snow is coming in our direction.” Finn stood with his hands on his hips. He looked concerned, yet not fearful. It was somewhat unusual for Lancaster to be hit with winter storms this time of year, but the two cousins were thrilled, nonetheless.
“Well I suppose we best get cleaned up in here, then.” Leila was the first to get up from her chair. She scooped a large pile of yellow yarn into a pile, and then stacked her cotton squares into a neat pile on the floor. Emily began picking up her scissors, spools, and yarn bags. Finn watched on with satisfaction, pleased that the girls were both efficient and amiable. He wished that all of his employees had the same solid work ethic and positive attitude.
“Thank you, Mr. Dillmore. We’ll be on our way shortly.” Emily smiled and then got up from the table. She was relieved to have the rest of the afternoon free, and she was already thinking of creative ways to spend the time. Leila wiped down her area with a dry cloth and then pushed in her chair, as well. Finn watched on a few more minutes, and then walked away to break the news to the rest of his crew.
“Shall we stop at Griffin’s Café on the way home? I bet they still have some of those cinnamon rolls from breakfast.” Leila’s eyes got wide as saucers. Emily chuckled, always amused by Leila’s love for sweets.
“Sure. Let’s get some coffee and some cinnamon rolls.” Emily was thrilled with the prospect of doing something that didn’t involve a schedule. She could go to Griffin’s Café and sit by the window, then wait for the ominous snow to begin falling. She smiled. It would be time put to good use, regardless of what she chose to do.
By the time the two had put on their coats and walked to the front door, the sky had turned from blue to gray, and a subtle chill filled the air. They walked away from Lancaster Textile Company, and toward the center of town. Emily smiled and gave Leila a playful tug on the arm. “This is so exciting. When’s the last time we had an afternoon free to do something fun?” Her eyes widened and she thrust her head up toward the sky, watchful for any signs of a snowflake.
Leila smiled in response, and then looked over her shoulder just in time to see a throng of middle-schooled aged males running past them. “School’s out early! School’s out early!” One of them in the front yelled at the top of his lungs and the others followed behind him, their arms flailing in excitement as they past Emily and Leila. When they reached the Griffin Café, Emily opened the door and the two cousins stepped inside.
“There’s nothing like the smell of fresh coffee and hot cinnamon rolls.” Emily closed her eyes and sniffed the air. Martha, the head baker, stepped out from behind the counter and threw her arms on her thighs.
“Well if it isn’t the Fawn cousins.” She smiled and then let out a hearty laugh. She had known the girls since they were just babies, and her daughter, Maggie, had often babysat for both of their families. Emily and Leila unbuttoned their coats and hung them on the hook by the door. Emily gave Martha a hug. “I’m so happy to see the two of you.” Leila smiled and ran her hands through her long brown hair. Then she gave Martha a hug, as well.
“Well, have a seat and tell me what I can get for you. I’m running a special on peppermint mochas today.” She raised her eyebrows and then scooted behind the counter to wait on a customer. Emily and Leila sat down by the table closest to the window. Emily closed her eyes for a moment, relieved that she was out of the Lancaster Textile Company. Tempted by the peppermint mocha offer, she got up and ordered one at the counter. Leila did the same.
“You know, Leila. I think the only thing missing from this picture right now is a significant other to share it with.” Emily smiled and took a sip of her hot drink. Leila rolled her eyes. She was becoming used to Emily’s recent preoccupation with finding a mate, and she often humored her to quell the obsession.
“I bet one day, when the time is right, both of us will end up happily married. For right now we need to just be content with our jobs, and focus on making enough money to rent a new flat with more living space.” Leila nodded her head, confident that her response was the appropriate one. Emily rolled her eyes.
“Of course what you say is correct, Leila. But neither of us are little school-girls any more. We need to find someone before we hit the old spinster era of our lives.” Emily spoke dramatically and reached across the table to emphasize her point. Leila shook her head and sighed.
“You need to find a theater company to work with on your spare time because the melodrama is strong with you.” She sipped her drink and then reached for a newspaper that was sitting along the windowsill. Just as she opened up the front page, snowflakes started to fall on the town. Emily’s eyes widened.
“Here it comes, Leila. Maybe we’ll get so much snow that Finn will have to close the shop tomorrow.” She spoke with a hopeful lilt in her voice, and then sipped on her mocha with delight. Leila looked outside and the two girls fell silent for the next five minutes, both of them in awe of the beauty that came with a heavy snowfall. Martha came out from behind the counter and joined them in observation for a few minutes.
