Another dusty day in the city. I was walking down the street. Looking behind me, there was someone following me. Someone in a black suit with a top hat. I hastened my pace, but so did they. Moving around a corner too fast, I tripped. I fell so hard I could not feel anything. I was too sluggish to get up. I felt like I was being weighed down. My heartbeat quickened. The bell tower struck.
Everything disappeared. I was weightless for a brief while. Then, I could feel myself again. Slowly, my shoulders began to stiffen. I had woken up.
The grandfather clock went silent again, returning the space to the ticking of the pendulum. I did not catch how many times it rung. I did not check.
Feeling the soft, warm cloth underneath me, I remembered where I was. Raising my head, I squinted against the window light. Alice was still here, resting under a blanket of towels. Her eyes were closed, but her lips were parted, her chest breathing. Her breaths were still weak, the fever still there. Her eyes still had faint little gray wrinkles under them. She looked no different than last night, which was worrying.
Taking one of the small towels, I wet it cold and placed it on her forehead. There was no reaction when I did so. She did not frown, or move, or do anything at all. Like she was knocked out cold. But my hope was to relieve her fever a bit. Really, I did not know what else I could do. Maybe feed her again? Or at the very least give her some water.
Looking at the time, it was seven o’ clock. I had woken up earlier than usual. There was time to cook up some oats for her. There were no leftovers from last night. As plain as it was, I ate some of the oatmeal as I cooked. A really skimpy breakfast. I repeated what I had done last night, gently prying open her mouth to spoonfeed bits of porridge.
Jane stopped by a bit earlier than usual. She gave Alice another look, then we shared lunch together, inside the cottage, where I could continue to check on the girl and make sure her condition was not growing worse. Though we talked some more about the girl, we moved on to other subjects, talking about the upcoming week.
Her visit was actually quite short. She had forgotten about the parade in town tomorrow. Her bakery was running a streetside booth along the way of the parade, and she was a part of it. She wanted to patch up one of her dresses to wear for the occasion. “Wish me luck!” she laughed. “I don’t remember the last time I’ve stitched up anything!” She invited me to stop by the bakery’s booth to see her, though I did not promise anything.
“It’s not just work. I’m not sure if I will be able to leave the cottage at all,” I explained. “I might have to stay home tomorrow to look after Alice.”
Jane blinked. “Alice? You mean that girl?”
“Yes, sorry. That’s her name.”
“Ah, right. I don’t blame you. Do what you must.”
“It would do no good to distract you, either,” I added with a laugh.
“Oh, it will be fine! There are plenty of lassies to take over for me!”
“Not a good look to your supervisor, though.”
“He won’t be there, actually,” she corrected. “And I’m sure the other ladies invited their mates to stop by.”
By the time Jane left, Alice was still unconscious. There was not much else to do without leaving her unattended, so I sat nearby with the daily paper, reading it for a good while. As the day waned, I moved on to tidy up the cottage, continuing where I left off last week. Still with much to clean up, it successfully eased my mind off of the girl, easily losing track of the time. I stopped once to change her towel, then carried on until suppertime, cleaning up bits of dead leaves and plant scraps I missed last time. Finishing off with one more dusting of the tables and shelves and all that sort, I was sated with how fresh the space had become. There were perhaps more plants I could clear out of the house, but I was not in the spirit to prune them.