Waiting for Dusk (2 page)

Overslept? she thought. Was Mrs. Johnson
calling me?

She got up, stumbled to the door and opened
it. Although Katie was still groggy, she could tell something
wasn’t right. She looked to the left, and saw a long hallway with
three more closed doors on her side, and then a large open doorway
to what looked like a kitchen on the other side. She looked to the
right, and there stood Mrs. Johnson.

“Oh, MiMi...Mrs. Johnson! What’s going
on?”

“I’ll tell you what’s going on, missy. You’re
going to be late for work. And you youngsters have got to get my
name right. It’s Mrs. Johansson. YO-hon-sen!”

Katie blinked. She turned and looked at her
room, then gasped. It was very sparse: bed on a metal frame, a
dresser with a pitcher and bowl on it and a braided rug on the
floor.

I must be dreaming.
She pinched
herself. “Ouch!” She looked forlornly at Mrs. Johnson...Mrs.
Johansson.
She does look younger than Mrs. Johnson
, Katie
admitted and said, “Where’s the bathroom?”

Mrs. Johansson laughed. “You city girls.” She
pointed down the hall.

“Which door?”

“The one that takes you outside, Miss
Kathryn. Just keep on walking and you’ll see a little house. It’s
called an outhouse. Does that ring a bell?”

Oh, yes. It rang a bell alright.
Katie
was in Girl Scouts for awhile, and went away for an overnight
summer camp. The camp had an outhouse. After that trip, Katie was a
Girl Scout no more. “Yuck!” she screamed.

“Before you go out there, go fill this up in
the kitchen and put it in your room.”

Mrs. Johansson handed Katie the large ceramic
pitcher. Katie decided to do as she was told. She went into the
kitchen and saw a large pump over what appeared to be the kitchen
sink. Mrs. Johansson stood in the doorway. “Start pumping,” she
laughed.

Chapter Two

Katie filled the
pitcher and when she turned around, Mrs. Johansson was gone. She
carried her pitcher into the bedroom, poured the water in the bowl
and then visited the outhouse.

What a dream! Whoever visited an outhouse in
their dreams?

When she returned, she washed up in her bowl
using the towel that was placed beside it, and then flopped on the
bed. There was another knock at her door. She got up to answer it,
and there was Mrs. Johansson again. “Here’s your uniform. Put it on
and be ready to go soon. You missed breakfast. I’ll give you
something to eat in the car. Mr. Johansson is pulling the Buick
around to take you girls to work.”

Work? Really?
Katie could not believe
she would have to go to work in her dream. She decided to play
along and put the uniform on. It was a crisp black dress, almost
floor length, black socks and shoes. She tied a stiff, white bib
apron over the dress and was finished. There was no mirror to see
how everything fit. Katie felt like she stepped back in time in the
outfit. Perhaps it was an old-fashion or Amish restaurant.

Yes, that has to be it. All of this will
make sense once I get there.

Katie stepped into the hallway and all the
other doors were open too. Three girls about her age, dressed the
same way, were in the hallway. Two of the girls were talking while
the third leaned on the doorframe to her bedroom.

“Oh, hello. You must be the new girl,
Kathryn. I’m Lucinda and this is Ruthie.” She pointed to the girl
next to her. “And that one,” pointing to the leaning girl, “is
Anna.” She leaned in closer to Katie. “Not too friendly, that
one.”

By then, Katie decided to go along with
anything that happened. She nodded her head but waved to Anna. Anna
held up a hand and then quickly put it back down.

“Girls, girls! Oh good, you are ready. Mr.
Carl is parked out front and ready to go. Have a good day and see
you tonight.” Mrs. Johansson scooped all four into her arms and
gave them a group hug. “Do a good job.” Her voice trailed after
them as they headed out to the waiting car.

When Katie saw the car, she stopped short.
“We’re going to ride in that?” She stood with her mouth open. “Is
that thing in working condition?”

Mr. Carl came around from the driver side. He
laughed. “The car’s not that old. I did buy it used this year but I
needed more room to drive you girls from the boardinghouse to the
hotel. This here is a 1925 Buick, holds seven passengers.”

Katie just shook her head.
That’s used,
alright
.

