"I detest rude, unladylike girls!"

"I hate affected niminy-Piminy chits!"

Ella had been feeling a scream coming on for some time now. So when the two, Jo and the blond she kept wanting to call Amy or Annie or May or something rose their voices to start calling each other names, she found herself raising her own as well. "Must you be so loud?! My head aches from all the racket!"
Jo turned to her, her own eyes flashing dangerously. "So sorry to disturb you, Miss Vanity! I get sick watching you preen and prick in front of that mirror so much!"
The two glared at each other. Ella opened her mouth to retort but was interrupted by an unlikely quarter. "Birds in their little nest agree." Beth sang out, with such a funny expression on her round, rosy face that after the others stared at her, they all burst out laughing.

"Really girls, you are all to blame. Ella sighed as the one started in a lecturing manner. Ella sighed again and walked back tot he couch. Sitting she sank into it wearily.
"You are old enough to leave off boyish tricks and to behave better, Jo."

Snow was falling gently outside when Ella woke up. It made a faint scratching sound as the flakes brushed against the glass of the window pane. Ella stretched out luxuriously as she lay in her bed and let her eyes rove lazily about the room.
The next instant, she bolted up into a sitting position, as two images clashed violently before her eyes. Two rooms. Two very different rooms. Fone a second, one fought to be seen over the other. A large, messy room that was bright and comfortable to her. The mess on the floor almost completely hid the floor from view. A desk pressed against the far wall crowded with all kinds of things, and a large black box glowing softly in the center of it. Then, slowly, that room faded from view, leaving the other room in its wake.

Ella looked around, studying it intently, and wondering just how she got there. Wherever there was. A simple, plain room with a small desk in the corner. A shelf full of books was hung over it. The surface of the desk was very neat and clear, especially compared to the one in the other room she thought she saw, but there was still some small signs of clutter near the center. She idly wondered why there was a small pot with a feather sticking out of it on the desk. Then dismissed it for the moment, as she looked over the rest of the room. On one side of her bed was a sage-green wall with a small, pretty painting on it. On the other side was a small bookcase. And on the other side of that was another bed. Beyond that was a wooden closet.

The bed was framed in wood. The other one was neatly made and everything there was almost painfully clean. That must be Bella's side.

Ella felt her head start to pound hard. She tried to figure out what happened. What caused her to panic. Then gave it up as a hopeless tangle that made her head feel even worse. Maybe it was the last image of some half-forgotten dream? Either way, it was not real. It does not matter.

She dropped bonelessly back against the pillows of her own bed. Her cheeks burned uncomfortably. Her throat hurt. Her whole body ached. Deciding she was not ready to deal with reality right now, she allowed her heavy eyelids to slide closed again.

"You are old enough to leave off boyish tricks, and to behave better, Josephine. It didn't matter so much when you were a little girl, but now you are so tall, and turn up your hair, you should remember that you are a young lady."
"I am not!" Jo cried out, in a way that made Ella moan again and hold her head in her hands. It was aching more and more with trying to process everything that was going on around her. She was starting to pray that things would start making sense soon. One way or another.

"And if turning up my hair makes me one, I'll wear it in two tails till I'm twenty!" Jo added angrily, as she pulled off a black net thing and shook out a long fall of reddish brown hair. It was beautiful hair with just a hint of a wave to it. But Ella stared at it for a moment in confusion. Turn it up? What does that mean?
"I hate to think I've got to grow up and be Miss. March, and wear long gowns and look as prim as a china aster! It's bad enough to be a girl anyway when I like boy's games and work and manners! I can't get over my disappointment in not being a boy, and it's worse than ever now for I'm dying to go and fight with Papa, and I can only stay at home and knit, like a poky old woman!"

As Jo ranted, she shook a blue thing on nettles beside her till the metal clattered and rattled and the blue yarn bounced across the room. Bella jumped up and ran after the ball of yarn, causing Ella to smile slightly. There it was. A bit of something that made sense. It seemed like such a normal Bella thing to do and gave Ella a moment of normal in the midst of all this crazy.

Then she blinked and turned back to Jo when Beth started speaking. When did she move? Jo leaned her head on Beth's knee, and the smaller girl stroked her hair with a gentle hand. "Poor old Jo. It's too bad. But it can't be helped, so you must try to be contented with making your name boyish and playing brother to us girls."

"As for you, Amy." Continued Meg in that bossy way that was grating on Ella's nerves. "You are altogether too particular and prim. Your airs are funny now, but you'll grow up an affected little goose if you don't take care. I like your nice manners and refined way of speaking when you don't try to be elegant. But your absurd words are as bad as Jo's slang."

Ella grinned at Amy, as the blond made a wry face as her face flushed in a shamefaced blush. Unlike Jo, she didn't say anything, only picked up some needles with blue yard, and started working them with an annoyed air and pettish jerks. Why did Ella feel like she should know what those things were for? Why did she feel so satisfied at Amy's dressing down? Why does she feel like she should know more about these girls than she does? She let out a groan as the smile slid off her face, and as though it was the most normal thing in the world, picked up a book that laid on a small table near the couch. The next instant she stared at the cover without a hint of recognition. The Wide, Wide World? What kind of book was that?

"Ella, I think you have been reading quite long enough for one day." Meg continued as she started working with her own set of needles and yarn. Do they just really like blue or something? What is it with all the blue yarn? Then Ella realized that Meg was lecturing again. And this time it was her! Oh no she did not! "We agreed to try and get some socks started for the army, and you are the only one who hadn't even started yet. Why Beth is almost done with her first one already. I would prefer if you found something useful to do instead of reading novels all the time or prinking in front of the mirror. If you are not careful, you'll flit your life away. In a year or two, we all hoped that you'll be ready to help the family, by working but so far you did nothing to prepare for that."
"Okay, one. I was not reading. I just picked up the book. Two, what makes you think I can knit a sock?! Knit? And three, I actually go to school. And I do my chores at home. What more do you want?"

"You spend more time reading novels than studying. And we have to remind you to do your chores. You know our expectations better than that."
Ella glared, but the momentary flash of insight that hit her a moment was gone now, leaving her confused again. She lapsed into a sullen silence, feeling as though the world in general, and Meg in particular, was against her.

Surprisingly, it was JO who came to her defense. "Don't be too harsh, Peggy, Ella's been ill with that feverish cold. I bet her head's aching still. She's acting that way anyway. Lay back El, and read out loud. That will help the rest of us. She can't knit worth anything, by the way."
Ella frowned slightly, but didn't argue, and did as she was told, as Meg sighed. "I know she's been sick. But asking her to knit now and then while she's recovering is not that much to ask."
"I love reading. Does that make me lazy too?" Jo demanded.

"No, of course. I have no problem with reading, but not when there are things to do. You don't read when you have work to do, but Ella tries to laze about all the time. You work hard, and we don't begrudge you your rest."

Meg turned back to Ella, who was rubbing her head fretfully. In a kinder tone, she added softly. "I know you been sick. And I am sorry your head hurts. But I worry about you. You love pleasure so much. I'm scared that you'll be one of those lazy grasshoppers like in the fable if you don't mend your ways."

"If Jo's a tomboy, Ella a grasshopper and Amy a goose, what am I please?" asked Beth with a half wistful, half nervous expression that Ella couldn't figure out.

"you're a dear, and nothing else," Meg answered warmly. And nobody contradicted her. Ella smiled at the happy, pleased expression that crossed Beth's face, deciding that Beth was too universally beloved for criticism from her sisters.