Disrupted: Day 7

Word Count: 42,015

Summary of Events:

Gwendolen attended church with Mrs. Harder and learned that the schoolteacher wasn't in need of an assistant until September, to her disappointment. Ezra was upset to have Gwendolen call on him again and sent her away. Gwendolen helped Mrs. Harder bake cookies and discussed Ezra's obstinacy. Ezra ended up talking to the hand's wife who minded his children, and learned Gwendolen wanted to get paid for her work. Gwendolen, with Mrs. Harder this time, went to see Ezra, but found that he wasn't home, so they went to the home of the woman who minded Ezra's children . . .

Excerpt of the Day:

""What brings you here?" Hannah asked.

"We'd come to call on Mr. MacAskill, but he wasn't home," Mrs. Harder replied.

"Oh," Hannah said, her face falling.

"Is something wrong?" Mrs. Harder asked.

"Well, I talked to him and he didn't sound to be terribly swayed," Hannah said. "I don't think he'll accept the offer."

"I thought I'd come along to see if he wouldn't listen to me," Mrs. Harder said.

"I doubt he would," Hannah said. "He's nothing if not obstinate."

"As we've found," Mrs. Harder said, following Hannah onto the veranda.

"Besides, he's gone and bought a horse for the boys so that they can have riding lessons, which Jerome is going to give to them while Abigail minds Sarah," Hannah said.

"Oh," Mrs. Harder said.

"They're there now, actually," Hannah said.

"So you only have Ezekiel," Mrs. Harder said.

"I do," Hannah replied, looking at the boy in her lap, who smiled proudly at the mention of his name. "And now that we don't have the MacAskill children I've actually got nothing to do. I might have to ask him for them back."

Mrs. Harder sighed. "Well then I guess we'll have to look into something else."

"Like what?" Hannah asked.

"I haven't the faintest idea," Mrs. Harder replied. "Walter's already turned down her offer of help in the school because Anna Dobry is helping him, as she would like to become a teacher herself."

"And you don't have much skill in anything rather practical, do you?" Hannah asked, looking at Gwendolen.

"No," Gwendolen whispered.

"If you learned how to do laundry you might be a help at the ranch, actually," Hannah said. "With all those bachelors there Selma, Abigail, and Florence have all they can do to keep everyone in clean clothes. I try to help on occasion, but I've got a lot of laundry too with six children."

"And Abigail has seven of her own too," Mrs. Harder said. "And doesn't she usually do laundry for Joel and Hamilton too?"

"Yes," Hannah replied. "The bachelors do try to do their own laundry, but none of them are good enough at it to keep Selma from fits, so she's finally forbidden them to do their laundry, but not counting her own children, nor the Dobry boys, there's seven men to wash clothes for that get filthy beyond imagination. Mary helps too, but she's said that if there's any household chore she hates, it's laundry, and she has time enough trying to keep Dwight's clothes clean."

"I don't know that I'd like to do laundry," Gwendolen said.

"If you work for Ezra you'd have to do their laundry," Hannah said.

Gwendolen shifted her jaw, that didn't sound pleasant to her at all. She felt like doing someone else's laundry was inappropriate. She most certainly wouldn't want someone else washing her clothes."