Only Her

Chapter 3- Work Begins

"Alright girls, let's make this feast!" Martha said with her arms folded, a wooden spoon clutched in her meaty hand.

The kitchen was buzzing with people preparing for the evening dinner. Mary-Anne was there, and so were two other maids, one who was a bit older than Raven and Tabitha, the other who looked much, much older...several decades older in fact.

"They are hosting a party of six up there tonight, so Raven, I've put you on peeling duty." She gestured to a large tub filled with potatoes and carrots.

"Here's the peeler. Off you go!" Martha thrust the peeler in Raven's hand, and gently shoved her in the direction of the tub.

Raven picked up a potato and held it up against the peeler. She quickly learnt that in order to peel things she would need to move the peeler in an up and down motion against the potato. Eventually she got into a rhythmic motion, and began to somewhat enjoy the peeling experience.

"Ohhh must I?" She heard Tabitha's voice responding to Martha's request.

"But his shoes have horse dropping all over them."

"Don't think too much about it my dear, it will be done before you know it!"

Tabitha's grumbling got quieter.

"That's my girl. Here's the Brush and the polish. Off you go!"

And with that she span Tabitha around, and prodded her gently towards the door.

"Raven, how are you going my girl?" Martha's booming voice resonated over the sounds of the kitchen.
Raven looked over at Martha with an affirmative smile.
"Ah, I see. I see. Very good. Keep up the good work!"

"Lisa! don't forget to stir the pot!"

"Yes ma'am" replied the girl, slightly older than Raven.

Raven felt comforted by the sounds and smells of the kitchen, and enjoyed working with the food.

Raven passed the heavy tub of peeled vegetables to Mary-Anne, who pulled it so roughly from her, that it caused a heap of potatoes and carrots to go bundling out onto the floor.

"It was her fault ma'am. She tipped them over, clumsy girl." Mary-Anne quickly protested to Martha

"Alright, Raven you need to clean these up."

"Yes ma'am" replied Raven.

"And Mary-Anne." She paused

"Yes ma'am?" she smirked.

"You will go to the storage room and get a dozen more potatoes and carrots."

"The storage room?" Mary-Anne's face turned powder white."

"On my own, in the dark? Why can't the new girl do it?"

"Because she has to pick up the vegetables she dropped. Now off you go!" Martha placed a basket in Mary-Anne's arms, and pointed firmly to the door.

With one last scowl at Raven, Mary- Anne stalked out the door with her shoulders hunched.

"Lisa, help Raven with the clean up." Martha called and went back to chopping steak.

Lisa, a skinny ashen faced maid with gaunt cheekbones and light brown hair crouched beside Raven.

"Why didn't Mary-Anne want to go to the storage room? Asked Raven.

"Because," Lisa replied in a whisper

"There's a ghost down there."

"What's a ghost? Is it some sort of vegetable?"

"Haha no, silly. Why would anybody be afraid of a vegetable?" Lisa snorted.

"A ghost is a human spirit. It is the soul of a dead person who has not yet made it to the other side."

She checked over her shoulder to see if anyone was listening. "Most believe that it is the ghost of the old Lord of the manor, Alfred Portman. He drank himself to death."

Raven's breath caught in her chest. "But...how do you know he's down there?"

"Well, the first time he appeared Grace was down there." She nodded at the very old maid who was sprinkling spices over a roasted chicken.

"It was years ago. When Grace was young, and occurred a few weeks after he had died. She says she was just reaching for a bunch of artichokes when the lights suddenly turned out. She didn't see anything spooky in that. But as she was searching around for the fuse box, she heard the cold moan of the late master's voice. She knew it was him, as he was singing the tune of his favourite song, 'My Bonnie Lies over the Ocean.' Do you know it?"

"Sort of." Raven lied.

Lisa continued, "Well apparently, he used to sing it all the time because his first wife Bonnie was drowned at sea."

"Oh...poor man."

"Yes, well he almost was a poor man. But he narrowly escaped that thanks to his wife. Turns out when she died, all her inheritance went to him. That's how he was able to build this place in the middle of the Jungle....and all was well...until Tania moved in."

Lisa screwed up her face in distaste.

"She was a witch of a woman."

"A witch? Is that a bad thing."

"Sometimes." Nodded Lisa. "If she casts evil spells at least."

Raven wanted to the rest of the story so she held back on asking more about 'spells'.

"Tania was the Lord's second wife. She's gone now, thank goodness." She sniffed, coldly

"But when she was alive, she demanded that we all address her as 'Lady' even though she wasn't one. She married him for his money, and when she realized he didn't have as much as she thought, she became bitter and spiteful."

"Really? Lord Alfred was broke? "

"Almost. He had enough to keep a few staff on and keep up his drinking, but that was about it."

"And, I'm guessing she didn't like this?"

"Not at all. She took over the manor, in the name of the Lord, and started sending workers away. She even sent the wishing woman away."

"I'm sorry, who?"

"Ask Grace, she knew the wishing woman. I came just after the horrible event."

"That's enough chatter girls, back to work with you."

Martha had turned around and saw that they had picked up all the potatoes by now.

"Lisa, we need some more water. Go and draw some from the well."

"Yes ma'am!" She curtseyed

"See you at dinner." She whispered to Raven.

"And you." Martha handed Raven a brush and pointed to a mound of dirty pots and pans.

"Time to scrub. Off you go!"