I sighed.
A week ago I'd been led led to this very old-fashioned house. (I was getting really sick of old-fashion by this point.)
It was completely buzzing with people. Mandy was a cook for them all. I guess that made her sort of like Myra, my housekeeper.
I had also been introduced to tons of servants! SERVANTS! Actual servants! Nobody had had actual servants for like, thousands of years!
The real puzzler was why the owner of this place would spend all the money to hire servants when his house obviously was in more desperate need of renovation. The whole style was so old-fashioned it made me want to cry. If not for the servants, I would think that very, very poor people lived here.
Mandy had shown me where to sleep. howed me where I could sleep. It was in the servant's quarters. As in, like, the place where servants slept!
I guess I could be called a servant.
I helped Mandy with the cooking and she gave me place to stay, food to eat, and some money at the end of the week.
Mandy had shown me how to sweep, dust and mop. I did that when I wasn't cooking.
I could not believe that I'd been reduced to cooking and cleaning for people. At least nobody would know about this after I got home. I was desperate though.
It was, at least, a little bit better than dying.
I breathed in deeply. Whatever I was making smelled delicious. That was a surprise, because the ingrediants Mandy had said to mix (I thought) would not end up tasting too good.
I'd already spent every night crying about my reduction - I didn't need to dwell on it during the day, too.
I thought about the conversation I'd overheard Mandy and 'Lady' having the other night.
I didn't actually know 'Lady''s real name because 'Lady' is what all the servants called her. She was the girl that had been walking with the prince - that's why we all had bowed. This place had princes.
Anyway, the servants and Mandy all think 'Lady''s father, the owner of this all, isn't worth a rat's fart (Well, no one actually told me that, but I got the message.) and that 'Lady' is priceless.
'Lady' had been in the kitchen with Mandy two nights ago when I'd had a bout of serious hunger pains. I'd meant to sneak into the kitchen and get something to eat, but I heard Mandy and Lady talking in whispers.
I hadn't been able to determine everything they said, only that they'd been talking about curses and fairies. They hadn't even sounded like they were joking or telling stories or anything! I think they were serious!
Was it possibly possible that there were magic and fairies here?
Right now, I wasn't sure what to believe. Because dreams never lasted this long. And there had been no good witch telling me to follow any road yet. I'd been forced to believe - against every logical explination - that this was somehow real and I was somehow here.
I heard footsteps and looked up.
It was 'Lady'. She and I had never been alone before, and she'd never talked to me.
"Hello..." she started.
"Hi," I answered.
She looked surprised.
"What's up?" I asked.
She looked even more surprised and then she surprised me by glanced at the ceiling.
Had she really never heard the most common expression ever?
"Um, it's only an expression," I explained.
"Oh," she said, "what does it mean?"
"Well it means, like, what's come up? what's going on? What's new? What's-"
"Oh, I see," she said. She looked at the floor and blushed.
Then she snapped her head up and interrogated me quickly, "Forgive me for asking, but where did you come from?"
I sighed.
I hated how old-fashioned everyone talked! Since when was it rude to ask questions?
"Uh... America."
"Where's that?"
"You really don't know America?"
"No. I've never heard of it before."
Everyone knew about America. Even in the most desolate part of the planet, they knew America.
"Get out. That's impossible. Everyone's heard of-" I stopped talking because Lady's eyes slid out of focus and she was gasping. She looked like she was going to pass out, or she was trying to resist something...?
I jumped toward her, not sure what to do. I was about to call for Mandy, to see if she knew what was wrong-
"Do I have to?" she asked in one quick, gasping breath.
"Have to what?"
"Get out!" she whimpered.
It almost seemed like her foot dragged her leg toward the door.
"No, of course not! That's just an expression too!"
Her eyes, breathing, and voice instantly went back to normal.
"Ah. Well. Please - don't use that expression. I - it offends me. I-I don't really like it. Sorry. I - er - have to go help Mandy with..." she continued to mumble, but I couldn't make out the words anymore.
She walked out of the room.
I returned to my stirring.
That had to have been the weirdest thing I'd seen yet.