Storm and Silence (FANFIC)

20. The Meeting and The Face of Punishment.

Two days later...

"She accepted! Oh perfect! Now we can continue without worry." And oh had we been so worried yesterday! Flora had told us that Grandmother Belle had still not given an answer, which got us feeling like that. But today, she greeted us with the wondrous news; Grandmother Belle had accepted the request for joining her in Flora's home on Saturday afternoon. Now, we only had two complete days to finish off this meeting practice.

"We must get to work immediately. No time can be wasted, nor any distractions made." Patsy said in an orderly tone and so we worked. We didn't know how long it took us, but we finished when Great Paul rang out, ten times.

"Goodness!" I cried out looking towards the direction of St. Paul's cathedral. "Did that really take us so long?"

"Well with all the pauses, it would seem most sensible, if I am to be honest Lilly." Patsy said, following my gaze.

"What amount of time were you expecting us to finish?" Eve asked.

"An hour at the latest!" I responded, turning towards Eve.

"Oh so you mean without the pauses." I nodded.

"Well why don't we try that? We would have to memorize quickly though."

"I think we can do it. Let's try again shall we?" they all nodded.

* * *

"Hello Grandmother Belle. It's a pleasure to see you on this fine Saturday afternoon." Flora said, taking a seat in the wicker chair. We all followed suit. It was the day of our little meeting with Flora's dearest Grandmother. She was older than old, yet her frizzly hair was still blonde. She wore a white dress that had flowery designs on the skirt. She was quite bony, yet held herself well, primly and properly. Her blue eyes had silver flecks in them and they seemed to hold a lot of knowledge. What kind of knowledge? Probably the knowledge of how females should act in society. I immediately disliked her. I no longer wanted to take out this little meeting, but I had to. For Flora. I thought.

"Yes. It is nice to finally meet your friends too. Please, remind me who you all are?" she asked us, taking her porcelain tea kettle and pouring tea. Patsy looked at me, and I sat up straight and spoke.

"I am Lillian Linton, that is Patsy Cusack, and she is Eve." I pointed out the girls one by one. "And of course, you already know Flora."

"Yes obviously. Are any of you married?" We'd been expecting that question and already knew the answer.

"No madam we are not. We have no interests in marrying and being oppressed." Patsy said.

"Oppressed? Whatever do you mean by that?"

And so we began. Well Patsy did anyway.

"You see, when we get married, we have been given the task of looking after the home. Our 'husband' would be the one doing whatever he wanted, and as for us? It wouldn't be the same. If we were not married, we would have the chance of freedom. We wouldn't be stuck in a home, alone, cooking, cleaning, looking after the children, if we plan to have any, sipping tea every afternoon. And we would have to remain dependent on him, to which I am sure he would be tired of soon. That is the life of misery, see."

"I do not understand. Even after marriage, you are still allowed some time of freedom."

"Key word: some. It won't be everyday, every hour and every minute. And, what if our husband was wrongly chosen? What if he is the kind who stays home and abuses?"

"But why would he be like that? You would obviously choose the type of man who is kind, and a gentleman."

"Not all men are like that Madam." I spoke up, and I would definitely know it. I worked for one of them.