Time And A Word| TUA

010

010: NOVEMBER 1963

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Most of the day went by normally. 

Harper got to work at six AM sharp, greeting the other women in the locker room. 

"Oh, Harper!" One of the women, Tilly, smiled at her as she stood at her locker, Harper reaching her own locker beside her. "How're you? Heart you had to start wearing gloves again."

"It's just the cold." Harper smiled, as she held her black gloved hand up. "Robyn knew some cream that should work, kick in in the neck few days."

"When one of our last workers, Harriet, got eczema, boss told her not to show up for months, ended up firing her." Another girl, Trisha, said from her own locker, voice hard to hear in the ruckus of the room. "Surprised he lets you work."

"I'm just that charming. Everyone is in love with me." As she spoke, the pair laughed, and they continued talking as they got ready. All of them were on the same shift, along with around a dozen other women, until around one. So, they all knew each other, and saw each other almost every day. 

Their uniforms were simple - just plain dresses, different colours depending on which area they worked in. Harper had gotten her hair re-dyed to be blonde since she missed her blonde hair. Brown hair just reminded her of the year she had before coming to Dallas - getting lost in time, serving in a war, the world ending. Blonde Harper needed to come back.

They were all mostly used to the job, now - talking about whatever had happened since they last saw each other. Mary had bought the wrong schoolbooks for her child, and was going to drop them off to Harper's house for her to use. Maggie was getting married, soon, and was hoping to quit her job and become a housewife. Sarah was going to go on a trip to New York, since Harper had gone a few years prior and it 'gave her the bug', and she'd finally saved up enough money. It was lots of gossip that though Harper honestly enjoyed hearing about their days, once they were in the actual store she struggled, since her hearing aids were long gone, and she just had to live with her lack of hearing, now. 

It wasn't that she was entirely deaf, just partially. She could still hear, but not all the time, and she honestly surprised herself with keeping this job. But though the boss originally hated her, when his son took over a few months into her employment, his son took over, who was much kinder, and just made things work so she could stay. Honestly, with all that had happened her since she crashed into Dallas, she was surprised. She was a hard employee even if it was 2019.

Nowadays, the only time she could speak and actually hear what people said back was during break around halfway through their shift. Other than that, her ears had to be perked up for the customers. 

The day itself was just like any other. A kid pissed in a flowerbed, a man asked if she needed him to provide for her, there was chaos when a black woman asked one of the employees for help that Harper instead served, and a girl complained that they couldn't make the last dress that was three sizes too small for her, just bigger. 

"You hem clothes here, don't you?" She asked, as she stood at the counter in front of Harper. 

"Yes. But-"

"Then just un-hem it."

"That's not how it works."

The boss, Timothy Himmels, had met her in the hall, and asked her how her shift was going, and how her eczema had cleared up. Normally, she could keep it hidden and quiet, but she hit her hand on a belt buckle two shifts ago and it was complete agony, which made word get around. She had tried to explain to him that it was rather embarrassing, though he didn't seem to understand. She doubted people would. It was just one of those medical things that wore her down.