The needle went through the fabric with ease. Sophie sighed. Day in and day out, this is what she did. The workers had all left, leaving her alone for the rest of the day. Did they really appreciate her hard work? Probably. Would they let her keep working until she was a wrinkled senile women? She would insist upon it. She continued sewing ornaments on the hats. A train went by, dark smoke blowing past the closed window. She should go visit Lettie; she had been pestering Sophie about it for days. She finished up the hat- which was red and quite lovely, if Sophie did say so herself- and gathered her things. She tried on multiple hats before deciding she was too ugly to be able to pull any of them off. She selected the plain hat that she always wore and headed to the bakery. It was crowded in the bakery, as per usual. People were chatting to Lettie so much she was overwhelmed. Sophie sighed with jealousy. She wished men would stare at her like that. "Oh, Sophie!" Lettie waved her over and left her post at the counter. There were groans of protest from the customers and Lettie promised she would be back. "How are you, Sophie?" "Fine. And you?" Lettie smiled. "I'm wonderful! I've just met a man and I think he might be the one!" Lettie went on about some man called John, but Sophie had tuned her out. The last thing she wanted to hear about was a man. It reminded her every time she was all alone. "Sophie?" "Yes?" "Were you listening?" "Umm..." "You simpleton!" Lettie playfully hit her on the arm and Sophie hit back until someone informed her the éclairs were ready. Sophie figured it was best to go. She kissed her sister goodbye and rode the train home. No one was home yet so she trudged upstairs to bed.
Sophie awoke to the bath water running above her. She sat up and attempted fixing her hair. Deciding it was best to get on with her day, she went down to the hat shop. "Sooooophie!" "Mother! I didn't know you were here!" Her Mother rarely showed up but when she did it was surprise visits. "Just look at the hat I got in Kingsbury. You're going to love it there." "Wait, what?" "Sophie...I'm moving to Kingsbury. I don't want you being here you're whole life- especially with the war going on- so you're coming with me." "Mother...I love it here though. What about Lettie?" "She would come too, of course." Sophie didn't have anymore excuses. It was best to tell a fib. "I met someone." "We'll take him with us." Does she solve everything by taking people away? "Fine. I'll go." "Sophie. When we get there, I forbid you from working in hat shops." "Why?" "It's only what's best. I love you, dear. Now go pack." Sophie didn't want to go, even more now that she wasn't allowed to work in hat shops. She stuffed everything she owned in a small suitcase and went back down to her Mother. She had left. "Mother?" "So- mmph!" "Mother?" Sophie went towards where her Mother had called her. "Sophie!" Two men in black caps were holding her Mother down on the floor. "Mother!" Sophie ran forward, pushing one of the men forward. She grabbed her Mother before the other man could touch her. They dashed to the automobile her Mother came in. "What a thrill, Sophie." Sophie leaned back in her seat, her heart pounding against her chest. "Let's never do that again." "Agreed." They picked up Lettie, who was more than happy to move to Kingsbury. "Ooooh, I'm so excited!" "Lettie, what about that man you met?" "Didn't I tell you? He lives in Kingsbury. Of course you wouldn't know that considering you didn't listen to my story." They continued driving, their Mother telling the all about how they had probably been robbed. Sophie said it was alright, there wasn't much there anyway. "Oh, I'll have to fire those girls. I kind of liked them, too." "Then don't fire them," Sophie said. "What will they do? We're closing the shop." "That's not what Father would have wanted." "Sophie, don't you dare play the Father card." "I'm sorry, but it's only true." Her Mother was silent for the rest of the way.
It was dark by the time they got to Kingsbury. They stopped at a brown building. "We'll stay here till morning then go the rest of the way." "We're not there yet?" "Of course not. This is lower Kingsbury. We're going to Northern Kingsbury, where the rich people are." "But Mother, we're not rich." "Not right this second, but we will be." "How so?" "We just will be." Their Mother climbed out of the car to the brown building, which was marked as: Larry's Inn. 'Sounds fancy' Sophie thought sarcastically. "Ugh, how awful," Lettie said. "It's just for the night." Sophie climbed the steps and held the door open for the other two women. Just as she was walking in a powerful wind knocked her down. She blacked out in a matter of seconds.
