Front Porch Tales... I think we are on 8

The girl jumped in surprised and one of the pitchers of water toppled over and poured straight down her uniform.

“Oh dear, oh dear!” She cried while frantically trying to soak up the water on the tray.

“I’m so sorry; can I help you with those?” Victoria indicated at the tray with her finger. “No thank y’ miss.” But even as she said the words, her eyes darted around the room and she looked as if she would change her mind when a plate suddenly slipped from the tray and crashed into a hundred little slivers of glass all over the wood floor. Fear ignited her eyes as she sat the tray down on the table and scrambled to pick the pieces up. Simultaneously, the kitchen door swung open and an over grown man practically ran across the dining room. “I swear you are the most feather minded bird brain ever put on this earth!” The man crossed his arm and watched as the servant continued to pick up the pieces and once the task was complete, he lifted her up by the arm and headed toward the kitchen. “This will come out of your pay.” Victoria could hear the man saying as they disappeared behind the door.

Marie had been looking for Victoria and entered the room just as the plate crashed to the ground. She remained motionless until the servants were gone and then moved to pull Victoria away from the mess. “Come Victoria, leave the servants be.”

When Victoria turned around, Marie noticed the tears streaming down her face. She placed a gentle arm around her friend’s shoulders and slowly walked her from the room. “You have to know that students are not permitted to socialize in any way with the servants.” At these words, Victoria’s cheeks flamed with heat, her jaw tightened, and she shook Marie’s arm from her shoulder. “How dare you!” Marie did not need an explanation for the reaction because she knew how much Victoria disliked the separation of class. “Victoria, the servants have rules and punishments also.”

The words seemed to register somewhere deep in Victoria and she closed her eyes and sucked in a deep breath. “That man had no right to punish her. For pity sake, she broke a plate! How bad can that be?”

Marie did not respond. What could she say? The girls in the school all realized the conditions which the servants worked, but it was an unspoken rule among them not to speak of the situation at any time. The two had now made their way outside to an empty glider. “You should be glad I walked in and not Miss Lydia, or any of the staff for that matter!” Marie surprised both of them by chuckling lightly. “Not only were you ‘talking’ to a servant, but you were talking to a girl can’t even return conversation.” Marie shook her head slightly back and forth as she giggled until she noticed the startled look on her friend’s face. “She is dumb, or at least that is suspected because she has not uttered a word since she arrived at the school.” The explanation did not ease Victoria’s confusion at all because she distinctly remembered the servant talking.