The girls climbed in. “You know the car’s not
that old,” Lucinda chimed in. She seemed to be the talker of the
group. “It’s only two-years-old. It’s a very nice car, Mr.
Johansson.” She pronounced Johansson very exactly, in the proper,
correct way.

Katie’s head spun and she closed her eyes.
Please wake up. Please wake up
. She didn’t wake up. All she
did was bounce in her seat as they traveled along a dirt road. The
air felt hot and dry. The landscape was filled with pine trees when
she finally opened her eyes. She closed them again tightly.
Thankfully it was a short drive.

Mr. Johansson pulled up to a door in the back
of the hotel. The girls jumped from the car, waved good-bye and ran
inside. All of them, except Katie.

Mr. Johansson turned around from the driver’s
seat. “I thought I only counted three going in.” He smiled at
Katie. “The first day is always hard. Don’t worry. Everyone will
help you. Most everyone’s very kind. You’ll have a good day. I’ll
be back to pick you up in no time.”

Katie slowly got out of the car, tears filled
her eyes. She wasn’t in Kansas, make that Ohio, anymore. She said
she would go along with whatever happened in her dream, and that
was what she would do.

Chapter Three

Katie slowly opened
the door to the back of the hotel, and stepped inside a very large
kitchen. There was a lot going on with people running
everywhere--servers, cooks, busboys.

A plump, sweet-faced woman ran up to her.
“You must be Kathryn, the new girl. I’m going to have you work
alongside Anna today so you can see how we do things. We run a
tight ship. The vacationers come first. We must serve them and keep
them happy. Now away you go.”

Oh, great
,
I get to work with
unfriendly, non-talkative Anna
.
What else can make my
day
?

Katie walked over to Anna. “You’re stuck with
me for the day.”

Anna grabbed her hand. “Oh, no, Kathryn. You
are stuck with me. Lucinda was trying greatly to get you to work
with her. I’m a quick and quiet worker. I guess that’s why Miss
Betsy chose me. Harvey girl, in training, that’s me. I’d don’t know
if I’ll ever make it out to the dining room.”

“A what? A Harvey girl? I never heard of
that.”

“Never you mind. Come on.” And off they went
to start the chores for the day.

The day went by quickly. Katie wasn’t allowed
to wait on the customers or vacationers, as they were told to call
them, although Anna told her locals ate there too.

They filled the orders, scraped the dishes,
took the dishes to the dishwashers and brought food to the cooks.
By the end of the day, Katie felt very tired. During that time she
discovered she liked Anna. She enjoyed her day and couldn’t figure
out why Lucinda didn’t like Anna.

Miss Betsy interrupted Katie’s thoughts.
“Miss Kathryn!”

“Yes, Miss Betsy?”

“I would like you to get some more eggs for
the cook.”

Katie was a little surprised she was asked to
do something on her own so early in training. She went to find
Anna. “Anna, where’s the refrigerator? I need to get some
eggs.”

Anna laughed.” The...”

“Oh, you might call it the ice box or
something like that!”

“I’m not laughing about the refrigerator or
the ice box!” Anna smiled at her. “If we are out of eggs and you
were asked to get them, you have to go out there.” Anna pointed to
the backdoor.

“Outside? Again?” Katie suppressed a
scream.

“Yes, from the henhouse. I will go with you.
Here take this basket.”

At the last moment someone called Anna away,
and Katie had to head outdoors on her own. She opened the door and
looked around. Straight back from the hotel, across the road from
where Mr. Johansson had dropped them off, was a henhouse and a
barn. She hadn’t noticed them earlier. The area was all fenced off
and she couldn’t find a gate. Kate clumsily climbed over the fence,
thankful no one was watching.

Entering the henhouse she thought,
I can
do this.
Hens sit on eggs and all I have to do is stick my hand
under them and I should hit the jackpot.

Katie stared down her first subject. The hen
did not seem too scary. She spoke softly to it. “Thank you, Mrs.
Hen.”

Reaching out her hand, she slid it under the
hen and found two eggs. She continued on, having success and
sometimes none, slowly filling the basket and trying to decide if
there were enough eggs to satisfy Miss Betsy.

“Well, maybe just one more.” She stared the
last hen down, then reached in. That time the hen was not going to
cooperate. It squawked and pecked away at her, then flew up and off
the nest. That was more than Katie could take.

