Time

Chapter 2 - 1896

My tummy rumbled as I rolled out of bed, a sign that we had not been fed properly last night. Mrs Wickes was a cruel women, and not the sort that should be running an orphanage. She had a messy bundle of curly black hair, and a very pointy nose, along with a set of rotting teeth. Nasty!

Florence (my best friend at the orphanage) was already awake and had slipped into her tatty brown dress, ready for work. I yawned her a 'good morning' as I trudged sleepily to my cupboard. It contained my only two dresses and a pair of old brown boots that were close to falling apart.

"We're down at the stables today Clara" Florence informed me.
"Who's? Mr and Mrs Ashdown?" I asked her. She nodded excitedly, before skipping towards the staircase and disappearing down the squeaky steps.

Mr and Mrs Ashdown were an extremely rich couple who lived a few streets away. They were always asking for orphans to help look after the horses and Florence and I were always as keen as ever - due to the fact that they paid us!

Once I was dressed, I thundered down the stairs and into the dining room, to see the usual group of my fellow orphans who were busy tucking into slices of bread at the table.
"Clara! Over here!" called Florence. She was seated at the far end of the table, beside Phyllis and Mary. I jogged over and squeezed onto the end of the bench.
"Good morning Clara" Phyllis and Mary chimed together.
"And to you" I said. Florence dropped two slices of bread into my hands for me.
"Eat up, we better get going soon!" She sang merrily. I took a large bite into both pieces of bread, and at once my tummy stopped rumbling.
"What are your jobs today?" I asked Phyllis and Mary. They exchanged a glum look with each other.
"Wickes put us on toilet duty" Phyllis sighed.
"And some of then need unblocking!" screeched Mary, shuddering at the thought. I felt their pain. Toilet duty was the worst job there was, and Mrs Wickes wouldn't let you stop until they were sparkling clean. Literally!

❋❋❋

Around mid-morning, Florence and I had ran down to the large iron gates belonging to the Ashdown couple. Henry the gateman was there to let us in, and he shot us a smile as we wondered off into the wilderness of the Ashdown Mansion.

The building itself was like a colossal mountain, decorated with sculptures and huge chimneys. However, Florence and I had never been inside, for we always stuck to the gardens where we were expected to tend to the flowers or care for the horses. In this case, it was the horses!

There were five horses altogether - two black, two brown and one grey. According to Henry, the horses did not have names, but Florence and I had named them anyway. It made things a lot easier.

"Clara, have you fed Fred yet?"
"Yeah, but I still need to feed Hazel"
"Okay, well Dora and Nora have both been fed, what about Wilbur?"
"Yeah he was fed first, so he could do with a brush now"
"Where are the brushes?"
"I put them at the back of Fred's stable"
"Oh, yeah I see them! Okay, so I'll brush Wilbur, and then when you've finished feeding Hazel, you can start with Fred?"
"Yes, okay!"

Giving the horses names meant that Florence and I didn't get confused. The first time we ever came to the Ashdown mansion, it was incredibly stressful when it came to the horses. I remembered it well...

"Florence, which horse goes in this stable?"
"Oh the brown one!"
"Which brown one?"
"That one over there!"
"Which one are you pointing at?"
"That one!"
"Okay, but where does the other brown one go?"
"Next to the black one's stable"
"Which black one?"

Yes. It got far too complicated. Therefore, Florence and I came up with the names and from then on, caring for the horses was a breeze.

The sun was high in the sky by the time we'd finished bucketing the horses with soapy water. I led Wilbur, Dora and Nora out into the large grassy field, whilst Florence was close behind with Fred and Hazel. They each galloped off into their own free spaces and began nibbling at the clusters of nutritious grass.
"Well, that's our work done for today" Florence said as she turned to leave the field.

We made our way through the maze of gorgeous flowers and wild plants to the back door of the mansion, where Mrs Ashdown was patiently for us. She quickly thanked us and placed a handful of coins into each of our hands, which we proudly poured into our pockets and then waved goodbye.

The jingle of money was to be heard as we galloped down the streets of London, back in the direction of the orphanage. A few doors before the orphanage, we visited our favourite bakery where we each paid for a little treat with the money we'd earned. It was the best thing after a long day of work, and Mrs Wickes was sure to know nothing (unless of course we accidentally left crumbs around our mouths as we arrived back).

Dinner was the best it had been in weeks, because Mrs Wickes had bought some meat, which was very rare! I knew for a fact that I wouldn't wake up with a rumbling tummy, because after the first few mouthfuls of dinner, I was full! It was quite pleasant to see my fellow orphans so happy, as they stuffed their faces with food and counted through their money that they'd earned today. Seeing the smiles of others made me so happy, as orphans were not seen as particularly happy people. But it was quite clear that that evening was a very happy evening indeed.