Read Online The Mirror by Marlys Millhiser - Free Book Online Page B
Authors: Marlys Millhiser
Tags: Fiction, General, Science-Fiction, Fantasy fiction, Action & Adventure, Time travel, supernatural, Mirrors, Grandparent and Child, Boulder (Colo.)
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hooved creature outside.
In the morning, the cabin was icy and she pawed through the trunk for a sweater to put over what Sophie'd called the "day dress," but found only a shawl. Shay had ignored the corset and longed for a bra to support Brandy's heavy breasts. The frilled corset cover alone was little help. No one was in the main room as she dashed for the outhouse, avoiding the gruesome pot sitting at the foot of the stairs.
Rushing back from that dank cobwebby place, she belatedly buttoned up Brandy's black shoes and worked snarls out of thick hair with comb and brush. No dresser in her room, no mirror and no closet, just pegs on the wall for clothes. In an attempt to appear normal, and standing before a beveled mirror of the buffet, she braided Brandy's hair. Even Marie on Water Street hadn't worn hers loose. The shawl slipped from her shoulders and the hair from the braid as she used every hairpin Brandy owned to fasten it into a coronet on top.
The unfamiliar face beneath it responded to all her emotions as the body did to her commands. The voice didn't sound strange to her ears. But then they weren't her ears.
"Good morning. Feeling better?" Corbin shouldered through the screen door carrying a gunnysack.
She smiled and batted Brandy's eyelashes. "Is your mother up, too?"
"Yes, she's been gone a time. She helps at the Antlers four or five days a week in the summer. Remember?" A searching glance.
"The Antlers, yes." She tried to unstiffen the smile on Brandy's lips. "You told me last Sunday ... in the parlor."
"We let you sleep late because of your illness last night." He removed a hunk of dirty ice with pieces of straw sticking to it from the bag and put it on the top shelf of the icebox. "The ice will be delivered from now on," he said proudly. "I put in a permanent order when I bought this. Come now, and I'll show you around."
Around what? But she followed him obediently along the path past the outhouse to a wooden door built into the hillside.
"We'll still keep some things here." They entered a cave lit only by the opening and he handed her a bowl filled with eggs and a metal pitcher of milk. "But many things we can keep in the icebox now. There are potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips and apples here."
Dim piles of things sat on a platform.
He filled his arms with shapes hanging from a beam and others from a table and led her to a wooden box a short distance from the cave. "This is the spring where we get our water. We share it with several of the houses along this way."
"But it's just a box."
"You lift the lid and dip the pail into it. Let it refill and you can dip another. It's a good spring in most seasons . . . but you're used to pipes and such." His dark hair tumbled across his forehead. "Nederland doesn't have piped water yet. Now, here you see a path. Follow it along the cliff and over a ridge and you're at the Brandy Wine. It's not the way you're used to getting there. But if you ever need me . . ."
"Yes?" Brandy's body answered his gaze and surprised Shay. Easy, girl.
"I'm never far from the house. You're not to wander, Brandy."
When they'd loaded the icebox, he showed her a vegetable garden by the front porch and implements stored in a makeshift cupboard built onto the side of the cabin, explaining that one of her duties for the day was to weed and water the garden.
"You mean carry water clear from that spring?"
"Yes. Now you're to bake the bread Thora K. left rising on the shelf." He led her inside again. "Clean the lamp and fill it. The coal oil is kept here. Sweep out the floor. Empty the chamber pot and the ash from the stove. Prepare the supper--"
"Prepare what for supper?" Shay eyed the black cookstove with panic.
"Whatever you'd like. I'll be back at midday to see how you're faring. Have some breakfast first." About ten paces from the cabin he began to whistle.
I don't know how to use that stove or clean a lamp. I'll probably burn the place down. The Strocks would think it'd
In the morning, the cabin was icy and she pawed through the trunk for a sweater to put over what Sophie'd called the "day dress," but found only a shawl. Shay had ignored the corset and longed for a bra to support Brandy's heavy breasts. The frilled corset cover alone was little help. No one was in the main room as she dashed for the outhouse, avoiding the gruesome pot sitting at the foot of the stairs.
Rushing back from that dank cobwebby place, she belatedly buttoned up Brandy's black shoes and worked snarls out of thick hair with comb and brush. No dresser in her room, no mirror and no closet, just pegs on the wall for clothes. In an attempt to appear normal, and standing before a beveled mirror of the buffet, she braided Brandy's hair. Even Marie on Water Street hadn't worn hers loose. The shawl slipped from her shoulders and the hair from the braid as she used every hairpin Brandy owned to fasten it into a coronet on top.
The unfamiliar face beneath it responded to all her emotions as the body did to her commands. The voice didn't sound strange to her ears. But then they weren't her ears.
"Good morning. Feeling better?" Corbin shouldered through the screen door carrying a gunnysack.
She smiled and batted Brandy's eyelashes. "Is your mother up, too?"
"Yes, she's been gone a time. She helps at the Antlers four or five days a week in the summer. Remember?" A searching glance.
"The Antlers, yes." She tried to unstiffen the smile on Brandy's lips. "You told me last Sunday ... in the parlor."
"We let you sleep late because of your illness last night." He removed a hunk of dirty ice with pieces of straw sticking to it from the bag and put it on the top shelf of the icebox. "The ice will be delivered from now on," he said proudly. "I put in a permanent order when I bought this. Come now, and I'll show you around."
Around what? But she followed him obediently along the path past the outhouse to a wooden door built into the hillside.
"We'll still keep some things here." They entered a cave lit only by the opening and he handed her a bowl filled with eggs and a metal pitcher of milk. "But many things we can keep in the icebox now. There are potatoes, onions, carrots, turnips and apples here."
Dim piles of things sat on a platform.
He filled his arms with shapes hanging from a beam and others from a table and led her to a wooden box a short distance from the cave. "This is the spring where we get our water. We share it with several of the houses along this way."
"But it's just a box."
"You lift the lid and dip the pail into it. Let it refill and you can dip another. It's a good spring in most seasons . . . but you're used to pipes and such." His dark hair tumbled across his forehead. "Nederland doesn't have piped water yet. Now, here you see a path. Follow it along the cliff and over a ridge and you're at the Brandy Wine. It's not the way you're used to getting there. But if you ever need me . . ."
"Yes?" Brandy's body answered his gaze and surprised Shay. Easy, girl.
"I'm never far from the house. You're not to wander, Brandy."
When they'd loaded the icebox, he showed her a vegetable garden by the front porch and implements stored in a makeshift cupboard built onto the side of the cabin, explaining that one of her duties for the day was to weed and water the garden.
"You mean carry water clear from that spring?"
"Yes. Now you're to bake the bread Thora K. left rising on the shelf." He led her inside again. "Clean the lamp and fill it. The coal oil is kept here. Sweep out the floor. Empty the chamber pot and the ash from the stove. Prepare the supper--"
"Prepare what for supper?" Shay eyed the black cookstove with panic.
"Whatever you'd like. I'll be back at midday to see how you're faring. Have some breakfast first." About ten paces from the cabin he began to whistle.
I don't know how to use that stove or clean a lamp. I'll probably burn the place down. The Strocks would think it'd
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