The Camden Tales

46 - Lethe

-=₪ November 1929 ₪=-

The Mansion / Margate / 3.45pm

The progress the bakers had made with the house over their week-long stay was pleasing. The servant quarters on the back half of the ground floor had been completely replastered. Fresh wallpaper hung, new floors installed, and furniture added to the three new bedrooms and washroom. Even the servant passage and stairwell to the basement was bright and crisp.

The basement, however, was still filled with bakers working. The hustle and bustle of chatter, orders and progress made the basement feel more alive than it ever had done before. The laundry room, along with the utility room and other spaces were not yet available for use, which left Anna in the kitchen scrubbing a garment against a washboard in the large sink.

Alfie was catching up with some of the men in another room which would become a common area, a comfortable space for the help to spend downtime. He found the bakers at large were doing well after his departure and sung Bina's praises for the new Jewish quarter that was developing nicely. The men confirmed their families were safe and well provided for despite the hardships being handed down by government and the turbulent economic crisis.

Alfie then heard a welp from elsewhere. Raising his hand to the bakers he requested them to stop speaking, allowing him to better hear what the noise might have been. As silence fell in the room, Alfie leaned back and stuck his ear out the doorway.

"I remember you." said a stout baker with a snarling smile to Anna as his hand ran over her backside and giving it a pinch, making her welp.

His greasy greying hair was combed back, and a cigarette hung out of his mouth. Ash fell to the floor as he spoke.

Having rung out her dress Anna began to nervously hold some wooden pegs which laid on the farmhouse table beside them, she had been keen to hang her dress on the temporary string that was installed between two hooks across the kitchen. But now stifled by fear she remained meek and still.

"Wha' a dirty dog he is for havin' whores attend to his every whim, eh?"

A few other bakers who lingered about the kitchen snorted with laughter. She lowered her head submissively not wanting to give any reason for them to become provoked and do anything untoward. The dress she held dripped water which splashed on her slippers.

"I thought he were devoted to tha' glorious lookin' wife of his. Ya think ya know a man." the baker scoffed.

The large unsavoury man leered over her, she could feel his smoky breath against her cheek, her nose filled with the scent of his sweat.

"Not even Jewish, are ya?"

His tobacco-stained finger hooked over the neckline of her blouse and pulled, allowing him to clearly see down her top. She squeezed her eyes shut pretending to be anywhere else. He smiled.

"Frank." called one of the other bakers hoping to distract his comrade from his current intentions.

"I'm only being friendly, she's a nice bit of crumpet. Besides, we leave tomorrow, not got long left to have our fun." he stated looking to the other bakers, all of which now appeared worried, and their worried looks soon turn to horror as their eyes switched to the kitchen door.