Disclaimer: I don't own anything that you notice, that all belongs to the wonderful Gemma Malley and Stephenie Meyer . . . Anything you don't notice is mine (: woo!
Chapter ten
Later that morning Bella found herself in Laundry, which that day involved ironing all the clothes they took in for local houses –the ones that didn't have housekeepers. Grange Hall's income had risen steadily over the years, Mrs. Denali was always proud to point out. They now did laundry regularly for over fifty households and two local hotels and for the high quality of the work was often commented upon and recommended, something Bella always heard Mrs. Denali telling people, particularly people who were from the authorities.
Bella quite liked doing the laundry, because she got to see the soft sheets and beautiful clothes that people in the village wore –soft woolen jumpers, wisp-thin silk blouses and beautiful cotton dresses that she sometimes liked to imagine wafting around in as if life was nothing more than a wonderful holiday.
Not today though. Today, all she wanted to do was scrub –scrub away dirt, scrub away her wickedness, and scrub away all thoughts of Edward and her appointment later that night.
She'd even offered to do undergarments, which was considered the worst job. They were all hard and full of wire –called 'bones', apparently and impossible to clean.
Bella couldn't understand why anyone would want to wear such uncomfortable undergarments, at least she hadn't until she'd worked for Mrs. Weber.
"Longevity doesn't provide a cure for gravity, unfortunately," Mrs. Weber had told her when she's been caught frowning at a particularly painful-looking thing that she discovered was called an Uplifter.
"Until they develop a drug that renews the skin as well as the body, we're going to need boning to keep everything in place and to hold everything up."
Bella had just nodded at the time, even though she didn't really know what Mrs. Weber meant, but a few days later her employer had called her into the bathroom because she needed a towel. When Bella came in and saw Mrs. Weber naked, she would have gasped if it hadn't been for all her training, which taught her never to stare or to react to anything except with a nod and, if appropriate a curtsey.
The truth was Bella had never seen a body like it. Fully dressed, Mrs. Weber was so pretty, with golden skin and white blonde hair and pretty blue eye shadow around her eyes, but her naked body was so . . . . . . . . .droopy. That was the only word Bella could find to describe it.
Her skin sagged disconsolately around her frame, hanging off her flesh as if it were water logged or had simply lost the will to hold itself up any longer.
Bella had kept her eyes lowered, but Mrs. Weber must have seen her looking out of the corner of her eye because she looked at her and smiled sadly.
"I just can't bring myself to go under the knife," she said with a little shrug, as Bella blushed furiously at being caught out. "It's ridiculous I know, when I could have everything perked up in no time. But every so often, things go wrong on the operating table. And now I know I'll be living for ever, it's made me scared to death. Isn't that silly?"
Miss. Humphries took laundry, and checked every sheet, blouse and towel before it was packed away, because Mrs. Denali had said that every single item had to be ironed to perfection before it could be sent back to its owner.
Bella had partnered with Edward in Laundry for the past few weeks, but today Miss. Humphries put her with Jessica, which meant Bella recognized, that she would have to do most of the load herself if it was going to achieve the high quality expected. She wondered how Jessica would cope on the outside, whether she would prove useful enough for employment.
Bella pushed the thought from her head. Jessica was not her responsibility, she reminded herself. Jessica would look after herself.
Silently, they started to iron the large sheet, folding it into a neat, pressed rectangle as they did so. Then they ironed another, and another, then a duvet cover, then three blouses and a whole load of undergarments until the entire pile had been turned into a neat, fragrant stack.
"Well doesn't that look nice and pretty."
Bella looked up to see Tanya standing over Jessica, her eyes focused on the laundry in front of her.
She narrowed her eyes in warning, and Tanya tossed her hair.
"It's okay," she said, smiling silkily. "I'm not going to do anything. But Jessica, I bet your parents would be proud, don't you think? That their dirty, worthless surplus daughter is learning to do her chores?"
Jessica stood up angrily to face Tanya, but even standing, the top of her head barely reached Tanya's nose.
"At least my parents didn't want to give me up," Jessica hissed. "I'm Legal and the catchers stole me away. But your parents didn't want you, did they Tanya? They just gave you away? I bet your parents couldn't even bear to look at you. And nor can I."
Tanya's face went red, and Bella stood up quickly.
"Enough," she said angrily. "Tanya get back to work."
Miss. Humphries was walking towards them and Tanya reluctantly turned, pulling a few strands of Jessica's red hair out of her head as she walked away, forcing tears of pain into Jessica's eyes.
"Why do you do that?" Bella asked, shaking her head. "You have to learn to ignore her, Jessica; otherwise you're always going to be picked on."
Jessica smiled benignly.
"I don't mind being picked on," she said. "And I only told the truth. Tanya's parents brought her here themselves, didn't they? She wasn't wanted by anyone in the whole wide world. Not like us, Bella. Our parents wanted us. That makes us special."
Bella looked at Jessica in bewilderment, wondering how she managed to twist the truth so easily. Mrs. Denali said that parents who gave up their surpluses were honorable; Bella herself had always wished her parents hadn't been so selfish, hiding her away in an attic.
"No surpluses are special," she whispered angrily, looking around to check that no one had heard.
"Jessica, don't blaspheme like that."
But Jessica smiled secretly.
They didn't talk for the rest of the training session and it was only when they were leaving that she turned conspiratorially to Bella.
"Look," she said, pulling out of her pocket. It was pink and silky, and Bella gasped as she recognized it.
It was a pair of knickers, but not the sort of knickers that surpluses wore. They were silk and soft and Bella remembered admiring them as she ironed them. And now they were in Jessica's pocket.
"Put them back,' Bella hissed. "Put them back or I'll tell Miss. Humphries. You'll get beaten, Jessica. Quickly, before she notices . . ."
But Jessica shook her head defiantly.
"I'm Legal, not a surplus. I should have things like this, Bella. And I like them. I don't want to put them back."
Bella shook her head in disbelief.
"Jessica," she said firmly. "Put them back right now."
"What, so you're the only one allowed secrets now."
Bella stared at Jessica uncertainly. "What do you mean?" she demanded. "What are you talking about?"
Jessica smiled. "I woke up last night Bella, and you weren't there. Where were you?"
Bella felt the blood drain from her face. "You must have imagined it," she said. "You must have been dreaming."
Jessica shrugged.
"Maybe you're dreaming now, Bella. Maybe I don't have anything in my pocket."
Bella stared at her, but before she could say anything Miss. Humphries arrived at their counter and carefully inspected their work. Bella opened her mouth to tell her of Jessica's transgression, but she found herself unable to speak. Instead, she just stared at Jessica, beads of sweat beginning to appear on her forehead.
"Good, good. Well done you two. You can go now."
Bella looked at her uncertainly. "We . . . we can go?" she asked hesitantly.
Miss. Humphries frowned. "Yes, Bella, you can go."
Jessica was tugging her sleeve, but still Bella felt rooted to the spot, convinced that if she moved Mother Nature herself would smite her down.
"Come on Bella," Jessica said, smiling thinly. "We're going to be late for supper."
"Yes, I suppose we will." Bella said vaguely, shooting