“Nothing like an unexpected snowfall in the middle of November, right?” She smiled and then went back to her position behind the counter. She knew that a heavy snow could mean a rush in business, so she got to work on prepping coffee and rolling out another section of dough.
“I think it’s time for a cinnamon roll, Leila.” Emily got up and then ordered a roll from Martha. She sat down, pulled it apart, and then gave half to Leila. The two nibbled and giggled for the next hour, both of them feeling the levity of having some time away from the dreary confines of the textile building. When dusk rolled around, they both got up and bid their goodbyes to Martha.
“You two take good care, and stop back in some time soon.” Martha waved goodbye then went back to waiting on a long line of customers who had recently filed into the café. When Emily and Leila stepped outside, the snow was already up to their ankles.
“This is the kind of snow that we used to love for making snow men and snow angels.” Emily looked up to the sky and then stuck out her tongue. Leila laughed as she watched Emily c
atch a series of large snowflakes. The two giggled and walked until they reached the front of their apartment. Then they walked up the steps and unlocked the door, stepped inside and kicked off their shoes.
“I’m ready for a long bath now.” Leila walked into the bathroom and Emily stood by the windowsill. At times like these, she often thought about her parents. They both lived in London now because Emily’s father was trying to get into a medical science program at the university. Emily had traveled out once to visit them, but found that they were both too preoccupied with her father’s new aspirations to pay much attention to her. She sighed and then at down on the plaid, wool couch.
When night fell on the town, both Emily and Leila readied themselves for bed. The snow had tapered off, and a thick white blanket settled over the rooftops. They decided that they might as well assume that work would be scheduled for tomorrow, but they both secretly hoped it would be cancelled. At six a.m. Emily looked out the window and watched the townspeople make their way on foot into work. “I think we should get dressed and prepare to go in.” She sighed and then opened her closet to pull out her textiles clothes.
Leila rolled out of bed and got dressed, but she wasn’t feeling as disappointed about going into work as Emily was. “You know, Emily. Maybe Finn will open a new factory sometime soon, in a different part of town. Then you’d at least have the opportunity to meet some other people, to get out of the same building.” Leila realized that her cousin had a different personality, that she was more of an adventure seeker, and that she craved creativity and spontaneity.
“Maybe.” Emily shrugged, and the two made their way down the steps and outside into the cold. The snow crunched under their boots and the two reached the front of Finn’s building just as the sun peeked out from behind a heavy cloud cover. “Good morning, girls.” He greeted them at the door and let them both inside. Emily’s smiled disappeared as soon as she walked down the long, dark corridor to her work station. The scent of peppermint mochas still in her head, she pretended to be outside making snow angels and tossing snow balls.
The cousins took off their coats and then walked into their work-room. The other girls were already inside, all of them dressed in the same drab work clothes as Emily and Leila. None of them smiled, and none of them spoke. Emily plopped down on her stool, and then reached for a skein of yarn. She looked at Leila who was already spinning a long line of yearn onto a spool, and then sighed. Then she got to work threading her yarn, and daydreamed about a different life.
* * *
Chapter 2
Emily sat down on her stool Wednesday morning, just as she did every morning. The ritual was almost exact, every day that she stepped into the factory. She took off her coat and hung it on a wooden hook. Then she reached for her skein of yarn that was always stuffed into a large basket in the middle of the table. She knew that there had to be more to life than whittling away her days inside such a gloomy factory, but as of yet she had no alternative. The better paying jobs were reserved for the university students, and it was difficult finding anyone who would hire her without much experience.
Just as she was about to ask Leila a question about how much yarn was left in the basket, a loud explosion sounded at the end of the building. The walls shook and the spools rolled off the table. Leila’s face grew white with fear. Before Emily could say a word, an alarm rang off in the work room. Finn threw open the door, his face contorted in bewilderment. “Fire!” He screamed at the top of his lungs and then ran out of the room. Emily bolted from her stool and yanked Leila by the arm. The girls in the work room screamed, and a temporary chaos ensued.
“Out! Out the back door and down the escape!” Emily ran to the front of the room and bellowed her command. The girls in the work room looked frightened and confused as they scrambled in various directions, some attempting to grab their coats and other just focused on getting out of the room. Emily, making sure that Leila was right behind her, rushed to the doorway and ushered the girls out. When she was sure that nobody was left behind, she herded them down the corridor and out to the escape.
Smoke was already filling the building when they descended the fire escape. Emily’s heart pounded and she could feel a bead of perspiration forming on her forehead as the heat form the flames enveloped the building. For a second she wondered what had become of Finn, but she knew that she couldn’t go back in and look for him. The girls at the bottom of the fire escape stood in a huddle, some of them crying, and others simply stunned.
