Two Bonnets

The day of the Easter picnic had finally arrived. Warm air blew through the window. Abigail and Julia could feel all of the signs of spring. Out the upstairs window, flowers bloomed, bees buzzed, and birds chirped in delight over the brilliance of spring. Abigail took a deep breath to take in the wonder of this fresh new day. It was going to be absolutely perfect. No one would ever guess the giddy anticipation she held within her heart. Would her secret at last be revealed?

Abigail walked over to the dressing table where her twin sister Julia was applying rouge to her cheeks. "We have this picnic every year, so what are you so excited about? " Julia asked.

"This one is going to be special," Abigail said while spinning around the room as if she were floating on a pink cloud. Abigail began to hum a familiar tune as she slipped behind her changing screen, which she had persuaded her father to make for her. So what if she was a twin? Did she have to share everything with her sister? Surely it was perfectly normal to desire a little privacy, and Julia didn't need to know everything about Abigail's life. It had been especially fun this week to have her very own life apart from her twin, although she was finally ready to reveal her secret with Julia later at the picnic today.

Abigail tossed her dingy cotton nightgown over the screen and struggled to wiggle into her dreadful, tiny corset. Oh, how she hoped that she would acquire some pretty things for her wedding trousseau. She had been sleeping in that ragged nightgown and wearing the same corset for what seemed like forever and a day. Her mother had said that Pa could only afford what mattered for appearances, so there was no money left for such minor items.

"What makes today so special?" Julia questioned. Abigail walked over to stand beside Julia as they both looked at themselves in their old, cloudy mirror.

"Because I look prettier today, " Abigail remarked as she smiled and batted her eyes.

"You look the same," said Julia plainly as she applied her lipstick. Julia stood up from the dressing table and "accidently" smudged lipstick over Abigail's dress.

"Julia!" Abigail gasped. "My dress! How on earth could you be so careless to ruin my brand new dress?" she cried in frustration. "I'm so sorry sis, Julia slyly comforted. "Here then, let me help you fix your hair," she deceptively offered. Abigail sat down at the dressing table and Julia started to curl Abigail's long locks with a hot iron. Suddenly a large section of her beautiful raven hair was completely singed.

Abigail gasped! 'What have you done to me?" Abigail exclaimed! "You've ruined me!" she cried.

"I'm... I'm so sorry," Julia stammered. "Well, at least your new bonnet will hide it," Julia nudged as she ran to the closet. "Oh no!" she exclaimed. "I've forgotten it, " mocked the sly sister. Abigail sobbed uncontrollably. This absolutely perfect day was ruined.

Mr. Frank Right stepped out of his carriage and took a long look at his rugged surroundings. What a quaint little town, he thought. Something bright caught his eye. He saw a beautiful, young lady entering the Haberdashery. "Take my luggage to the hotel," he ordered the coachman. "I 'm going to take a look around first," he said with his gaze fixed on the lovely lady. His stagecoach man nodded and proceeded to the hotel. Frank walked across the plaza to the Haberdashery. He spied the young lady talking with the clerk at the counter. "I want the first bonnet in sky blue and the other in this lavender color," she said to the well -dressed man behind the counter. Two bonnets Frank noted. This woman must be fairly wealthy to be purchasing two bonnets. Frank straightened his tie and walked over to where she was standing.

"What do you think?" he said holding up a black hat. "Should I get this one or this one?" holding up a brown one much like it. "Well you must know a thing or two about what is in style, because that dress is most fashionable," he said grinning.