377 days, Blog #154 A Scene

So I am little bit distracted this evening.  I decided to read some of my manuscript and divert my agitation.  I thought in lieu of original material, I would post a scene.

A couple weeks ago, the local Habitat for Humanity Re-store was auctioning off an antique stove.  Turns out it went for a price I could have afforded.  But all I would have been able to do was look at it and imagine this scene. 
 

February 1924

Aggie stirred the eggs into the batter.  She liked how they disappeared with the wooden spoon into the yellow blend of flower and butter.  She glanced at Mavis, but she turned back to the sink and stood with her hands in the water as she glanced through the window.  She started washing the dish again as the door from the dining room swung open.

 “Now this,” Helen looked at George and the two men who followed him into the room, “will be one of the bigger projects this summer.  I don’t think the kitchen has been updated in at least twenty years.  Not since Pauline set up residence here.  And probably a while before that.”

Helen was wearing trousers.  Not like George’s, but flowing and shiny.  Aggie liked how they moved as she walked with a purpose from one side of the room to the other.  She stopped at the door that opened out to the back of the house.  “It needs more light.  It’s such a dark room and you appreciate so little of the view from here.”

“New windows then?” one of the strange men asked and scribbled on his pad of paper. 

“Yes.  New everything.  A new stove.  Mavis, did you have a chance to look at the catalog?  What’s the one we have in Boston, George?  It’s much bigger than this old thing.  And, of course, we have to get a refrigerator.”

“A refrigerator?” Aggie widened her eyes.

“The new models let you make trays of ice cubes,” Helen winked.  

George raised an eyebrow and leaned over the table to dip his finger in the batter.  “What are we making?”

“Pound cake.” Aggie giggled as he wiped some on her nose and licked the rest off his finger. 

Mavis darted her eyes in disapproval.  Aggie wiped off her nose and picked up the spoon to stir again.  

“Can we make it bigger?” Helen let out an exasperated breath.  “I always felt like this room was too…oppressive.  There’s the old housekeeper quarters over here.  But Mavis sleeps upstairs with everyone else.  I thought we could make it more of a comfortable sitting room.”

“We could make it smaller and add some room to the kitchen if you like,” the man with the paper smiled.  He liked looking at Helen.

“And add a bathroom,” Helen nodded.  “But I leave all the color and appliance decisions to Mavis.   The only thing left is some exterior work I think needs done.  Shall we go outside to look?”

George opened the kitchen door to let everyone outside.  He turned around and winked at Aggie again before shutting the door.  Mavis looked out the window of the door and watched them walk around the house.  She wiped her hands on her apron and picked up the well read catalogue she kept atop the bread box.  “What do you think of this one, Aggie?” 

Aggie liked the picture of the white appliance with two ovens and four burners.  She nodded at Agnes and grinned at the sight of an elusive smile.  “It’s a gas stove, but I think it will be easier to teach you to cook on that.  It’s nicer than the one we had in the hotel kitchen.”

“Is it?”

“Your mama used to cook on that stove,” Mavis sighed.  

“The one in the hotel?”

“Yes.  And this old thing, here.  Before you were born.” Mavis touched Aggie’s shoulder.  “Finish stirring that batter and I’ll make some cocoa.  I imagine they will all be cold from looking outside.”

Aggie picked up the spoon and smiled to herself.  A new kitchen.  A new stove, on which Mavis would teach her to cook.  Helen made everything better.  She even made Mavis smile.