“Go! Get away from the building!” Emily urged everyone toward the hills, and in a matter of minutes, they had all migrated toward the edge of the parking area. The stood with their hands over their mouths, watching in horror as Lancaster Textile Company erupted in flames. Emily gulped and reached for Leila’s arm.
Large red fire trucks appeared on the scene a few minutes later, and the girls watched as a team of firemen unrolled thick rubber hoses. Their first spray attempted to put out a thick flame that licked the side of the building, but it was unsuccessful. A police car flew up to the parking area, and then an ambulance. Emily’s mouth dropped open as she watched their efforts to get the fire under control. One of the police officers stepped out of the car and then grabbed a megaphone from inside the vehicle.
“We need everyone to back away from the building. If you live close by, please start to make your way home. If you need transportation, one of our officers will assist you. Please. Stay away from the building.” He clicked the off-switch and then climbed back inside his car. Emily took Leila’s hand and then inched away from the lot. Most of the girls were too shocked to move very far, but slowly, they all made their way toward town.
When they could barely see the building behind them, Emily and Leila stood quietly on the sidewalk. Leila started to cry and Emily draped an arm around her shoulder. People looked at them as they made their way through town, wondering why they looked so forsaken. The two listened as the sound of sirens echoed in the distance, and then eventually made their way up the steps and into the apartment. Emily turned on the radio that sat on their coffee table and tuned in the news. The story of the Lancaster Textile Company fire was all over the airwaves.
“What are we going to do?” Leila sat on the edge of the couch and cried. “The building is gone.” She buried her face in her hands and then reached across the table for a tissue. Emily shook her head and then moved closer to Leila.
“Don’t worry yet, Leila. They haven’t even said what would happen. What’s important now is that everyone made it out safe. I’m sure that when it all settles down, we’ll hear form Finn and he’ll give us instructions on where to go next.” Emily nodded her head, confident that Finn would somehow come to their rescue as soon as he knew what he was going to do next.
“Emily, we don’t know if he even had insurance. It costs building owners a lot of money to carry it, and around here I think it’s pretty rare if they do. If he just lost his building and has no insurance…” She shook her head slowly and then sighed. “Then we aren’t going to have any kind of job.” She dropped her gaze to the floor and Emily realized that Leila might be right. What would they do if Finn had nothing to offer them?
The sky grew dark and a somber aura fell over the town. The sirens had eased up and both Emily and Leila looked out her window to see if they could make out any activity coming from the building. When they were convinced that all was now said and done, they both changed for bed and got ready to go to sleep. “Leila?” Emily called out to her cousin from across the room.
“What, Em?” Leila lied awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering what the next day would bring.
“Maybe this is like a purging.” Emily looked across the room and then turned her head back toward her pillow. “Maybe this all happened for a reason.” She wasn’t one to put too much faith in the supernatural, but in the pit of her stomach, she had a peculiar feeling that the fire was symbolic. “I mean, maybe this is what we’ve been waiting for all along.” She looked ov
er at Leila but got no response.
“The only thing that this fire symbolized was faulty wiring in an old, stone building, Emily. And I’ll bet you my last dime that tomorrow morning the news reveals that Finn had no insurance. All of us are going to be out of work. What’s so symbolic about that?” Leila huffed and then turned over in her bed. Emily sighed and then fluffed up her pillow.
“I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.” Emily figured that Leila would probably be right. Yet she still thought that the fire meant something, that it didn’t just destroy their workplace for no reason. There had to be something deeper to what would happen next. If they really did find themselves with no work, then they’d just have to forge ahead like they’d always done, and find new means for survival.
By the time Emily and Leila had fallen asleep, the latest news report revealed that Finn Dillmore, sole proprietor of Lancaster Textile Company, had just lost his building and all of its contents to an unexplained fire. The report further explained that Mr. Dillmore had no insurance, and that he had no intentions of re-opening the company in another building since all of his assets had been destroyed in the fire.
* * *
Chapter 3
“Well, you were right.” Emily pushed a newspaper in front of Leila as they sat inside Griffin Café. Martha had already given them hugs and expressed her condolences over their tragic loss. “He lost everything. We’ve got no work.” Emily shook her head and sipped her coffee. Leila opened up the paper and then scanned the front page.
The article stated that the building was burned beyond recognition by a fire and that the cause was unknown. It went on to state that no restoration process would be initiated. Mr. Dillmore expressed his sadness for the loss, and was quoted saying that he “…saw no option for supplying further work to his employees.” Leila shook her head and then shoved the paper across the table. Emily raised her eyebrows.
