Letitia
M orning light glowed through the kitchen windows of Seven Chimneys with a warmth any house cat would appreciate, though it was still winter cold outside. Even better for one’s old bones, Miss Bay reflected when she arrived for breakfast, was the heat emanating from the big stove.
As it was akin to meeting a ghost in one’s own kitchen, Miss Bay squawked and flailed in surprise. Her cane flew from her hand and struck several hanging pots and pans with a bing-bang-bong .
An overcome Miss Bay fell into a chair.
Miss Bay cracked open one eye, and then the other, and replied, “I can see rather too much of you.”
Lala giggled.
Letitia slapped her arms and ample buttocks. “Oh, my goodness. I mean, the kitchen gets so hot and no one can see me, so...Are you hurt?”
“Only my eyes.”
Miss Bay had no sooner spoken when Miss Bunch burst into the kitchen attired in her nightgown, housecoat, and sleeping cap.
“What is all this racket?” she demanded. “I was not ready to get up. What— Letitia? Is it really you?”
“Yes, Miss Bunch. I mean if you can see and hear me.”
Miss Bunch screamed in delayed reaction, but it was more a scream of gladness. She threw her arms around Letitia and hugged her hard. “How can this be after so many years?”
“I don’t know,” Letitia said. “I didn’t even realize it until Miss Bay came in.”
Miss Bay gave Lala a sidelong look. “I am guessing I know how.”
Lala smiled a little smile and popped the last bit of her muffin into her mouth.
After more exclamations of joy from Miss Bunch, Letitia put a kettle on and hurried to her room to dress properly.
“She is remarkably unchanged,” Miss Bunch said.
“A little plumper, if you ask me,” Miss Bay replied.
“How did you do it, child?” Miss Bunch asked Lala. “How did you break the spell?”
“I wondered why the servants were invisible,” Lala said, “because the spell was easy to unravel.”
The sisters exchanged looks.
“We’ve researched for years and years to figure out how to remove that spell,” Miss Bunch said, “but could not find the remedy. Obviously, our father could not either, after he accidentally cast it, and he had such a good grasp of magic.”
Lala shrugged. “I could just see in my head how it was made, so I unmade it.”
Miss Bunch thumped into a chair across from the girl and her sister. “Farnham and Rolph?”
“They should be visible, too,” Lala said, “along with the horses, milk cow, hens, and goats.”
“This is quite wonderful. You did a very kind thing.”
“I did?” Lala looked genuinely surprised.
“You did, indeed,” Miss Bunch replied, “and after I have a proper cup of tea, we shall plan a wonderful celebration.”
“Oh, I like that notion,” Letitia said as she re-entered the kitchen, this time fully clothed. “I will begin baking at once.”
As Letitia returned to the sideboard, Miss Bay leaned toward her sister and whispered, “To think she’s been cooking in the buff all this time. I shall never look upon my food the same.”
“I daresay you will eat it just the same,” Miss Bunch said, “and be grateful.”
“Humph.”
· · ·
Later, the celebration was a great success, featuring a roast goose with all the trimmings and a pie of elderberry preserves for dessert.
Letitia would not have the horses, goats, hens, or milk cow in the house, but Farnham the groundskeeper, and Rolph the stableboy, who was now grown and more accurately a stable man, joined them at the table.
There was much rejoicing and mirth, and Lala was highly praised, especially by the servants who were relieved to be visible once more.
Eventually the merrymaking quieted and Farnham and Rolph left to attend to the livestock. Letitia attacked the dishes in the big sink, leaving the sisters and Lala to set up a game of Trickits.
After they each won a game, Miss Bunch sat back and said, “What a lovely evening this has been, and that is all because of you, Lala, and your act of restoring our servants. They are so very grateful, child, and so are we.”
“I am sure the horses, goats, hens, and the milk cow are, as well,” Miss Bay added. “A little kindness, as I always say, can go a long way.”
“I don’t believe I’ve ever heard you say that, sister,” Miss Bunch said.
Miss Bay looked askance at her. “You think I am insensible to kindness?”
“When was the last time you ever thanked me for helping you when your hip pain flared up? Hmm? Or to seeing to your mending? Or for letting you win at Knights?”
Miss Bay slapped her hand on the tabletop, causing the Trickits tiles to jump and clink. “You have never let me win at anything. I have won all by myself, thank you very much. What about me putting up with your constant prattle about this or that and how you slurp your tea?”
“Indeed? I do not slurp.”
Lala shrank in her chair and started to play with a bit of string she’d found lying about in the carriage house as the sisters’ argument sharpened and escalated.
She’d heard them disagree on any number of topics.
Sometimes they argued, but this was altogether different, more personal and mean.
It scared her. The sisters threatened never to speak to one another ever again, and they didn’t just raise their voices, but they shouted at one another.
It scared her that her idyllic existence at Seven Chimneys was in danger, that the sisters would hate each other and they’d leave her out in the cold.
Somehow, her logic told her that the anger of the sisters would cause them to turn her out.
“Oh, so you’re on about the birds again, are you?” Miss Bay demanded of her sister.
Each accusation lashed out as a physical blow to Lala.
She was not accustomed to crying because of fear or hurt, but even though the words were not directed at her, a tear or two dribbled from her eyes.
She paused to consider the situation. No, she would not cry.
Crying was uncomfortable and messy and would not help anything, so she tied knots.
“There were gulls, I’m telling you,” Miss Bay insisted.
Lala did not focus on the fight and when she completed her pattern, she breathed on the knots and was rewarded with silence.
The sisters’ eyes widened with surprise for they no longer had mouths with which to argue.
Lala giggled.