She ran out of the henhouse, climbed the
fence and fell to the ground, always remembering to balance the egg
basket carefully. She lay on her back by the side of the fence and
laughed. Then she got very quiet. Did I hear another laugh?

Katie sat up and looked around. “Who’s
there?”

“Over here,” the voice said.

Katie glanced over at the hotel, and leaning
against the wall in the shadows was a boy about her age. She got up
and walked toward him. She’d show him. Who was he to laugh at her?
Look at all the eggs in this basket. I didn’t break one during my
getaway.

The closer she got to him, the more clearly
she saw him. He wasn’t a boy but almost a man. The cliché, ‘tall,
dark and handsome’ fit him. His dark brown, wavy hair was long on
the top, and shorter on the sides. A strand of hair fell into his
eyes. His eyes sparkled and locked onto hers. Her legs felt like
mush, and she stumbled. He reached out and caught her.

“Are you okay?” his voice was kind,
concerned.

Katie tried to gain her composure. “Yes, yes.
Are you one of the vacationers? Because if you are, I shouldn’t be
talking to you. It’s against the rules.” Rules? What am I thinking?
It’s my dream after all.

“No. No I’m not. I work here at the park
doing an internship. My name is Andrew, by the way. Andrew
Martin.”

“I’m Kathryn, but everyone calls me
Katie.”

Andrew’s brows crossed. “Katie doesn’t seem
to suit you. I think I shall call you Kate.”

Katie thought Andrew was a little full of
himself, deciding a new name for her.

“Then I shall call you Drew,” she shot
back.

“Drew, it is then!”

Kate found him charming. He had a strong
laugh and a beautiful smile. It was hard not to stare at
him—something she was good at, according to her mother. She felt
she would never get tired of staring at him. She wanted to reach
out and brush back the piece of hair that fell over his
forehead.

Katie blinked and brought herself back to
earth. “I need to get these eggs into the kitchen.”

“By all means, don’t let me hold you up. It
was very nice to meet you, Kathryn, Kate.”

“And you, too, Andrew...Drew.” Katie started
for the door.

“Kate. Are you staying at the boarding house
by chance?”

“Yes. Yes, I am,” She blushed and went
inside. “Here are the eggs!” she called out to anyone who would
listen.

Anna came running up and took them from her.
“You were gone a long time but I covered for you.”

The workday finally ended and Mr. Johansson
was waiting in the Buick when the girls came out after their shift.
“Have a good day, girls? Meet anyone special?” he chuckled as he
said it.

“Now, Mr. Johansson,” said Lucinda. “You know
our goal is to become servers in the dining room first and then
meet someone special. And by the way, girls, I’m now an official
Harvey girl! No more training for me.” She squealed with
delight.

Ruthie and Anna said all the right things to
her, especially Ruthie.

“You are so lucky, Lucinda! You’re the first
to make it. You’re so much prettier than me, I knew it would
happen.” She smiled brightly.

Anna looked at Katie and rolled her eyes.
Katie was a little taken aback by what Ruthie just said, because
Ruthie was very attractive. She had long auburn wavy hair, a little
bit of a nose with a few freckles sprinkled across it and lovely
green eyes.

Lucinda was just an average girl, not a
raving beauty, but made up for that in personality. When Katie
first met her, she thought she was lovely. Even though she had
mousy brown hair, it was fixed in what might be the latest fashion
for the day, a short bobbed haircut with waves. Her radiant smile
made one feel it was only meant for them. She was nice looking, but
not beautiful.

Funny, it reminded her of high school. Katie
had met girls like her. The girl with the most mesmerizing
personality could be very popular and have a group of friends
hanging on every word. She began to see Lucinda in a different
light. Why did she not like Anna? Why did Lucinda practically warn
her away from Anna? She made a mental note to ask Anna later.

When they got home, Mrs. Johansson had dinner
waiting for them. They talked and laughed with both Mr. and Mrs.
Johansson while they ate. Katie felt so at home with Mrs. Johansson
because she reminded her of MiMi. No, not reminded her of MiMi. She
looked just like a younger MiMi.

Mrs. Johansson spoke, “Girls, remember that
it’s lights out at nine. You have a long day ahead of you tomorrow,
especially you, Lucinda!” She gently patted the girl on her
hand.