Wandering Girl Read Free

look about herself she strutted out the door, leaving me with feelings of animosity and humiliation. I fumbled through my case to find my nightdress and slowly put it on, blew the flame out and got that old familiar feeling called homesickness. I cried myself to sleep.

ORANGE JUICE IN THE MORNING
    When I awoke, it was to the shrill sound of the alarm clock. I reached over and turned it off, then lay back on my pillow to familiarize with my new surroundings. When I recalled where I was my heart sank. I jolted out of bed and thought I’d make a good impression on my first day, though I had no heart for it at all.
    I lit the old burner up to see what I was doing. I got my working clothes out of my case, a clean set of underwear, a dress which came down to the ankles, a full length apron, shoes, ankle socks and a scarf so the wind wouldn’t blow my hair around while I was sweeping the driveway.
    It was still pretty dark when I opened up my bedroom door. The wind was blowing and howling, and the light from the lamp was reflecting on every obstacle, making the whole surroundings pretty scary.
    I hesitated, stepped back inside the room, and thought to myself, “I’ll have a wash later on when I finish sweeping, as it will be lighter and I can see a bit better.”
    So I got dressed and tried hard not to be frightened. When I was ready, I picked up the old burner, set all my fears aside, got the old straw broom and started sweeping.
    I put the lantern in between two bushes so the wind wouldn’t blow it out, and with big strokes I began to sweep her driveway. What a job that was! The more I swept the leaves, the more the wind would blow them back on the path.

    When I finished the job I was ready for that wash, all hot and frustrated! By this time it was real light, so I checked again to see if the driveway was clean, put the broom back in the garage and went to my room to hang the old burner up on the hook, then got my toiletries out to have myself a wash.
    The shower room matched up with my bedroom, dull and listless with a terrible dog smell about it. I walked around a bit and came across what I assumed was the laundry. I shut the two doors, and had a wash in one of the big old basins.
    When I finished I chucked Johnson’s baby powder all over me, so I could smell nice, cleaned up the mess I had made, then went around the laundry to use the toilet, which was in the same block. Now that I was all clean, I made my way into the kitchen to wait for Mrs Bigelow to give me my orders for the day.
    Everything was quiet when I went in and sat down at the table. Then I heard someone moving around in the next room. So thinking it was her, I thought I’d better go in, say “Good Morning”, and let her know I was there.
    I poked my head around the door and saw Mr Bigelow sitting there having a cup of coffee and reading the paper, I said “Good Morning Sir!”
    He never lifted an eyelid. He just told me to go and wait in the kitchen for Mrs Bigelow. I felt ashamed and embarrassed as I went back into the kitchen to sit down.
    I heard her coming. She had a pompous, stately look about her, which made me feel timid and afraid. She asked me if I had completed sweeping the driveway? I said, “Yes”, then she turned to me to tell me about another job she would like me to do.
    Before breakfast I was to go down a fair way from the house where her orchard grew. On one side of it was a paddock in which one orange tree stood alone behind a high fence. I was to go over and pick two oranges, run back to the house, squeeze the juice into a clean glass and put a starched doyley over it, as when she got up in the mornings she must have fresh orange juice.
    I asked her if she wanted me to go and do the job at once? She said, “Yes”, so off I went to tackle it.
    On my way down to the paddock, I stopped to view the country side. Very pretty, the gullies and the sweeping plains. The big hills that